Apple harvest

Not far from where I live is a place, famous for their apples. Every year, at the harvest, there is a feast highlighting everything with apples. The place is called Kivik and is on the east part of Skåne (Scania) peninsula. It is only a small place, beautifully situated by the sea. You can buy freshly made apple juice, cider, marmalade, chutney and other things related to apples and the harvest.

This years apple painting!

Some earlier motives

A special feature is the apple painting in the harbour. It has a different subject every year, and the painting is made by apples only. Quite amazing. No harvest, or market, without specialities from the region. Here was a lot on offer, and we came away with a bag, or two, of goodies.

Being in the neighbourhood, we took the opportunity to visit an old grave from the Bronze Age. It is called the King's grave, but recent research has shown that it might not have been a King buried there at all.

"The site was used as a quarry for construction materials until 1748, when two farmers discovered a 3.25 metres (11 ft) tomb, with a north-south orientation, constructed with ten slabs of stone. They dug it out, hoping to find a treasure in the grave.

Soon rumour had it that the two men had found a great treasure in the tomb and the authorities had the men arrested. However, the two men denied having found anything, and as no evidence could be provided against them, they were released.

Several years passed before it was discovered that the slabs of stone in the tomb were adorned with petroglyphs, and a long series of speculations had begun. Still, the quarrying continued and some of the stones disappeared.

The site was excavated by archaeologist Gustaf Hallström (1880–1962) starting in 1931. Between 1931–1933, a thorough excavation was undertaken and the remains of a Stone Age settlement was found under the massive cairn, including a great deal of flint stone shards. Only teeth, fragments of bronze, and some pieces of bone were found, dating from the Bronze Age.

The mound contained two cists, however. On the left side of the cist's southern end, there were raised slabs of stone from a 1.2 metres (3.9 ft) long and 0.65 metres (2.1 ft) wide cist. It was named the King's Grave due to its size, long before it was known to contain two burials. Since the site has been subject to numerous looting, there are no reliable finds, but it is believed that the two graves were built at the same time.

After the excavation, the tomb was restored, but no one knows whether it looks similar to its original state. A comparison with other contemporaneous graves suggests that the site might have been three times higher than the 3.5 metres (11 ft) as restored. The restoration was based on etchings from the 18th century and conjecture. A new chamber was constructed out of concrete and a tunnel extended into the cists." (From Wikipedia)

Most old graves seem to have been filled with personal belongings. People believed that you could take a few things with you to the other world. It is sad, that most graves, wherever they are, have been robbed. On the other hand, there seems to be enough items and decorations left, to indicate what kind of life people lived in those days. For this, we should be thankful.