Hagbard's Gallows (Hagbards Galge)
Hagaberg gallows · Ås Hagbard's Gallows
Middle to Late Bronze Age·Nordic Bronze Age (Halland)·🇸🇪 Halland, Ås Parish near Kungsbacka, Sweden
About
About Hagbard's Gallows (Hagbards Galge)
Dramatic Bronze Age grave field landmark in Halland: two 4.5 m high menhirs (leaning slightly) forming 'gallows' gateway plus adjacent 18 m stone circle and 25 m long stone ship setting and large mounds, on coastal plain. Legend links tragic love story of Hagbard and Signe (Viking saga) — lovers hanged. Built c.1500–1000 BCE Bronze Age elite cemetery. Menhirs are among tallest in Halland, of gneiss, visible for kilometres. Excavated partly, yielding burials.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Hagbard saga back-projected onto Bronze Age stones
Theories
- 01Coastal beacon-gateway controlling Halland sea route along Kattegat
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c. 1500–1000 BCE
- Period
- Middle to Late Bronze Age
- Culture
- Nordic Bronze Age (Halland)
- Purpose
- Grave-field gateway stones plus circle/ship burial markers
- Abandoned
- Iron Age
- Rediscovered
- Saga association medieval; surveyed 19th century
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c. 1500–1000 BCE
Initial construction
c. 1425 CE
Major expansion
On the ground
Structures & features
57.3200° N · 12.1520° E · 25 m · 2 mapped features
Hagbard monoliths
standing stonesTwo 4.5 m gneiss menhirs forming gallows pair
57.3200° N · 12.1520° EStone ship
stone ship25 m ship setting near menhirs
57.3199° N · 12.1522° E