Sorte Muld is a Bronze Age settlement on Bornholm whose archaeological traces give a present-day landscape a second, much older significance. In the investigation, its history becomes more than local background: evidence of a cult center and a reported sunstone find help Rose connect Christian Habersaat’s interest in occult phenomena with the man from Ølene whom the police are trying to identify.

Setting and Archaeological History

Sorte Muld is described as lying in an area west of Listed, where a gallery owner later chose to place a maze on the mound called Knarhøj. The maze was not built until 2006, but its location was selected because of the area’s history. Rose explains that Sorte Muld was a Bronze Age settlement and that excavations there produced several thousand thin gold pieces embossed with figures. Used as offerings, these finds point to the site having served as a cult center.

The location’s significance thus rests on material traces rather than on the maze alone. The offerings give the area a documented ritual past, while the mound and later artwork make that history present in the landscape Rose has investigated.

The Sunstone and the Investigation

Rose also tells Carl Mørck that the gallery owner found a sunstone, a kind of find she says had not previously been heard of. She describes the stone as a crystal used by Vikings to determine the sun’s position in overcast conditions, through the polarization of sunlight. She has investigated the claim and considers it consistent with what she has found. In the conversation, the sunstone strengthens the sense that the place’s history is unusually relevant to the case; the evidence does not establish a direct connection between the artifact and a particular suspect.

The site becomes a clue through Rose’s reasoning. She joins the archaeological and solar associations around Sorte Muld and Knarhøj to Christian Habersaat’s interest in occult phenomena and to the man from Ølene, whom she associates with nightly naked dances. Carl recognizes that this proposed link also bears on June Habersaat: if the man was the one Alberte Goldschmid met, June may know more about him. The place therefore helps turn scattered historical and personal details into a line of inquiry, rather than proving the identity of the man on its own.

Role in the Case

Rose’s account prompts Carl to accept that June Habersaat should be questioned about the man, but he refuses to return to Bornholm to pressure her. Instead, he asks whether Rose or Assad will go. Sorte Muld’s importance in the investigation is consequently indirect but consequential: its archaeological context and the reported sunstone find sharpen a hypothesis, redirect attention toward June, and bring the unresolved question of Alberte’s encounter into focus.