The Ancient...

The History Untold

Ancient S candinav ia

attention by archaeologists. Metal objects are found in large, visible earthen burial

mounds, as well as in hoards and offerings hidden in the ground and wetlands.

Connections across Europe are witnessed in foreign artifacts and materials that

appear in these tombs and hoards. Ancient field systems from this period can be

seen today in a few places. Art was carved into smooth rock surfaces across middle

and northern Scandinavia. Farming settlements with some rich farms and smaller

scattered farmsteads are known, but it is the elite, with their large residences and

burial places, who were most visible in this period.

The Iron Age brings a new metal, and flint becomes less common on archaeo￾logical sites. Large, rich farms and small villages have been excavated. True villages

emerge in the Iron Age, along with more powerful political leaders who direct eco￾nomic, military, and religious activities. Distinct groups or classes can be noted in

society—warriors, craftspeople, artists, perhaps shamans, or priests. More changes

in the landscape are visible—walls, roads, fortresses, canals, bridges—as well as

more large burial mounds and ship graves.

The Viking period is the most recent and best known of Scandinavia’s deep pre￾and protohistory. The Vikings are highly visible, recorded in history, a fascinating

story of the expansion of people from Scandinavia conquering distant places, colo￾nizing new lands, and exploring much of the European continent. A few build￾ings, documents, and artifacts of wood, cloth, glass, and other fragile materials

still survive from this period. Christianity brings medieval times to Scandinavia,

and the rest is history. In the Viking period, towns, magnate estates, and common

farms have been found in the archaeological record. A runic form of writing was

introduced in the Iron Age, and inscribed rune stones appeared as standing monu￾ments, perhaps the equivalent of legal documents. Scandinavia started to become

a dynamic part of European society.

With all the discussion of the landscape above, it is important to remember

that the sea played a fundamental role in Scandinavia, as both a source of food

and a route of movement and communication. Dugout canoes are known from

the Mesolithic and Neolithic. In the Bronze and Iron Ages, more sophisticated

boats were constructed. Viking ships are famous for their innovative design and

seaworthiness.

This issue of increasing visibility and detail through time will be apparent in

the chapters of this book as we move from the Paleolithic to the Viking period.

In the older parts of the past, we have limited information on artifacts, diet, and

certain activities. In more recent periods, there is elaborate and well-preserved

evidence of individual lives—the bog people, for example—and sophisticated

technology, such as the ships of the Iron Age and Viking period. The focus of

our story changes through time from cultures to communities to individuals as

the details of the economic, social, and ideological aspects of their lives become

more visible.

Past Environments: Ice, Land, Sea

The effects and consequences of Pleistocene glaciers dominate the land- and sea￾scapes of postglacial northern Europe. This story begins around 110,000 years

ago with the onset of the last major cold stage of the Pleistocene, known as the. Weichselian Glaciation. As temperatures dropped, a mass of snow and ice centered

on the Gulf of Bothnia began to form, eventually rising more than 2 km (1.2

miles) in height. Its weight caused the frozen mass to spread at the edges. In such a

manner, a huge glacier of almost unimaginable proportions expanded horizontally

as more snow and ice accumulated. This ice sheet moved across the landscape as

much as 150 m (almost 500′) or more per year. In a period of several hundred

years, the front of this continental ice sheet moved more than 1,000 km (620

miles) across Norway and Sweden, and by the late Weichselian it covered more

than half of Denmark. The ice extended across the Baltic basin and crossed the

northern coasts of Germany and Poland. To the east, it covered Finland and much

of northwestern Russia.

The Late Glacial Maximum (LGM) is the name given to the coldest part of

the Weichselian glacial stage, around 20,000 years ago (Figure 1.7). Annual tem￾peratures were 8°–10°C (14°–18°F) colder than today, and the ice sheets reached

their furthest extent. Only the western parts of Jylland and the west Norwegian

coast were ice-free in Scandinavia. A large part of what is today the North Sea was

ice-covered, connecting Jylland with Britain.

The weight of this continental ice sheet pushed down the landmass of northern

Europe, often to great depths. As an example, the Greenland ice sheet today is

more than 3 km (1.9 miles) thick, and the land surface under that ice resembles a

very deep bowl, higher at the edges where the ice is thinner. This land under the

ice in the interior of Greenland is almost 300 m (almost 1,000′) below present sea

level, the lowest spot on earth today. The mass of ice in Scandinavia during the

LGM depressed parts of the land surface as much as 600 m (almost 2,000′).

