Contemporary with the megalithic burials a custom existed (chiefly in Jutland, S. Sweden and some of the Danish Islands) of burying each person in a small separate grave ; several of these being covered by one barrow and found at different levels in it, either sunk in the earth, on the ground level or actually in the mound (bottom graves, ground graves and upper graves). These graves have pottery beakers and elaborate perforated stone axes, usually called battle axes. Axes and pottery of this type are widely distributed in Europe and these graves conceivably repre sent the entrance into Scandinavia of another race, who ultimately merged with the megalith-builders, since in the Long Stone Cist period there is little distinction between the furniture of the megalithic and of the separate graves.
Owing to the necessity of importing the metal the Bronze Age began late in Scandinavia ; it probably lasted almost until the be ginning of the Christian era. Here again much information is derived from burials, but hoards of objects are also of great importance. The dwelling-sites are imperfectly known.
Montelius, in his chronological classification of the Scandinavian Bronze Age, distinguishes two main periods, an Earlier and a Later, each having three subdivisions ; but for a general survey the division into two periods is sufficient ; the first probably end ing about i 000 B.C., the second lasting till a few centuries before the Christian Era.
The typical weapons were : Axes, of various forms, as, the palstave, the socketed and perforated axe; spears with riveted sockets ; daggers and swords. The rapier or thrusting type of sword common throughout Europe in the middle Bronze Age was little used, being early replaced before A.D. by the heavier broad sword (leaf-shaped type), which came into use at an earlier date than in, e.g., Britain. Some archaeologists hold that
this type which was widely distributed through Europe, was actu ally evolved in Scandinavia by smiths who were, through the amber trade with Southern Europe, acquainted with the Italian bronze-handled dagger; others believe that Hungary was the place of origin. Some of the Scandinavian swords have a cast bronze hilt, others a hilt of wood or horn, etc., riveted in slabs on to a flanged bronze tang. The only defensive weapon which has sur vived is the circular bronze buckler, but such authorities as hold that the famous rock-carvings are of Bronze Age date deduce from these that horned helmets were worn. If the later phase of the Scandinavian Bronze Age was contemporary with the British Early Iron Age, these may well have taken the form of the bronze helmet in the British Museum found in the River Thames.
Personal ornaments were now for the first time abundant. These are usually of bronze but sometimes of gold. They include : Finger-rings, bracelets and torcs of various forms (coiled wire, cast or hammered) ; tutuli, i.e., conical bosses apparently attached to the belt ; pins, frequently disc-headed or with hanging orna ments ; and brooches.
Both weapons and ornaments were commonly decorated at this time with incised designs, sometimes of chevrons, etc., but most often of spirals. This spiral ornament is often so marvellously regular as to suggest that some mechanical means was employed.
The distribution of finds suggests that there was at this time a considerable population throughout Southern Scandinavia.
The dead were at this period disposed unburnt in coffins, some times in the form of small stone cists but sometimes of wood, roughly hewn from a single tree-trunk. Some of these tree-trunk burials are of great interest as giving examples of the clothing worn. An oak coffin in a barrow (called Treenh0i) at Havdrup in Ribe, Denmark, contained a male skeleton with all his clothes preserved. These were: a high round cap, a wide mantle, a kind of kilt and two small fragments of leg-coverings, all of woven wool, and the remains of leather shoes. The inside of the mantle and a woollen belt which confined the kilt were fringed. A woollen shawl was rolled up to make a pillow. At the left side of the body was a sword in a sheath, and at the foot a wooden box containing a smaller box in which were another cap, a horn comb and a bronze razor. The whole contents of the grave was wrapped in an untanned hide. A complementary find at Borum-Eshoi, near Arhus, also in an oak coffin, produced a woman's dress, consist ing of a long under-robe and a sleeved bodice both of woven wool, a cap of netted worsted, a tasseled belt woven of wool and cowhair, and a large mantle of woven wool and cowhair. Another cap was found in the grave, which also contained a bronze brooch, a horn comb, a finger-ring, two bracelets, a tore, three tutli and a horn-handled bronze dagger.