- Archaeological News
-
Hagbard's Gallow Monument.
Image Credit:
Martin Lindeborg, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
New Dating Reveals a Complex Bronze Age History at Hagbard’s Gallows
New archaeological dating has provided the first firm chronology for Hagbard’s Gallows, an unusual Bronze Age monument in south-western Sweden that combines monumental standing stones, burial mounds and rock art. The results indicate that the site developed over several centuries rather than being created in a single phase, offering a more complex picture of its use and meaning in prehistoric Scandinavia.
The monument is located at Asige in Halland and consists of two pairs of standing stones placed on two mounds about 40 metres apart. The stones rise between 3.5 and 4 metres high, and three of them carry carved images including concentric circles, human figures, circular motifs and a ship. Standing stones, rock carvings and burial mounds are all well known individually in Scandinavia, but their combination at a single monument is considered unusual in northern Europe.
Until recently, the site had never been archaeologically excavated. Its age was therefore estimated mainly through comparison with similar rock-art styles, which suggested that some of the carvings dated to around 1100–900 BC. A research project begun in 2023 sought to establish a more secure chronology while limiting disturbance to the monument. Fieldwork was carried out in close cooperation with the local historical society and relied on small-scale excavation and minimally invasive dating methods.
A ground-penetrating radar survey first identified possible buried features around the monument. In 2024, archaeologists opened a narrow trench measuring 8.7 by 1.5 metres at the edge of the larger mound. Excavation showed that its base was made from redeposited glaciofluvial sediments covered by three layers of cobble-sized stones, probably collected from nearby areas.
A piece of birch charcoal found beneath the lowest cobblestone layer produced a radiocarbon age indicating that the mound could not have been constructed before roughly the 14th to 13th centuries BC. Because older charcoal can sometimes become incorporated into later structures, however, the team did not rely on radiocarbon dating alone. The researchers therefore also used optically stimulated luminescence, or OSL, dating on sandy sediments beneath the cobblestone pavement. This technique can determine when mineral grains were last exposed to sunlight before burial. Three of four samples produced dates corresponding broadly to about 1400–1200 BC. Their agreement with the radiocarbon result indicates that the charcoal was probably deposited around the time the mound was built rather than being residual material from much earlier activity.
Taken together, the two methods place the construction of the mound between approximately 1400 and 1200 BC. This is several centuries earlier than the estimated date of 1100–900 BC for the rock art on one of the standing stones. The difference suggests that the monument may have been developed in at least two stages, with the mound and standing stones established first and some of the carvings added later.
Further excavation beside the mound uncovered additional evidence for later activity. One trench contained the cremated remains of a child around ten years old placed in an urn. Radiocarbon dates from burnt birch and burnt bone indicate that this burial took place between approximately 1000 and 800 BC, broadly overlapping with the proposed age of the rock art.
The new chronology changes the interpretation of Hagbard’s Gallows from a monument belonging to a single moment in the Bronze Age into a place repeatedly used and modified across generations. Its mound appears to have been created first, followed by later rock carving and burial activity. This sequence suggests that the site remained significant for centuries, with successive communities returning to an already ancient monument and adding new layers of meaning to the landscape.
Published on: 09-09-2026
Edited by: Abdulmnam Samakie
Source: Antiquity
