Sammallahdenmäki

Sammallahdenmäki is the name of a hill in western Finland Lappi place that belongs to the town of Rauma. On the hill there are about 36 bronze age Rösen (stone grave mound ). The cemetery is an important archaeological site in the Nordic countries and was taken on December 1, 1999 to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

The Rösen, which are also found in the Bronze Age in Denmark and Sweden, were built around the years 1500-100 BC on the east coast of the Gulf of Bothnia. Because since lifted the country through the postglacial land uplift around 30 m, the tombs are now more than 15 km from the sea.

The Cairns are mentioned in the local literature in 1878. In 1891, the first tests were carried out in which four graves and the so -called " church floor " unique in the Nordic countries were examined. The " church floor " represents an irregular, rectangular stone box that was probably used as a grave, the graves were usually round. In the investigations burned human bones were found, which is why assumed that the burial rituals of that time were cremations. In one of the tombs, bronze fragments were found in a stone box, resulting from grave goods.

In the age analysis of the graves with radiocarbon dating method, it was found that the oldest graves in time must be 1300-1000 BC, the youngest 170-82 BC emerged. For further excavations in 2003 and 2004 near the graves and Bronze Age dwellings were identified, which have approximately the age of the younger graves. They were identified by the remains of fireplaces and bronze parts.