Nordic Bronze Age 4 samples 23andme format

The Nordic Bronze Age was a prehistoric period in Southern Scandinavia, generally dated from around 1700 BC to 500 BC. The Nordic Bronze Age spanned Southern Scandinavia and the most Northern parts of Germany.

The culture was characterised by rich, long-barrow burials, typically with inhumation. Continuity with the Nordic Bronze Age barrow burial tradition, including the use of monumental mound burial types and high-status rich inhumations and depositions, was observed in the earliest phases of the subsequent Nordic Iron Age. The Nordic Bronze Age was also defined by its rich metalwork and various elaborate bronze grave goods. Examples of grave goods included swords, helmets, sculptures, arm rings, and bowls. The economy involved maritime networks and long-distance exchange, such as amber trade from the Baltics, tin from Britain, bronze from Phoenicia, and pottery from Etruria. In terms of iconography and ritual, the NBA featured ship motifs, solar imagery, and animal representations found in rock art and artefacts, typical of animistic religions. There was also a persistent practice of wetland and water offerings and long-term rock-art traditions.

However, the transition from the Nordic Bronze Age to the Iron Age in Southern Denmark and Northern Germany was marked by an abrupt decline and cultural rupture around 600-500 BC. The later Jastorf culture marked a sharp break from the Nordic Bronze Age, replacing its ornate art, grand burials, and seafaring trade with simpler pottery, cremation traditions, land-based exchange, and cultural traits influenced by Central European and Scythian styles. This abrupt change, without intermediate transitional phases, suggests that the Jastorf material culture was not an autochthonous development from the Nordic Bronze Age.

Ancient writers attributed this cultural shift to Cimmero-Scythian migrations—known as the “Galatae”—entering the region. Twentieth-century anthropologists also noted a northward movement of a long-headed Nordic type similar to Western Scythian elites from the Hallstatt area. Archaeological and genetic evidence suggests a mixed picture: the north remained largely indigenous and evolved into the Nordic Iron Age, while the south experienced a significant influx of new peoples who introduced cremation practices, distinct genetic traits, Celtic and Iranic influences, and a more defined Norse-style religion replacing earlier animistic beliefs.