The journey of gold to Denmark

Throughout the Bronze Age gold flowed to Denmark from central Europe. Gold and other prestige goods were distributed through a well-developed network. The chieftains had access to the gold, and it was bartered through their contacts. Around the year 600 BC the network collapsed and the supplies of metal to the north ebbed out. Perhaps the central European peoples preferred to trade with the Mediterranean area and at the same time lost interest in the north? The Nordic chieftains did have trading connections farther east, but these could not obtain gold for them in such substantial quantities.