Copper and tin, the two components of bronze, were not found in Scandinavia. During the early Neolithic, contacts with communities to the south brought copper artefacts to the north and by the beginning of the Bronze Age there was a steady flow of bronze objects coming from central Europe.
Norway had nothing to exchange for the metals and from the scarcity of bronze tools found in Norway it is clear that tools made of other materials such as stone and bone were in general use. Notable for this period, however, was the mastering of casting using soapstone as moulds.
At the site at Kvåle, Sogndal municipality, Vestland County, a permanent farm is represented by a sequence of houses lasting from c.1900 to c.1400 BC, built on one of the lower hills. A three-aisled longhouse providing indoor stalling of animals had been built on top of the remains of two two-aisled longhouses interpreted as being for human habitation only, with the transition dated from around 1600 BC.
Solsem Cave on Leka (Is), off the west coast of Trøndelag County, has over 20 figures, painted in red, on its cave walls. The main group consists of 13 human figures to the left of a large cruciform figure. Excavation of the cave floor has produced a few bone artefacts, shells, about 2000 animal bones (birds, fish, goat/sheep, horse, ox, seal), and some human bones. Datings range from 1700 to 200 BC.
In the southwest, on the island of Karmøy, Karmøy municipality, Rogaland County, situated on a high ridge, Reheia/Blodheia holds the largest concentration of earth-constructed barrows from the Early Bronze Age in Norway.
Excavation at the tiny Toldnes peninsula (once an island in the southeast corner of the Beitstadfjorden) in the Steinkjer municipality, Trøndelag County, revealed about 21 cairns, some forty stone-cists, bronze burial artefacts and at least 15 preserved inhumations.
A few kilometres to the east, at a gravel quarry near Sund, Inderoy municipality, Tronderlag, was a mass of human and animal bone, dated to 1100 BC, comprising at least 22 individuals, adults and children. They appear to have had a violent life and death. At least seven of the adult individuals show deep cuts to the bone, some of which were healed, while others appeared fresh.
All Germanic languages are derived from Proto-Germanic, a language spoken in Scandinavia and Germany from around 500 BC. Proto-Norse, thought to have evolved as a northern dialect of Proto-Germanic, was spoken in Scandinavia from around the second century AD. By c.800, Proto-Norse had evolved into dialects of Old Norse, which later developed into the modern North Germanic languages – i.e. Swedish, Danish and Norwegian. West Germanic languages include English, German and Dutch; East Germanic languages are extinct.
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