Mandbjerghøj

About

The Mandbjerghøj is located next to the road through Øster Velling Skov forest, north of Øster Velling, west of Randers in Jutland, Denmark. Here there are two small granite boulders with engraved geometric patterns from the Bronze Age. A granite Fredningssten (heritage marker stone) marks the spot.

The two stones with petroglyphs stand some fifty metres from their original find spot. There are also the almost completely destroyed remains of the Mandbjerghøj tumulus where the first stone with petroglyphs, which was part of the tumulus fence, was found in 1857. In 1880, the owner of the property razed the hill in order to fill a marl pit with its earth.

While he was carrying out this work, he encountered a stone cist and after he contacted the museum, Mandbjerghøj as excavated. During these excavations, the two stones were found which now stand by the street. In the same year, another stone with petroglyphs was discovered, which was taken to the National Museum and is now part of the Bronze Age display in the Cultural History Museum in Randers.

The tumulus which is now barely visible was originally about 24 m in diameter and four metres high. In the middle of the mound was a typical...