Stunning hoard of Bronze Age jewelry discovered by local hiker in Sweden - Livescience.com

A Bronze Age hoard brimming with fine jewelry was discovered in Sweden in early April, when a local man investigated what he thought was a piece of scrap metal sticking out from under a pile of rocks in a hilly, wooded area. .

"It's one of the largest hoards we've ever excavated from the late Bronze Age in Sweden," project leader Johan Ling, a professor of archeology at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, told Live Science.

The entire hoard has about 50 artifacts, and roughly 80% of the items appear to be associated with a high-status woman (or women) from the late Bronze Age, about 2,700 to 2,500 years ago, judging from the style of the objects, Ling said.

"The interesting thing is [the hoard objects] are not very common in Scandinavia, although they are common in northern Poland and northern Germany," which indicates the existence of a "strong trade network," Ling said. .

Instead, it's a collection of high-status objects that were purposefully buried, Ling said.

It's possible that during the Bronze Age, people in this region performed ceremonies that were similar to potlatch, a custom practiced by Indigenous groups such as the Haida and Tlingit in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S.

This buried Bronze Age hoard is likely "a self-investment, it's a manifestation of power that these elites are doing, showing that 'We can afford [this], we have this ability, you do not have this,'" Ling said.

It's also possible that the hoard was buried in parallel with an individual at another location, but archaeologists have yet to find a grave, he said.

It's unlikely the hoard was buried for safekeeping or to hide it from enemies, Ling noted.

During the Bronze Age, people in what is now Sweden were farmers and agropastoralists, meaning they had a mix of farming and livestock.