A folding chair from the Bronze Age

The large barrow from the Bronze Age with the promising name of Guldhøj (Gold Hill) in Southern Jutland was excavated in 1891. Among the objects in the barrow were an oak coffin containing the body of a man. At his feet lay a very unusual object – a folding chair! The fine little chair, which was very well preserved, was made of ash wood with carved patterns featuring black pitch inlay. The seat was of otter skin – but only a fragment is preserved. The folding chair has been dated to the second half of the 1400s BC.

The folding chair from Guldhøj is the only completely preserved chair from the Bronze Age in Europe. However, several finds of fragments of folding chairs are known. These include finds from Store Høj in western Jutland and other folding chair fragments from Sweden and northern Germany.