Denmark Was Pretty Warm In 1370 BCE

One of the most famous recovered ancient individuals in Denmark is "Egtved Girl", a 16-18 year old girl, buried in 1370 BCE (in the early Nordic Bronze Age) in an oak coffin which was well preserved because it was in an acidic bog. She was about 5'3" tall. The cause of her death is unknown.

According to a 2019 study cited in Wikipedia (Erik Thomsen and Rasmus Andreasen, "Agricultural lime disturbs natural strontium isotope variations: Implications for provenance and migration studies" 5(3) Science Advances (13 March 2019)):

The Egtved Girl lived about half the year in one area—likely the river valley, in Egtved, and the other half of the year in another place—likely the local plateau, perhaps in the practice of transhumance farming and seasonal pastoral movement within a small area.

 What was life like back then?

Settlement in the Scandinavian Bronze Age period consisted mainly of single farmsteads, with no towns or substantial villages known - farmsteads usually consisted of a longhouse plus additional four-post built structures (helms) - longhouses were initially two aisled . . . . Evidence of multiple longhouses at a single site have been found, but they are thought to date to different periods, rather than being of the same date. Settlements were geographically located on higher ground, and tended to be concentrated near the sea. Also associated with settlements were burial mounds and cemeteries, with interments including oak coffins and urn burials; other settlement associations include rock carvings, or bronze hoards in wetland sites. 

Both agriculture (including wheat, millet, and barley) and husbandry (keeping of domesticated animals such as cattle, sheep and pigs) were practiced, and fishing and shellfish were also sources of food, as well as deer, elk, and other wild animal hunting. There is evidence that oxen were used as draught animals, domesticated dogs were common, horses were rarer and probably status symbols. 

Even though Scandinavians joined the European Bronze Age cultures fairly late through trade, Scandinavian sites present a rich and well-preserved legacy of bronze and gold objects. These valuable metals were all imported, primarily from Central Europe, but they were often crafted locally and the craftsmanship and metallurgy of the Nordic Bronze Age was of a high standard. The archaeological legacy also comprise locally of crafted wool and wooden objects and there are many tumuli and rock carving sites from this period, but no written language existed in the Nordic countries during the Bronze Age. The rock carvings have been dated through comparison with depicted artifacts, for example bronze axes and swords. There are also numerous Nordic Stone Age rock carvings, those of northern Scandinavia mostly portray elk.

Thousands of rock carvings from this period depict ships, and the large stone burial monuments, known as stone ships, suggest that ships and seafaring played an important role in the culture at large. The depicted ships, most likely represents sewn plank built canoes used for warfare, fishing and trade. These ship types may have their origin as far back as the neolithic period and they continue into the Pre-Roman Iron Age, as exemplified by the Hjortspring boat. 3,600-year old bronze axes and other tools made from Cypriot copper have been found in the region. . . .

The Nordic Bronze Age was initially characterized by a warm climate that began with a climate change around 2700 BC. The climate was comparable to that of present-day central Germany and northern France and permitted a relatively dense population and good opportunities for farming; for example, grapes were grown in Scandinavia at this time. A minor change in climate occurred between 850 BC and 760 BC, introducing a wetter, colder climate and a more radical climate change began around 650 BC. 

There is no coherent knowledge about the Nordic Bronze Age religion; its pantheon, world view and how it was practised. . . . Many finds indicate a strong sun-worshipping cult in the Nordic Bronze Age and various animals have been associated with the sun's movement across the sky, including horses, birds, snakes and marine creatures (see also Sól). A female or mother goddess is also believed to have been widely worshipped (see Nerthus). Hieros gamos rites [a sexual ritual that plays out a marriage between a god and a goddess, especially when enacted in a symbolic ritual where human participants represent the deities] may have been common and there have been several finds of fertility symbols. A pair of twin gods are believed to have been worshipped, and is reflected in a duality in all things sacred: where sacrificial artifacts have been buried they are often found in pairs. Sacrifices (animals, weapons, jewelery and humans) often had a strong connection to bodies of water. Boglands, ponds, streams or lakes were often used as ceremonial and holy places for sacrifices and many artifacts have been found in such locations. Ritual instruments such as bronze lurs have been uncovered, especially in the region of Denmark and western Sweden. Lur horns are also depicted in several rock carvings and are believed to have been used in ceremonies. Many rock carvings are uncanny in resemblance to those found in the Corded Ware Culture. 

