Passage grave and Nycander burial site
The Glose altar passage grave
This type of tomb is called a passage grave, and this particular one has long been known locally as the ‘altar of Glose’.
Today the tomb is sealed by an earthy mound that probably originally covered the whole grave. It consisted of two chambers, and while it was in use it may have been open, with only a removable stone being used to close it. Inside the passage grave, the deceased might be placed alone, or their ashes in urns might be sorted into different compartments.
The grave was in use about 5,000 years ago during the Neolithic period. At that time, the sea level was around 20 metres higher than it is today, and the passage grave lay on an isthmus that would later become the Åby fjord. This would have signalled to others that the area was inhabited. The tomb is said to have been excavated and pottery, flint and a slate pendant were among the discoveries.
The Nycander burial site
Lieutenant Axel Nycander and his wife Augusta were tenants at Åby manor in the latter half of the 1800s. They lived on the farm for 47 years and had six children together. One of these children was Fredrik Nycander, known as the ‘poet of Bohuslän’. The entire family and some of the employees lie buried here at Solliden Hill, one of five private cemeteries in Bohuslän.
That the burial place lies next to a Stone Age tomb is no coincidence, since the late 1800s were a romantic period when many people embraced Sweden’s history.