Thestone circles of theIron Age (c. 500 BC – c. 400 AD) were a characteristic burial custom of southern Scandinavia and Southwestern Finland, especially onGotland and inGötaland.
Finland court stones are found inEura,Ulvila andKokemäki.They date typically during thePre-Roman Iron Age and theRoman Iron Age. In Sweden, they are calledDomarringar (judge circles),Domkretsar (judge circles) orDomarsäten (judge seats). In Finland they are calledKäräjäkivet (court stones). In some places in Nordic countries they were used until 17th century.
They should not be confused with earlier bronze age and neolithicStone circles in the British Isles and Brittany.
A tradition of making stone circles existed on the European continent inWielbark culture near the mouth of theVistula River in the first century. The practice suggests Norse influence but may have been established in the area before the arrival of theGoths.[citation needed]
The stone circles were sometimes used as burial grounds.[citation needed]
The circles are usually round, or elongatedellipses. The stones may be very large and there are usually between 9 and 12. Sometimes there are as few as 6–8. One stone circle, the circle of Nässja (nearVadstena), comprises as many as 24 stones. Excavations have shown burnt coal in the centre of the circles and they are nowadays considered to be incineration graves.[citation needed]
There is a widespread tradition that the circles were used forthings, or general assemblies. Similar circles were used for popular assemblies in Denmark until the 16th century, and in Vad parish inVästergötland, the village assemblies were held in a stone circle until the 19th century.[citation needed]
Even if knowledge that the stone circles were graves was later lost, it was still fresh in the 13th century as testified in these lines bySnorri Sturluson in the introduction of theHeimskringla:[1][2]
As to funeral rites, the earliest age is called the Age of Burning; because all the dead were consumed by fire, and over their ashes were raised standing stones.
This article contains content from theOwl Edition ofNordisk familjebok, a Swedish encyclopedia published between 1904 and 1926, now in thepublic domain.