Devastating Volcanic Eruption Sparked Ritual Sacrifice of Neolithic Sun Stones

Volcanic eruptions shaped the destinies of ancient European societies, leading to dramatic cultural shifts and the emergence of sun worship practices among Neolithic communities.

Archaeological findings, including the mysterious sun stones from Bornholm, shed light on how our ancestors responded to climate-induced challenges with ritualistic fervor.

Volcanic Impact on Ancient Civilizations

Volcanic eruptions throughout history have profoundly impacted human societies, often triggering cold weather, reduced sunlight, and poor harvests. For example, in 43 BC, a volcanic eruption in Alaska released large amounts of sulfur into the stratosphere, leading to years of failed harvests across the Mediterranean region. This environmental disruption caused widespread famine and disease, as documented in ancient Greek and Roman writings.

Although the Neolithic period lacks written records, researchers from the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen have analyzed ice cores from Greenland. Their findings reveal evidence of a major volcanic eruption around 2,900 BC. This event likely brought similar catastrophic consequences for the Neolithic communities of Northern Europe, whose survival heavily relied on agriculture.

Neolithic Sun Stones: A Ritual Response to Climate Change

This new insight into a climate episode in the Neolithic period has led archaeologists from the University of Copenhagen, the National Museum of Denmark and the Museum of Bornholm to view their findings of so-called “sun stones” from the Neolithic Vasagård site on Bornholm in a new light, and they have just published a scientific article on the phenomenon in the journal Antiquity:

“We have known for a long time that the sun was the focal point for the early agricultural cultures we know of in Northern Europe. They farmed the land and depended on the sun to bring home the harvest. If the sun almost disappeared due to mist in the stratosphere for longer periods of time, it would have been extremely frightening for them,” says archaeologist Rune Iversen from the University of Copenhagen, who has participated in the excavations at the site led by the Museum of Bornholm and the National Museum. He adds:

“One type of find that is completely unique to Bornholm is the so-called sun stones, which are flat shale pieces with engraved patterns and sun motifs. They symbolized fertility and were probably sacrificed to ensure sun and growth. Sun stones were found in large quantities at the Vasagård West site, where residents deposited them in ditches forming part of a causewayed enclosure together with the remains of ritual feasts in the form of animal bones, broken clay vessels, and flint objects around 2,900 BC. The ditches were subsequently closed.”

Rune Iversen and his colleagues believe that there is a very high probability that there is a connection between the volcanic eruption, the subsequent climate changes, and the discovery of the ritual sun stone sacrifices.

“It is reasonable to believe that the Neolithic people on Bornholm wanted to protect themselves from further deterioration of the climate by sacrificing sun stones – or perhaps they wanted to show their gratitude that the sun had returned again.”

Shifts in Neolithic Cultures and Traditions

As if an acute climate deterioration around 2,900 BC was not enough, Northern European Neolithic cultures were also affected by other disasters; New DNA studies of human bones have shown that the plague was very widespread and fatal.

During the same period when the Neolithic people were affected by both climate change and disease, archaeologists can also document a shift in the traditions they had held on to for a long time. The so-called Funnel Beaker Culture, which had been dominant until about 5,000 years ago with its characteristic ceramics and passage graves, was gradually disappearing.

“At the causewayed enclosure we have excavated on Bornholm, we can also see that, after the sacrifice of the sun stones, the residents changed the structure of the site so that instead of sacrificial ditches it was provided with extensive rows of palisades and circular cult houses. We do not know why, but it is reasonable to believe that the dramatic climatic changes they had been exposed to would have played a role in some way, Rune Iversen concludes.

Ancient Sun Worship in Neolithic Scandinavia

Four of the sun stones from Vasagård on Bornholm can be experienced from 28 January in the prehistoric exhibition at The National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen. They probably exemplify one of the earliest depositional practices connected to a Neolithic sun-cult in South Scandinavia, which are also known from the Nordic Bronze Age with objects like the sun chariot.

“The sunstones are completely unique, also in a European context. The closest we get to a similar sun cult in the Neolithic is some passage graves in southern Scandinavia or henge structures like Stonehenge in England, which some researchers associate with the sun. With the sun stones, there is in my mind no doubt. It is quite simply an incredible discovery, which demonstrates that depositions honoring the sun is an ancient phenomenon, which we encounter again in South Scandinavia during the climate disaster caused by a volcanic eruption in the year 536 AD, where several large gold hoards were deposited as sacrifices,” says Lasse Vilien Sørensen, who is senior researcher at The National Museum of Denmark and co-author of the research paper.

Evidence of Ancient Climate Challenges

The researchers can document reduced radiation from the sun and consequent cooling, which can be traced in both the United States and Europe around 2,900 BC.

Dendrochronological analyses of fossil wood show signs of frost in the spring and summer months both before and after 2,900 BC.

Additionally, ice cores from the Greenland ice cap and Antarctica contain sulfur, which is a sign of the occurrence of a strong volcanic eruption.

Reference: “Sun stones and the darkened sun: Neolithic miniature art from the island of Bornholm, Denmark” by Rune Iversen, Poul Otto Nielsen, Lasse Vilien Sørensen, Anders Svensson, Jørgen Peder Steffensen, Alexander Land, Michael S. Thorsen and Finn Ole Sonne Nielsen, 16 January 2025, Antiquity.
DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2024.217

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