A Bronze Age "Lur" similar in concept to a modern sousaphone. 

Remnants of the Bronze Age religion and mythology are believed to exist in Germanic mythology and Norse mythology; e.g., Skinfaxi and Hrímfaxi and Nerthus, and it is believed to itself be descended from an older Indo-European proto-religion.

We know this about her burial, together with what might have been a little sibling, or her first child born when she was just old enough to give birth, or a human sacrifice (Danish museum proclamations that an 18 year old woman couldn't possibly have had a 5 year old child are amusing):

Of the girl herself only hair, brain, teeth, nails and a little skin remain. Her teeth reveal that she was 16-18 years old when she died. On her body she wore a short tunic and a knee-length skirt made of cords. A belt plate of bronze decorated with spirals lay on her stomach. She also had a comb made of horn with her in the grave, attached to her belt. Around each arm was a ring of bronze and she had a slender ring in her ear. By her face lay a small box of bark with a bronze awl and the remains of a hair net. At the feet of the Egtved Girl a small bucket of bark had been placed, which once contained a type of beer. 

There was also a small bundle of clothing with the cremated bones of a 5-6-year-old child. A few bones from the same child were found in the bark box. The Egtved Girl saw the light of day again when her grave was excavated in 1921 – almost 3500 years later.

The short cord skirt she was buried in, and other clothing and artistic representations of women from that time period, suggest that this was what young adult women wore at the time (but frequently topless and with shorter skirts).

Egtved Girl's actual outfit.

A modern reconstruction of Egtved Girl's outfit.

These outfits were made possible by the fact that Denmark was much warmer then than it is now, although Denmark's climate is on track to return to those temperatures in the not so distant future. As the Old European Culture blog explains:

What was the climate like in Scandinavia at that time if girls could walk around dressed like this? Well much warmer. These girls lived during the so called "Minoan Warm Period" a period of time with much higher average temperatures in the Baltic than they are today. [A] [s]ign of how warm South Baltic was during the time when Egtved girl lived and died is that during that time millet ([a] type of grain) was grown in southern Scandinavia. Today millet is grown in tropical and subtropical regions...

According to this source:

Not much is known about the Minoan warm period beyond what can be gauged from cores from boreholes in the ice sheet. That the climate really was warmer then may be derived from that in the Minoan warm period, which occurred during the bronze age, millet was grown in southern Scandinavia. Today Millet is grown in tropical and subtropical regions, it is an important crop in Asia, Africa and in the southern U.S. The average annual temperature in Mississippi and Alabama is about 10 degrees, which should be compared with today's average annual temperature in Denmark, which is 8 degrees. So maybe the climate in the Minoan warm period, was about 2 degrees warmer than present in southern Scandinavia.

See also here.

A two degree Celsius difference in average annual temperatures turns out to be a pretty big deal.

About two hundred years later, the climate event of roughly 1177 BCE that triggered Bronze Age collapse, with a cooler and more arid climate that brought down multiple empires, would arrive.

N.B. The coloration and general phenotype of people in Denmark today came into being in Denmark roughly 500 to 1400 years before Egtved Girl lived. The modern phenotype was a product of admixture of the pre-existing Northern European people with migrants from the Pontic-Caspian steppe, roughly speaking, where Ukraine is today. 

The pre-existing Northern Europeans had fair hair and light colored eyes but darker, more olive colored skin, while the people of the Pontic-Caspian steppe had fair skin, but darker hair and eye colors. The body and head shape of people in Denmark also changed at about this time as a consequence of this admixture.