Pre-Roman Iron Age
History of Sweden between 500 BC - 1 BC
The archaeological record for the 5th-3rd centuries BC is rich in rural settlements and remains of agriculture but very poor in artefacts. This is mainly due to extremely austere burial customs where few people received formal burial and those who did got little in the way of grave goods. There is little indication of any social stratification. Bronze importation ceased almost entirely and local iron production started in earnest.
A typical Clearance cairn from Eglinton Country Park in Scotland, The climate took a turn for the worse, forcing farmers to keep cattle indoors over the winters, leading to an annual build-up of manure that could now for the first time be used systematically for soil improvement. Fields were however still largely impermanent, leading to the gradual coalescence of vast systems of sunken fields or clearance cairns where only small parts were tilled at any one time. From the 2nd century BC onward, urn cremation cemeteries and weapon burials with various above-ground stone markers appear, beginning a monumental cemetery record that persists unbroken until the end of the Iron Age. Cemeteries of these roughly 13 centuries are by far the most common type of visible ancient monument in Scandinavia. The reappearance of weapon burial after millennium's hiatus suggests a process of increased social stratification similar to the one at the beginning of the Bronze Age.
References: Wikipedia
Popular sites founded between 500 BC and 1 BC in Sweden
Nässja Stone Ship
Nässja Stone Ship with 24 stones is one of the largest Iron Age stone settings in Sweden. Th is 44m long and 18m wide. There is also 23 other ancient relics around.Smålandsstenar
Smålandstenar (Smoland Stones) is a site of five or six stone circle dating from the early Iron Ages. The area has originally been a burial site. The largest circle is 20m wide and consists of 20 stones.Broåsen Burial Ground
Broåsen is one of the largest burial grounds in Halland. It consists of 60 mounds, stone settings and other ancient monuments. Slummesten (also called Kung Götriks sten or King Götrik's Stone) is an impressive standing stone of almost six metres height which is part of Broåsen's burial ground.Grönehög Mound
Grönehög is the biggest ancient mound in Bohuslän region. It has a diameter of 45-50m and it is 6m high. Archaeologists have found buried items from the mound dating from the 6th century AD.Håvesten
Håvesten is an Iron Age burial ground. It consists of ten burial mounds, six stone circles and and nine big standing stones. According the legend old men, who were not able to work of fight anymore, rushed to death from Ättekullshögen, one of the highest mounds.