7th-century Viking manor house excavated

Archaeologists excavating Denmark's most important site - a huge Viking manor house complex on Lake Tissø, west of Copenhagen - are gleaning key information about the life style of the Norse elite over one thousand years ago.

The 2002 dig at the site, located north of the town of Slagelse in west Zealand, Denmark's largest island on which Copenhagen is situated, ended in December with the sensational discovery of the foundations of a manor house building dating back to 500-600 AD - the original building on the site.

"The newly discovered manor house pre-dates the main building on the site by some 500 years," said Lars Jørgensen, leader of the Danish National Museum's Tissø dig. "Post holes indicate that it was 38 metres long and some 8 metres high, and the first such building ever unearthed in Denmark."

"The very size of the building came as a surprise to us, as it is four times bigger than any other manor or farmhouse of that period. Its existence tends to reinforce our theory that the site was used for representational and/or ritual activities by the Viking elite of the time."

Among exciting artefacts from last autumn's dig are a golden hinge and jewellery and other metal items, as well as chunks of white-plastered mud wall.

One theory is that the original manor house probably burned down necessitating its replacement by the already excavated main building nearby.

The article, in the Copenhagen Post, goes on to describe finds of jewelry, sword furniture, skeletons of warhorses and hunting dogs, and much more. Hat tip to Archaeologica.

Posted by David on January 25, 2003 2:02 PM