The ice began to melt in northern Germany and Denmark after 16,000 years

ago. The melting of the ice was rapid, if not constant, during the Late Glacial.

Denmark was free of glacial ice by 12,000 BC. Skåne was the first part of Sweden

where the ice disappeared by about 11,500 BC, and then the ice mass disappeared

across middle Sweden until 9000 BC at a rate of 50 km (approximately 30 miles) Ancient S candinav ia

per century (Björk and Digerfeldt 1982, Larsson 1991). The 59° parallel marks the

approximate edge of the ice at the end of the Pleistocene. The melting of the ice in

the Preboreal and Boreal was very rapid, with the edge of the ice sheet retreating

on the order of 500 m/year (1,640′) in northern Sweden and 300 m/year (almost

1,000′) in southwestern Norway (e.G., Andersen 1980, Nygaard 1989). Most of

Sweden and Norway were ice-free after 8,000 years ago. Even today, however, the

ice is not completely gone, as the numerous small mountain glaciers in the high￾lands of Norway attest.

Since warming, melting, and the disappearance of the ice sheet, the surface

of the land in northern Europe has been rebounding from the removal of that

enormous weight. In some areas, particularly in Norway and Sweden, rebound

has gone on at a very rapid rate, with significant consequences for archaeology.

Mesolithic rock carvings made along the coast of the Oslo fjord some 6,000 years

ago are found today more than 150 m (almost 500′) above sea level. Quarries and

scatters of quartz artifacts from coastal Mesolithic sites in the Stockholm region are

now found at elevations above 70 m (230′). This rebounding process continues.

The mass of glacial ice around the globe incorporated a substantial portion of

the earth’s water, captured from the oceans. During the time of maximum cold

and huge continental ice sheets, sea level was reduced as much as 120 m (almost

400′) or more, completely changing the outlines of the continents and often creat￾ing connections between former islands and separate land masses. The coastline of

northern Europe was dramatically changed during times of lower sea level. This

shrinkage of the sea left large areas of the sea floor around Scandinavia as dry land.

Today, the North Sea Basin and the English Channel are relatively shallow, often

with water depths of 50 m (165′) or less.

Doggerland is the name given to the large piece of the North Sea floor that was

dry land. During the LGM, with sea levels much lower than at present, this area

would have been part of the European continent, connecting Britain to Belgium,

the Netherlands, northern Germany, and Denmark (Figure 2.1). A variety of

artifacts from the Late Paleolithic and Mesolithic, left by the early inhabitants

on the bottom of the North Sea and Baltic in this now submerged region, have

been found in the dredge nets of fishermen (Long et al. 1986, Vang Petersen and

Johansen 1996, Verhart 2004). The human presence on Doggerland during the

Late Paleolithic was dramatically documented when a fishing vessel dredged up

a barbed point made of antler from deep water in the North Sea in the 1930s.

This artifact has been radiocarbon-dated to approximately 11,700 BC (Bonsall

and Smith 1989).

The total area, about the size of the state of California, was submerged by

rising seawaters as the late Pleistocene temperatures warmed and sea levels rose.

As the ice sheets began to melt, sea level rose through the early Holocene, and

Doggerland was gradually submerged beneath the waters of the North Sea.

Around 6150 BC, a huge underwater landslide off the coast of Norway triggered

a massive tsunami, or tidal wave. This tsunami, with waves estimated to have been

3–10 m (10′–35′) high, would have impacted coastlines throughout the North

Sea region and drowned the remaining parts of Doggerland (Gaffney and Smith

2009, Weninger et al. 2008). Major consequence of increasing temperatures and the melting of the conti￾nental ice sheets at the end of the Pleistocene was the return of water to the oceans.

This process appears to have accelerated during the early Atlantic episode (Björck

1995). The maximum rate of sea level rise during the Holocene has been estimated

as almost 3 cm (more than one inch) per year between 6500 and 6000 BC, i.E.,

3 m (10′) per century (Niekus 2006). Rising waters encroached on the lowlands

of southern Scandinavia, changing the shape and juxtaposition of these areas.

Many of the settlements from the earlier part of the Mesolithic must have been

inundated. This situation was reversed in the northern two-thirds of Scandinavia,

where land rebound outpaced the rising sea level. Early Holocene sites are found

at high elevations in that region today.

In one sense there was a very drawn-out race between the rebounding surface

of the land and the refilling seas, rising higher and higher against the land. The

changes in the Baltic basin (Figure 1.8) neatly document this race (Björck et al.

