Sammallahdenmäki (età del bronzo): la necropoli di pietra dei primi finlandesi
Su una collina rocciosa della Finlandia occidentale, fra i pini e i licheni, si raccolgono decine di cumuli di pietre: sono tombe dell’età del bronzo, costruite oltre tremila anni fa. Sammallahdenmäki è la più importante necropoli a tumuli della Scandinavia preistorica, una rara testimonianza delle credenze e della società di quei lontani abitanti del Nord.
At a glance
Sammallahdenmäki, in western Finland, is the most important Bronze Age burial site in the Nordic countries, a cemetery of more than thirty stone burial cairns spread across a rocky, pine-clad ridge. Built over three thousand years ago, when this slope stood by the sea (the land has since risen), the cairns — some unusual in form, such as a long “church-floor” ruin and a quadrangular cairn — give a rare insight into the funerary practices, beliefs and society of Bronze Age Scandinavia. It was inscribed by UNESCO in 1999.
Key facts
- UNESCO: World Heritage since 1999 (Bronze Age Burial Site of Sammallahdenmäki)
- Bronze Age: burial cairns over 3,000 years old
- 30+ cairns: the most important Bronze Age cemetery in the Nordic region
- Unusual forms: including a long “church floor” and a quadrangular cairn
- Former coast: by the sea when built; the land has since risen
- Rare insight: into Bronze Age belief and society in the north
History
In the Bronze Age, around 1500–500 BC, this rocky ridge in what is now western Finland stood on the coast, and the people of the time buried their dead here in cairns of piled stone, often on high ground overlooking the sea. Over the centuries more than thirty cairns were built, most low and rounded, but some of unusual shape, including a long rectangular setting nicknamed the “Church Floor” and a rare quadrangular cairn.
Since then the land has risen (a continuing effect after the ice ages), and the sea has retreated, leaving the cemetery inland amid forest. Studied as the finest Bronze Age burial site in the Nordic countries and a window onto its prehistoric society, Sammallahdenmäki was inscribed by UNESCO in 1999.
What you see
A marked trail leads across the rocky, pine- and lichen-covered ridge among the cairns: low mounds and rings of grey stone, the long “Church Floor”, the quadrangular cairn and other forms, set in the quiet northern forest with views over the surrounding land that was once sea.
The simple, ancient stone graves on the lonely ridge convey the antiquity of human life in the north.
Practical information
- Site: a marked walking trail among the cairns; a nearby visitor point
- Best time: late spring to autumn
- Time needed: 1–2 hours
- Setting: near Rauma in western Finland
Getting there
Sammallahdenmäki is in the Rauma region of western Finland, about 20 km inland from the town of Rauma, reached by road. GPS: 61.13° N, 21.78° E.
Nearby
- Rauma — the UNESCO old wooden town on the coast
- The Bothnian coast — the shore that has risen since the Bronze Age
- Pori — the regional city to the north
Sources
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre — “Bronze Age Burial Site of Sammallahdenmäki” (ref. 579)
- Finnish Heritage Agency — official body
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — Finland
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