The King's Grave (''Kungagraven i Kivik, Kiviksgraven'') is an archaeological site. It is situated near

Kivik Kivik () is a locality in Simrishamn Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 960 inhabitants in 2010. It is in a part of Scania (Skåne) called Österlen. Kivik is known for its annual market, usually taking place on the third Monday through Wedn ...

in the southeastern portion of

Scania Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous with Skåne ...

, Sweden. The site is what remains of an unusually grand

Nordic Bronze Age The Nordic Bronze Age (also Northern Bronze Age, or Scandinavian Bronze Age) is a period of Scandinavian prehistory from c. 2000/1750–500 BC. The Nordic Bronze Age culture emerged about 1750 BC as a continuation of the Battle Axe culture (th ...

double burial dating from circa the 15th century BC.

Site

The site is located about from the shore of the eastern coast of

. These two burials are unique. In both construction and in size—it is a circular site measuring in diameter—this tomb differs from most

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

an burials from the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

. Most importantly, the

cists A cist ( or ; also kist ; from grc-gre, κίστη, Middle Welsh ''Kist'' or Germanic ''Kiste'') is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead. Examples can be found across Europe and in the Middle Eas ...

are adorned with

petroglyphs A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...

. The images carved into the stones depict people, animals (including birds and fish), ships, lurs being played, symbols and a chariot drawn by two horses and having four-spoked wheels.

History

The site was used as a quarry for construction materials until 1748, when two farmers discovered a

tomb A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called ''immureme ...

, with a north-south orientation, constructed with ten slabs of stone. Still, the quarrying continued and some of the stones disappeared. In 1756 the site was analyzed by antiquarian and archaeologist Nils Wessman (1712-1763). Wessman had undertaken extensive trips to Scania in the 1740s and 1750s for archaeological investigations. The site was excavated by archaeologist Gustaf Hallström (1880–1962) starting in 1931. From 1925 until his retirement in 1945, Hallström worked as an antiquarian at the Swedish National Heritage Board (''Riksantikvarieämbetet''). Between 1931–1933, a thorough excavation was undertaken and the remains of a Stone Age settlement was found under the massive cairn, including a great deal of

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and sta ...

stone shards. Only teeth, fragments of bronze, and some pieces of bone were found, dating from the Bronze Age. The mound contained two

cist A cist ( or ; also kist ; from grc-gre, κίστη, Middle Welsh ''Kist'' or Germanic ''Kiste'') is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead. Examples can be found across Europe and in the Middle Ea ...

s. On the left side of the cist's southern end, there were raised slabs of stone from a long and wide cist. It was named the King's Grave due to its size, long before it was known to contain two burials. Since the site has been subject to numerous lootings, there are no reliable finds, but it is believed that the two graves were built at the same time. After the excavation, the tomb was restored, but no one knows whether it looks similar to its original state. A comparison with other contemporaneous graves suggests that the site might have been three times higher than the as restored. The restoration was based on

etching Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...

s from the 18th century and conjecture. A new chamber was constructed out of concrete and a tunnel extended into the cists. Today, it is possible for visitors to the site to enter the tomb and to see the engraved stones.

Gallery

File:0003Kungagraven Kivik.jpg, Aerial view of the Kivik grave File:Rock carving Kivik Sweden.jpg, One of ten slabs of stone shows a horse drawn chariot with two four-spoked wheels File:Kungagraven Kivik (11).JPG, One of the slabs of stone shows people (eight in long robes) File:Glaubach kivik grave 02.jpg, The stones of the grave facing the grave of Kivik File:06 Kungagraven Kivik (16).JPG, Stones within the cairn of Kivik File:Kiviksgraven - KMB - 16001000020561.jpg, Stones within the cairn of Kivik File:Kivik grave 1.jpg, Drawings of one of the petroglyph slabs within the grave (see: Golden hats)

References

Other sources

*Baudou, Evert ''Gustaf Hallström: arkeolog i världskrigens epok'' (Stockholm:

Natur & Kultur Natur & Kultur is a Swedish publishing foundation with head office in Stockholm known for an extensive series of teaching materials. Its logotype is an apple tree. Overview The publishing house was founded in 1922 by Johan Hansson and his wi ...

. 1997)

External links