Egtved Girl

This is the burial of the so called "Egtved Girl", a 16-18 year old girl, buried in 1370 BC in an oak coffin that was covered with the barrow Storehøj near Egtved, west of Vejle, Danemark. 

She was buried wearing s short cord skirt. 

Here is what she would have probably looked like wearing these clothes

This is the bronze figurine of a girl making a backward bridge or somersaults, found at Grevensvænge near Næstved. She is only wearing a neck ring and the same kind of cord skirt as the Egtved Girl, however, a little shorter

This is the female bronze figurine found at Fårdal near Viborg. It depicts a woman offering her breast. She is dressed in the same type of cord skirt as the Egtved girl. She could also be wearing a neck ring...

What was the climate like in Scandinavia at that time if girls could walk around dressed like this? Well much warmer. These girls lived during the so called"Minoan Warm Period" a period of time with much higher average temperatures in the Baltic than they are today. Sign of how warm South Baltic was during the time when Egtved girl lived and died is that during that time millet (type of grain) was grown in southern Scandinavia. Today millet is grown in tropical and subtropical regions...

Compare the average temperature then (red arrow on the first green bar) with average temperature now (the last green bar) on the chart...

The above chart is from my article about climate fluctuations in Europe over last 5000 years and how they affected salt extraction in my post "Fulacht Faidh - Salt extraction facility".

Horn of Wismar

This is "Horn of Wismar". It was discovered more than 100 years ago near Wismar, Pomerania, Germany. It was made in the first half or the second millennium BC.

The bronze metal fittings on the Horn of Wismar are richly engraved with complex decorations. 

The decorations on the Horn of Wismar consist of geometric motifs such as circles and spirals as well as with depictions of boats and soldiers carrying spears and shields

This is the enlarged version of a warrior depiction from the Horn of Wismar. 

Wismar is located in Pomerania the same region where we find Tollense river valley, where the biggest Bronze Age battleground so far was discovered few years ago. 

The warriors depicted on the Horn of Wismar could be the same warriors who fought around Tollense river bridge. You can read more about this battle in my post "Tollense battle".

Wismar is located in in a deep bay, protected from the Baltic storms. It is a perfect harbour. 

It's location at the entrance into the Baltic Sea makes it a perfect place to locate a fleet which could control the access to the amber coast further east.

The boats depicted on the Wismar horn are the same boats depicted on Late Bronze Age rock carvings across the Baltic Sea. Like these ones from Bohuslän, western Sweden.

Who were the people who sailed (rowed) these "dragon boats"? Were they local or foreign? Were they the people who brought amber to Ireland during the late Bronze Age? Like this necklace found in Tooradoo, Co. Limerick.

Were they the people who brought bronze and Bronze Age into Scandinavia? Were they the same people who brought Bronze Age into Ireland, and who, the ancient Irish Annals claim, came from Mediterranean? You can read more about the arrival of Bronze Age into Ireland from Mediterranean in the series of posts entitled "Montenegrian tumuluses".