From the Stone Ages to late Middle Ages

Stone Ages to late Middle Ages

Stone Age (13 000 – 1 700 BCE)

About 9,000 years ago, when the ice sheet had retreated from Gotland, the first people started coming here. They were mainly fishermen and hunters and the remains of habitations have been found on Stora Karlsö, among other places.

Gotland was smaller in surface area than it is today, sea level was much higher. There were many lakes and streams, open moorland and forests with both pine and deciduous trees.

Bronze Age (1 700 – 500 BCE)

The people of Gotland devoted a lot of time to hunting and fishing, but slowly agriculture and animal husbandry began to become more prevalent. Trade in handicrafts and bronze spread through migratory people. Many objects from this era, mainly axes and knives, have been found on Gotland.

In the Bronze Age, rock carvings were made depicting ships, warriors, ceremonies and animals. Other memorials on the island from this time are stone cairns, a kind of burial monument. Gotland has over 1,000 stone cairns – the highest being eight meters tall.

At the end of the Bronze Age, the Gotlanders began to make ship settings – stones that stand tall in boat-like formations – as graves. There are around 350 on the island, the most famous of which is Tjelvar's grave on eastern Gotland.

13 000 – 1 700 BCE STONE AGE

Photo: Roger Arleryd

1 700 – 500 BCE BRONZE AGE

Iron Age (500 BCE – 1 050 CE)

Gotlanders became skilled blacksmiths after they learned ironworks around 500 BCE.

They built large houses with robust stone foundations, the remains of which are found on Gotland.

Around the time of Christ's birth, Gotlanders were in much closer contact with the outside world. Remnants of this time include gold coins, glass beakers and Roman statuettes. It is also at this time that they started building smaller houses out of wood and developed cultivation.

The Viking Age

The Viking Age is the end of the Iron Age. Gotland's strategic location in the Baltic Sea increased trade travel. The Gotlanders mainly travelled east. Their wealth grew. Over 700 silver treasures from the Viking Age have been found in Gotland soil.

Runes and picture stones tell of long journeys to faraway countries.

Around 1000 CE, Christianity became more prevalent. But the Gotlanders continued to bury their dead with clothes, jewellery and ornaments, worship pagan gods and sacrifice food, drink, livestock and people. We know this from finds and the written Guta Saga.

Photo: Therese Hübner

Middle Ages (1 050 – 1 500)

International trade was booming and shipping was on the rise. In the 12th century, the Viking port of Visby is the island's commercial metropolis. A lot of foreign merchants move in.

The Hanseatic League – a trade confederation between merchants in the Baltic Sea region – and low taxes make Gotlanders rich. This meant, among other things, that it was possible to build magnificent merchant houses in Visby and that the farms in the countryside were stately.

At the end of the 13th century, Visby residents built the city wall to shut out the farmers. The divisions between city and country lead to a civil war on Gotland in 1288.

During the period 1200 – 1350, most churches were also built. Every parish needed to have a stately church.

In 1350, the plague, or "black death" ravaged Gotland. A third of the island's population perished and eleven years later Danish King Valdemar Atterdag conquered Gotland in a bloody battle.

Danes, Teutonic Order Knights and Nordic Union kings alternated through positions of power. Visborg Castle was founded by Danes in the 15th century. Denmark handed Gotland over to Sweden with the Peace of Brömsebro in 1645. Then the Danish military returned once again. They destroyed Visborg Castle before leaving the island in 1679.

Facts from: Gotlands Museum Fornsalen, and Region Gotland.

500 BCE – 1 050 CE IRON AGE (AND VIKING AGE) 1050 – 1500 CE