Neolithic Sacrifices: The Mystical Role of ‘Sun Stones’ in Response to Volcanic Fury

Throughout history, volcanic eruptions have had severe effects on human communities, including chilly weather, diminished sunlight, and poor agricultural yields. In 43 BC, when a volcano in Alaska released vast amounts of sulphur into the stratosphere, the subsequent harvest failures struck the Mediterranean regions, resulting in famine and illness. This is well-recorded in historical texts from ancient Greece and Rome.

No written records exist from the Neolithic era. However, climate scientists at the Niels Bohr Institute, part of the University of Copenhagen, have analyzed ice cores taken from the Greenland ice sheet and can now establish that a similar volcanic eruption occurred around 2,900 BC. An eruption that likely had equally disastrous effects for the Neolithic populations residing in Northern Europe at that time, who were highly dependent on agriculture.

This recent understanding of a climatic event during the Neolithic has prompted archaeologists from the University of Copenhagen, the National Museum of Denmark, and the Museum of Bornholm to reassess their discoveries of the so-called “sun stones” from the Neolithic Vasagård site on Bornholm from a fresh perspective, leading to the publication of their findings in the journal Antiquity:

“For quite some time, we have recognized that the sun was central to the early agrarian societies we know from Northern Europe. They cultivated the land and relied on sunlight for their crops. If the sun were to almost vanish due to atmospheric mist for extended periods, it would have been extremely alarming for them,” explains archaeologist Rune Iversen from the University of Copenhagen, who has been involved in the excavations at the site led by the Museum of Bornholm and the National Museum. He adds:

“One particular type of artifact that is completely distinctive to Bornholm is the so-called sun stones, flat pieces of shale featuring engraved designs and sun imagery. They represented fertility and were likely offered as sacrifices to ensure sunlight and growth. A large number of sun stones were unearthed at the Vasagård West site, where the inhabitants placed them in ditches forming part of a causewayed enclosure alongside the remnants of ceremonial feasts, such as animal bones, shattered pottery, and flint tools around 2,900 BC. The ditches were subsequently filled in.”

Rune Iversen and his team are highly confident that a link exists between the volcanic eruption, the ensuing climatic shifts, and the ritual sun stone offerings.

“It seems reasonable to presume that the Neolithic inhabitants of Bornholm aimed to shield themselves from further climatic decline by offering sun stones — or perhaps they wished to express gratitude for the return of the sun.”

Significant cultural transformations

As if a severe climatic decline around 2,900 BC wasn’t enough, Neolithic cultures in Northern Europe faced additional calamities; recent DNA research on human remains has revealed a widespread and deadly plague.

During this same period, as the Neolithic people grappled with both climate change and illness, archaeologists have documented a transformation in the traditions they had adhered to for an extended period. The so-called Funnel Beaker Culture, which had thrived up to approximately 5,000 years ago with its distinctive pottery and passage graves, was gradually fading away.

“At the causewayed enclosure we excavated on Bornholm, we also observe that, following the offering of the sun stones, the inhabitants modified the site’s structure so that, instead of sacrificial ditches, it featured extensive rows of palisades and circular cult houses. The reasons remain unclear, but it stands to reason that the dramatic climatic shifts they experienced would have had an influence in some capacity,” Rune Iversen concludes.

Sun stones to be displayed in Copenhagen

Four of the sun stones from Vasagård on Bornholm will be available for viewing starting January 28 in the prehistoric exhibition at The National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen. They likely represent one of the earliest depositional practices related to a Neolithic sun-cult in Southern Scandinavia, which are also noted during the Nordic Bronze Age with artifacts like the sun chariot.

“The sun stones are entirely unique, even in a European context. The closest parallel to a similar sun-cult in the Neolithic can be found in some passage graves in southern Scandinavia or henge structures like Stonehenge in England, which some researchers connect to the sun. With these sun stones, I firmly believe there is no doubt. It is simply an extraordinary discovery that reveals that practices honoring the sun are an ancient tradition, which we again witness in Southern Scandinavia during the climatic crisis provoked by a volcanic eruption in 536 AD, when several considerable gold hoards were offered as sacrifices,” states Lasse Vilien Sørensen, a lead researcher at The National Museum of Denmark and co-author of the research paper.

Volcanic eruption circa 2,900 BC

The researchers are able to record diminished sunlight and subsequent cooling, which can be traced in both the United States and Europe around 2,900 BC.

Dendrochronological assessments of fossilized wood indicate signs of frost during the spring and summer months both prior to and following 2,900 BC.

Moreover, ice cores from the Greenland ice cap and Antarctica contain sulphur, suggesting the occurrence of a powerful volcanic eruption.