2600 years ago, around fifty beautiful artifacts in bronze, along with one or several in iron were deposited beneath a large rock formation on a mountain in western Sweden. Were they hidden, or part of a burial- or offering practice? Had they been laid down on a single occasion, or were they deposited one by one over a time span of several generations?

Hundreds of years prior, another part of the mountain had been used for depositing bronze objects, suggesting that this was a significant, perhaps even sacred place.

When the Hjälmared hoard was discovered four years ago, the mountain was covered by a dense pine forest. As the landscape and vegetation have changed significantly the past thousands of years, the painting explores how the glade surrounding the rock formation might have looked around the time for the deposition. Perhaps the mountain slopes were then covered by an ancient forest of beech, oak, linden and hazel, embraced by the sun’s golden light during the final hours of summer solstice.

Hjälmared, Late Bronze Age

Aquarelle, 76*56 cm. The illustration is included in the exhibition ”Forever Bronze - the life, death and resurrection of the Hjälmared hoard” at Vitlycke museum.