Golden buttons from Buskebanke
Eight golden buttons from the Late Bronze Age. The buttons were found by using metal detectors on one of the ploughed-up burial mounds at Voldtofte in 2010-11. They are now at Møntergården in Odense.
Intro
In 1861, a grave was found containing a golden arm ring, a golden needle and two golden buttons in a hill called Buskebanke. Perhaps it is identical to the hill site where detector scannings in 2010-12 led to spectacular finds of bronze and golden tools.
Pilgrimage to south-west Funen
In the Late Bronze Age (c. 1,000-500 BC), people regularly flocked from near and far to a site in south-west Funen, present-day Voldtofte, in order to offer to the gods and take part in religious ceremonies. This is demonstrated by numerous finds from graves, hoards and settlements.
At the bidding of the gods
Faith and rituals have shaped life on Funen since antiquity. In the hope of gaining the gods’ favour, Funen’s inhabitants dispatched grave goods to the kingdom of the dead, constructed churches and wore both Thor’s hammers and Christian crosses.
Sacred trading
People often gather together in large numbers to worship their gods. From antiquity and up to modern times, places of assembly emerged throughout Denmark where people went to offer and pray. And while they were about it, they might just as well ply their trades, exchange slaves and have their ships, ornaments and weapons repaired.
This location is part of the exhibition 'Funen – at the centre of the universe', at Møntergården in Odense. Read more about the exhibition on our website.