Sun stones and the darkened sun: Neolithic miniature art from the island of Bornholm, Denmark | Antiquity | Cambridge Core
doi.org
Sun stones and the darkened sun: Neolithic miniature art from the island of Bornholm, Denmark

Abstract

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The discovery of more than 600 whole and fragmentary engraved stone plaques in the early third millennium BC infill from the ditches of a causewayed enclosure at Vasagård, on the Danish island of Bornholm, represents a unique find in Neolithic miniature art. Termed ‘sun stones’ in reference to the rayed images that characterise many of the plaques, the stones were deposited en masse over a short period. This article offers a fundamental classification of the rich imagery captured in the engravings and examines its potential function at a time of possible climatic crisis that impacted not just Bornholm but the wider northern hemisphere.