A volcanic eruption could be the cause of this. The Neolithic inhabitants of a small island in the Baltic Sea buried hundreds of stones. They are decorated with images of plants and the sun. They maintain that the artifacts were ‘planted’ in the ground in the hope that the sun would return and thus save the crops. It is about the ritual of planting stones.
About 4,900 years ago, a Neolithic people on the Danish island of Bornholm ‘sacrificed’ hundreds of stones. They are engraved with solar motifs and fields. Climatologists at the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen analyzed the ice cores. They found that these rituals coincided with a large volcanic eruption that obscured the sun in northern Europe.

sun stones
The discovery of “sun stones” and their ritual sacrifices suggests a cultural response to these environmental stresses. People sought to appease or thank the forces they believed influenced their agricultural success.
“We know that the Sun was the center of the first agricultural cultures of northern Europe.” This is pointed out by archaeologist from the University of Copenhagen Rune Iversen.
The relationship between climate phenomena and social changes is recurrent throughout history. Neolithic people’s dependence on agriculture made them especially vulnerable to disturbances caused by volcanic activity. This is how the motivations underlying the ‘sacrifices’ of sun stones are understood.
«The ritual of planting stones was an offering. They wanted to protect themselves from further deterioration of the climate by ‘sacrificing’ sun stones. Or maybe they wanted to show their gratitude because the sun had returned again,” adds Iversen.

Cultural decline
Furthermore, the mention of widespread illness during this period adds another layer of complexity to the challenges these communities faced. The decline of local culture suggests that they faced combined tensions. Climate change, disease, and possibly social unrest. They could have caused significant transformations in their way of life.
After these events, a new type of culture began in Bornholm. The inhabitants stopped building mass tombs. They began to create more fortified settlements and formed new social networks with the inhabitants of Scandinavia. But it is possible that the importance of the Sun did not diminish. Neolithic societies across Europe depended on it for their crops. The study was published in Antiquity.
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