Amber – the gold of the North Finds of amber show that connections did not just flow from the south to the north. The amber that circulated amongst Europe’s peoples in the Bronze Age came from the areas around the Baltic or from the North Sea coast of Jutland. The 3.3 kg of unworked amber from Understed in northern Jutland, together with finds from settlements in Thy, suggest where the amber [...] amber and two neck rings of bronze have been found. The treasure was deposited around 1400 BC. The sun-holder is made of bronze and amber. It comes from Denmark but unfortunately it's find place
On the east coast of Greenland is Dronning Marie Dal. Here people from near and far met in the past. The Arctic – the people of the north Around the Arctic Sea live groups of people who are prepared to meet the challenge of living in the harsh conditions. Northern people such as the Inuit and their predecessors have over millennia a particular lifestyle in the Arctic region, in the north-eastern corner of Siberia, Alaska, Canada and Greenland. Sami and Siberian people live in a broad belt from the Norwegian Sea in the west to the Bering Strait in the east. Northern Worlds The Carpenter-Meldgaard Endowment
in the south of present-day Norway, was probably part of Denmark in the 890s and perhaps before this. Norway was under Danish rule for long periods between 970 and 1035. The North Sea Empire The throne [...] He was recognised as England’s new king, but died the year after. Sweyn Forkbeard laid the foundations of a Danish-Norwegian-English North Sea Empire, which his son Canute the Great later enlarged and cemented. In a [...] succeeded him on the English throne for a short period until 1042, but subsequently the North Sea Empire collapsed. Denmark’s population Based upon, amongst other things, the archaeological evidence,
Viking expeditions Small bronze brooches, souvenirs of the Vikings' European travels. The great sea expeditions of the Viking Age The basis of the great sea expeditions undertaken by the Vikings [...] The Vikings did not always set out with war in mind. Finds of large cargo ships and wealthy trading towns give a more nuanced picture of the period. It was a time in which trading in everything from slaves to silk and iron flourished. Finds of Arabic silver coins in Scandinavia and a small Buddha figure in Sweden testify to how distant the trading connections could be. ”Peaceful” Viking finds Bronze brooch.
which varied throughout the Iron Age and the Viking period. Shield bosses are often found in graves, in which shields accompanied the dead on their final journey. A rare find A rare find was made at Trelleborg, [...] armed warriors with shields that appear to be painted. Some of the small, valkyrie figures also carry decorated shields. Shields at sea The Skuldelev 5 warship from Roskilde Fjord has given us valuable
with the regions farther north were weak. In the period 500-200 BC the north was by and large cut off from southern Europe. Exotic ornamental objects from southern Europe rarely found their way to these latitudes. [...] "Trehøje" in 1827. The pail, which is furnished with palmetto ornamentation, has clear Greek models and was probably made in Macedonia or in the Greek colonies by the Black Sea around 300 BC. Why and when the pail was burried is unknown, but other finds indicate, that sometimes imported bronze pails were used as urns. Read more about the imported vessels The Gundestrup Cauldron and other Bronze vessels here.
of the Ice Age, but disappeared again as the sea level rose. The Aurochs from Vig died over 10,000 years ago. On Zealand and Fyn aurochs died out 7000-7500 years ago, but in Jutland it survived until the beginning of the Iron Age. The species is known from bone finds which are over a million years old. In the Stone Age the aurochs was widespread in parts of Europe, Asia and in North Africa’s coastal areas. [...] The aurochs was found in a bog near Vig in Odsherred, north-western Zealand.
period ended up on a beach, only to be found later by accident? In the Stone Age the coastline was different from today. Since then the coastline has been influenced by later changes to the sea level as well as the rising up of the land after the last Ice Age. This rising of the land is still going on today. North of a line on the map the land has risen up and south of the line the coast has become submerged because of the subsequent rise in sea level. Therefore a proportion of Stone Age settlements south of the “tilt line” now lie under water or at the edge of the beach. Thus objects can be washed
Ireland and the islands of the North Atlantic were favoured by the Norwegians. The Swedes, on the other hand, settled in north-western Russia. These newcomers made a living as farmers, craftsmen [...] tons. Knowledge regarding navigation and the ability to find the way has been lost during the c. 1000 years since the end of the Viking Age. We know from the Norwegian medieval written source Hauksbók that bearings were taken using geographical features and that sailors were also guided by the sun and stars. Overcast weather on open sea must certainly have given the Vikings problems, but, on the other hand,
Burial from Vedbæk North of Copenhagen. C. 5000 BC. Cap of bird’s skin In this grave, which was excavated at a Stone Age settlement in Vedbæk North of Copenhagen, the archaeologists found the partial skeleton of a middle aged woman and a three-year-old child. On the woman’s chest lay a collection of small feet bones deriving from a roe deer skin that she probably used as a sling for carrying the child. At the chest she also had two flat bone knives, which would have been used for skin preparation. Furthermore, at the woman’s head was the beak of a grebe. Skin from sea birds is especially suited for lining
