Magnus Bruzelius, Jacob Adlerbeth and the Invention of the Stone Age

Abstract

In 1822 the teacher at Lund Universiry, Magnus Bruzelius, published the paper Nordiska fornlemningar från Skåne in lduna, the journal of Götiska Förbundet. The paper is one of the most important ever written on archaeology. It was the first time the Stone Age was defined based on archaeological findings. This opened up for the Three-Age System explored by Bruzelius' contemporaries Christian Jürgensen Thomsen and Sven Nilsson. Bruzelius based his study on his excavations of the Åsahögen passage grave in Kvistofta outside Helsingborg and a dolmen outside Fjälkinge. Instrumental for Bruzelius' research and the publication of the paper was Jacob Adlerbeth, the leading member of Götiska Förbundet, who even saved the Stone Age from being given away. In this paper I explore how Bruzelius' paper was written. It is based on contemporary letters, manuscripts and other documents.