Early settlements
There is evidence that people lived in Denmark more than 100,000 years ago, but the area became covered with ice during the last ice age. People returned to Møn about 10,000 years ago during the Upper Paleolithic era. At that time the island was part of mainland Europe.
During the Mesolithic era (6800-3900 BC) there is evidence from findings of small flint and bone tools that inhabitants of the island lived by hunting and fishing. The landscape was largely wooded, with hazel and increasingly oak and alder trees. From around 5400 BC reforestation was complete, forming an inaccessible forest and forcing out the last of the big animals such as aurochs and elk. Human habitations have been found along the eastern coast.
The Neolithic era, (3900-1700 BC) saw the start of cattle farming spreading inland from the coastal settlements. Flint axes were used, and trading occurred in flint, gold, copper and bronze. This era saw the start of barrow building for the dead, and settlements have been found at Rødkilde. Barrows became larger, longer and contained multiple burials. More than 100 large graves have been found on Møn. The period from 2400–1700 is known as Doltktiden, after the flint daggers which became common at that time. Bronze was also in use, imported from the south.
Around 2000 BC, a new wave of people arrived on Møn, the Stridsøksekulturen (the battleaxe people). They brought with them goats, sheep and horses, and their trademark stone battleaxes. They used simpler graves with small round mounds.
Bronze became more common, hence the period 1700-500 BC became the Bronze Age and flint ceased to be used for tools. Large round mounds were used for burial, and more than 200 of these have been found on Møn. Each mound covered a single grave, containing a coffin made from a single split and hollowed oak tree. From 1000-500 BC, graves became smaller and cremation began to be practiced. Graves were
