Agri Bavnehøj
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Agri Bavnehøj (or Agri Bavnehoej) is a Danish hill and vista point with a bronze age burial mound, located 137 meters above sea level. It is close to the village of Agri, in
Mols Bjerge National Park Mols Bjerge National Park or Nationalpark Mols Bjerge is a Danish national park in the area known as ''Mols Bjerge'' (Mols Hills, lit.: Mols Mountains) in Syddjurs Municipality, Central Jutland, inaugurated on 29 August 2009. The protected area, m ...
on the southern part of the
Djursland Djursland () is a 1,417 km2 hilly lowland peninsula in Denmark at the entrance to the Baltic Sea, between Denmark and Sweden in Northern Europe. Djursland protrudes into the Kattegat sea, as part of the larger peninsula of Jutland, which its ...
peninsula, northeast of Denmark’s second largest city,
Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Ã…rhus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus municipality, Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and app ...
. The mound was built 1800 – 1000 years BC.Århus Amts and Naturstyrelsens infoposter by the Agri mound Agri Bavnehøj is the least known of four vista points and burial mounds on southern Djursland, despite being the highest (by a few meters). The others are Stabelhøje, Trehøje and Ellemandsbjerg.


View

From the mound there is a view over Ã…rhus Bay,
Jutland Jutland (; , ''Jyske Halvø'' or ''Cimbriske Halvø''; , ''Kimbrische Halbinsel'' or ''Jütische Halbinsel'') is a peninsula of Northern Europe that forms the continental portion of Denmark and part of northern Germany (Schleswig-Holstein). It ...
, Southern Djursland, Ebeltoft Bay, the
Kattegat The Kattegat (; ; ) is a sea area bounded by the peninsula of Jutland in the west, the Danish straits islands of Denmark and the Baltic Sea to the south and the Swedish provinces of Bohuslän, Västergötland, Halland and Scania in Swede ...
Sea and central parts of Mols Bjerge National Park. On a clear day one can also see across The Kattegat Sea to the island
Zealand Zealand ( ) is the largest and most populous islands of Denmark, island in Denmark proper (thus excluding Greenland and Disko Island, which are larger in size) at 7,031 km2 (2715 sq. mi.). Zealand had a population of 2,319,705 on 1 Januar ...
, where the Danish capital
Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...
lies. Agri Bavnehøj is less than a kilometer east of another vista point, Stabelhøje, 135 meters above sea level, where the view is perhaps even better. The feeling of height is emphasized by the view being all the way down to sea level. The Agri Bavnehøj hill was formed by ice sheet movements 12.000 years ago in connection with the last ice age.


Warning System

The old Danish word, , in Bavnehøj, means stack of wood or fire placed on high ground. The bronze age people and their ancestors used Agri Bavnehøj and other hilltop barrows as part of a warning system, where one lit fires on hilltops to warn neighbour communities of dangers, such as invasions. The neighbours in return lit fires on their own designated hilltops, creating a telegraph chain of fires, spreading the word of unrest. This function was maintained all the way up to the 1800s - actually as late as in the Three Year War (Treårskrigen) 1848 -50, that amongst other things saw the withdrawal of the Danish general
Olaf Rye Olaf Rye (16 November 1791 – 6 July 1849) was a Norwegian-Danish military officer. He died in battle during the First Schleswig War and is considered to have been a Danish war hero. Biography Olaf Rye was born at Bø in Telemark, Norway. ...
’s army past
Ã…rhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Ã…rhus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus municipality, Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and app ...
over southern Djursland to the peninsula
Helgenæs Helgenæs is a peninsula, approximately twenty square kilometres in size, stretching out from Mols in Denmark. Mols is itself part of the large peninsula of Djursland, in the middle of the Kattegat sea between Denmark and Sweden. West of ...
that he fortified at the narrow Dragsmur passage 8 kilometersKrak.dk from Agri Bavnehøj. From Helgenæs Rye succeeded in shipping the army to
Fredericia Fredericia () is a town located in Fredericia Municipality in the southeastern part of the Jutland peninsula in Denmark. The city is part of the Triangle Region Denmark, Triangle Region, which includes the neighbouring cities of Kolding and Vej ...
in the southern part of
Jutland Jutland (; , ''Jyske Halvø'' or ''Cimbriske Halvø''; , ''Kimbrische Halbinsel'' or ''Jütische Halbinsel'') is a peninsula of Northern Europe that forms the continental portion of Denmark and part of northern Germany (Schleswig-Holstein). It ...
in Denmark, where the army was able to continue fighting, after having manoeuvred around the German front by sailing round it.


Cult

The burial mound on Agri Bavnehøj is made from approximately 650.000 blocks of stacked turf blocksDanmarks Kulturarvs Forening, http://www.fortidsmindeguide.dk/Trehoeje-gravplads.br010.0.html giving the mound a height of 5 – 6 meters. Building a mound this seize corresponds to peeling the top turf away from around 7 hectares of land. The construction of large bronze age mounds such as Agri Bavnehøj is an undertaking that must have involved many people working with primitive pre-iron age tools. The Agri mound was part of a civilisation that built the 60.000 bronze age mounds registered in Denmark today. It has been calculated that in the bronze age period from 1800 – 500 BC, 100 – 150 burial mounds were built every year. This can be seen as a testimony to the existence of organized communities in a 2500 – 3800 year old pre Christian civilization, that must have had a pervasive religious belief containing a uniform concept of burial traditions.


International

In the earliest part of the bronze age, tribal leaders and other important people were buried in the mounds encased in a hollowed out oak log. Often the mounds were used multiple times, with both early oak log burials and later urn burials found in the same mound. The Bronze Age in what is now Denmark was in many ways an international affair with import of copper and tin from far away for bronze production, and export of cattle. Archaeologists reckon that the burials changed from coffin burials to cremation due to international influence. A hallmark of the turf built bronze age mounds is that a layer of metallic oxides tended to wash out from the top turf creating a hard and air tight cap isolating the inner mound from the atmosphere. This air tight lid prevents decay of the burials due to oxidation including protecting offerings accompanying the deceased inside the mounds.


Location

Agri Bavnehøj is situated in the protected not farmed part of The National Park Mols Bjerge 13 kilometers from the partly tourism based coastal town, Ebeltoft. The hills are accessible by car via small country roads leading to a parking lot close to the mound, including an info-poster, benches and toilet facilities. Horseback riders often use the designated horse trailer parking facilities by Agri Bavnehøj as a starting point for rides in the park. From the facilities there is a footpath to the top of the mound. The hilly small roads up to Agri Bavnehøj traverse some of Denmark’s longest hills.Store bakker og cykelruter ved Agri, http://www.climbs.dk/agri.htm


References


External links


Nationalpark Mols Bjerge
Danmarks Nationalparker, Naturstyrelsen

Naturhistorisk Museum Aarhus
Kort over Nationalparken
{{DEFAULTSORT:Agri Bavnehøj Syddjurs Municipality National parks of Denmark Protected areas of Denmark Tourist attractions in the Central Denmark Region Monuments and memorials in Denmark Nordic Bronze Age Tumuli in Denmark