One of Sweden's richest bird lakes. Commonly known for the amount of cranes that stop at the lake before flying on towards and from their breeding grounds. On pillars in the lake you find the visitor center Hornborgasjön, an information center including an exhibition about the lake's history and bird life. Hornborgasjön is an over 4000 hectare large nature reserve. The reserve includes mainly the lake and its shoreline, but also some of the old farmland east of the lake.
Ekornavallen is a remarkable area of ancient remains located in the beautiful landscape between Falköping and Varnhem. On the site there are burial remains from the three main historical ages, the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age.
The earliest grave was built during the agricultural Stone Age, around 3,300 BC, while the most recent were constructed during the so-called Viking Age, c. 800- 1050 AD. People have thus been using Ekornavallen as a burial ground for more than 4,000 years. This tells us also that the area has been inhabited and cultivated for just as long.
Girommen and the Bronze Age cairn
Perhaps the most conspicuous feature on Ekornavallen is the large passage tomb farthest north, called Girommen. The passage tomb was constructed in the agricultural Stone Age and is the grave of many people. During restoration in 1946, a flint chisel was found, along with pottery shards and parts of amber beads. The dead people were given grave goods, which bears witness to belief in continued life in another dimension.
On the crown of the hill rises a large Bronze Age cairn, originally constructed in the Early Bronze Age as the grave of a single person. The Ekornavallen cairn has not been investigated, but upon excavation of similar graves, finds have been made of weapons and precious personal belongings. Lavish graves for an individual are often taken to indicate that society that became more hierarchical during the Bronze Age.
Erect stones and bowl hollows
Most remains on Ekornavallen date back to the Iron Age, including all the erect stones, stone circles and each of the stone settings. Many of the stones stand in an almost straight line from south to north. Some consider that they were placed along a now vanished prehistoric road. However, no evidence of this has been found. Oddly, there are also bowl hollows in the sides of some of the stones. A simple explanation may be that they are reused roof slabs from passage tombs.
Legends and myths – believe what you will
The largest passage tomb is popularly known as Girommen – or Gigerugnen, which means giant oven. Perhaps it is a down-to-earth attempt to explain the strange chamber. According to that perception, every evening a giant woman would come down to the “oven” to bake her bread. There is also a parallel to Denmark where a passage tomb is in fact called Jaettestue (giant oven). According to the legend, the monks of Varnhem dug an underground passage to be able to secretly visit the nuns in Gudhem. It is said that the passage ended in Girommen.
Tradition also has it that the stones that stand in a line were raised in memory of 19 riders who fell in the Battle of Falköping in 1389, when Queen Margareta defeated King Albrecht of Mecklenburg. This is probably not completely true, but it is an exciting legend.