Athra Gathering ’18: Stone Age festival at the Land of Legends

Once a year, a bunch of Stone Age enthusiasts gather in the Land of Legends for a week of Mesolithic living at the recurring Athra Gathering. Last year, I was there briefly for only two days, but this year I’d worked all my other travels and plans around that particular week, so I could be there for the entire event.

For the Athra Gathering, academics, craftspeople and other Stone Age enthusiasts come from all over the world to share knowledge and meet likeminded people. There, you will find some of the best flint knappers, leather tanners and bone tool makers in the world. You will find people who love reenacting the Mesolithic life and people who are there to do research. You might meet Markus, who is writing books about Mesolithic living or knapping himself a new dagger; Werner who will happily cover you in beautiful body paint; Theresa who might be tanning a bear hide; Jo who will teach you how to make lime bast rope; Laurent (aka. Ranaa/Ulv) who will tell you stories from life on the tundra; or Solveig (aka. Suna) who will teach you how to cook the Mesolithic way or make beautiful jewellery. We are all different and have individual skills and interests, but what unites us is our shared love for the hunter/gatherer lifestyle.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t in the Stone Age area during the first four days, as I had to work at other areas of the Land of Legends, but I was there in the evenings for dinner and beer with all the other Stone Age enthusiasts, and on the last day, I was able to spend the entire day in the Stone Age! On that day, Solveig and I decided to begin a new project; to indent and paint two heart-shaped paddles with one of the famous Tybrind Vig patterns on paddles found at that settlement dating to the Ertebølle Culture (ca. 5500-4000 BC). The ornamented paddles from the Ertebølle Culture hold a special place in my heart, as they are my number one research interest and also the main empirical material of my upcoming bachelor’s thesis project, so it was really fun and exciting to be able to work with them hands-on while talking about the process with the visitors.

I had five beautiful days hanging out with Stone Age enthusiasts from all over the world. People came from USA, Brazil, Germany, Holland, Norway, Finland, France, England and Denmark to participate in this niche festival. They are one of the best groups of people I know – so friendly and inclusive; everyone is welcome regardless of how much or little you know about the Mesolithic lifestyle.

While the days were spent hanging out with the group, learning and exploring, the nights were spent sleeping under a sky full of stars in the mild summer weather. It was the most perfect week.