Bronze Age

In the novel, the Bronze Age is both an archaeological past and a present-day source of clues: its sites and ritual objects link the man sought by the investigators to Frank Brennan’s fascination with ancient sun worship. The period matters not through a detailed chronology, but through the material traces people discover, collect, interpret, and sometimes steal.

Archaeological traces on Bornholm

Rose traces one lead to Knarhøj, a mound just west of Listed on Bornholm. A gallery owner had built a maze there in 2006 because of the area's history. The mound is associated with Sorte Muld, a Bronze Age settlement where finds included several thousand guldgubber: thin pieces of embossed gold used as offerings. Their abundance indicates that the site had been a cult center.

A sunstone found by the gallery owner adds another strand to that history. Rose describes the stone as a crystal used by Vikings to determine the sun’s position in overcast conditions, and notes that a comparable principle is used in modern polar aviation. In the investigation, the find helps make Knarhøj more than a picturesque setting: it is a place where archaeological evidence, older ritual practice, and present-day curiosity converge.

Sunstones, excavations, and Frank Brennan

A separate account links Frank Brennan directly to archaeological work at Rispebjerg. A man who had spent the summer in the Ølene camp recalls that he and Frank took part in the excavations there. Frank felt a particular attachment to the site because of its sun offerings and the extensive evidence of cultures that had existed thousands of years earlier. The same witness says that Frank stole one of the sunstones excavated there, a fact discussed only in whispers.

The stolen object makes Frank’s interest concrete. His connection to ancient solar practices is not only intellectual: he participated in excavations and secretly took away a find. The evidence does not establish what he did with the stone, but the theft gives his fascination a material and illicit dimension.

The past as an investigative link

The Bronze Age becomes part of the detectives’ reasoning when Rose connects the man they are seeking with occult phenomena that had interested Christian Habersaat, and with the man from Ølene associated with nightly naked dances. Carl Mørck recognizes the possible significance of Knarhøj: if the man Alberte met was the same person, June Habersaat might know more about him. Rose’s account of the site's ancient cult history therefore contributes to a chain of inquiry, rather than proving the man's identity on its own.

Hardy Henningsen later widens that chain by placing Bronze Age sites alongside sunstones, round churches, the Knights Templar, and the man’s long hair and belated hippie dancing. He suggests that June Habersaat may have learned the Joni Mitchell song “River” from that man, despite her apparent preference for easy-listening music. These details form a cluster of clues about his interests and influence; they do not by themselves establish his identity.

An ancient past in modern hands

Across the investigation, the Bronze Age is encountered through fragments: offerings recovered from a settlement, a sunstone found at Knarhøj, and another reportedly stolen from an excavation at Rispebjerg. Modern people give those objects new settings and meanings, from a gallery owner's maze to Frank’s private interest in solar offerings. The past thus becomes legible through scattered material evidence, while remaining open to competing interpretations.

That pattern also shapes the case. Archaeological sites and objects help the investigators connect people and interests across different places, but each connection remains something to test against further testimony. The Bronze Age supplies neither a complete explanation nor a simple answer; it is the deep historical layer from which the novel's modern investigation draws clues.