1998). Initially, melt water from the retreating ice sheet filled the southern Baltic

basin with a freshwater lake, dammed by higher ground in the Øresund and the

remains of the ice sheet located between Stockholm and Lake Vänern in central

Sweden. Rising water in this Baltic Ice Lake began to spill over the Øresund at

10,700 BC and possibly eroded this outlet down to bedrock. However, continuing

uplift of the Øresund, due to the removal of the weight of the ice, raised the level

of the Baltic Ice Lake to 10 m (35′) above sea level. When the ice sheet receded

further north, the Baltic Ice Lake drained to sea level around 9300 BC through an

active drainage channel across the Middle Swedish lowlands connecting the west

coast and the Baltic (Bergsten and Nordberg 1992). This drainage, lowering the

water in the Baltic basin by 25 m, may have been catastrophic in nature (Berglund

et al. 2005). The Baltic basin became brackish through this connection to the

North Sea. This stage of the Baltic is known as the Yoldia Sea, which lasted for

about 900 years. Ancient S candinav ia

The continued rise of the land surface eventually raised the outlet in central

Sweden above sea level. Closure of the outlet meant the accumulation of fresh water

in the Baltic basin, and the Ancylus Lake gradually filled the basin. After 6500

BC, the rising waters of the North Sea and Kattegat opened a new outlet through

the Øresund and Great Belt as southern Sweden separated from Denmark. The

brackish waters that formed at that time have been designated the Littorina Sea,

which eventually became the present-day Baltic. Postglacial seas reached the pres￾ent beaches of southern Scandinavia by approximately 4000 BC, a time marked

by a series of transgressions and regressions of the sea, in some instances several

meters higher than today. Over time, the coasts of Scandinavia had become a place

of peninsulas, archipelagos, and islands.

Although climate has been generally warm and stable through the Holocene,

there have been several cooler episodes. One of the most prominent of these is

a short-lived cool, dry, and windy event around 6000 BC, known as the “8.2

ka event” (Alley et al. 1997, Seppa et al. 2009). A more recent episode in the

Baltic and North Sea was a cooling event known as the Little Ice Age that lasted

from approximately AD 1350 to 1850. The Little Ice Age had a major impact on

the Vikings in the North Atlantic and likely hastened the abandonment of the

Greenland settlements. More on this story in a later chapter.

Past Environments: Vegetation

Vegetation is a major component of landscape. Fourteen thousand years ago, the

landscape of southern Scandinavia was largely denuded, freshly exposed by the

melting of glacial ice (Figure 1.9). The ice masses of the Pleistocene acted as enor￾mous bulldozers, grinding down the earth’s surface as they advanced and leaving

behind huge blankets of homogenized earth and rock as they disappeared. The

undulating layers of sand, gravel, and till that were left are the present topography

of southern Scandinavia. To the north, the melting ice exposed the Precambrian

shield, patchily covering it in some places with deposits of moraine and gravel.

Detailed records of the succession of plants spreading into this new, empty land￾scape have survived as deposits of pollen in

lake and marine sediments (e.G., Iversen 1944,

Odgaard 1989).

One example of such a pollen record from

the Roskilde Fjord in Denmark is shown in

Figure 1.10 (Schrøder et al. 2004). The suc￾cession of vegetation in southern Scandinavia

is well documented in this diagram. The

fresh surface was colonized initially by

steppe tundra, with a variety of herbaceous

vegetation—sedges and grasses, with some

dwarf birch. The first arboreal species to

migrate into this region were juniper and

birch along with aspen, prior to the Younger

Dryas. Continued warming was responsible

for the expansion of open birch forest with

juniper, aspen, and willow across much of the area. The cold snap of the Younger Dryas forced many of those species either to

refuges within southern Scandinavia or further south in Central Europe.

The Preboreal and Boreal were dominated by birch and pine, which disappeared

rapidly at the end of this period. Both summers and winters were likely warmer

than today and the climate more maritime (Berglund 2003). Average July temper￾atures in this early part of the Holocene reached ca. 15°C (59°F), and the warming

continued. Elm, oak, alder, lime, hazel, and ash were in place by the beginning of

the Atlantic phase. A dense, mixed deciduous forest dominated in this phase as the

arctic tree line moved north.

One of the striking patterns observed in the pollen diagram in Figure 1.9 is the

precipitous decrease in elm pollen at the transition from the Atlantic to the Subboreal

phase around 4000 BC. Declines in the numbers of lime trees are also apparent at that

time. The cause of this “elm decline” has been the subject of debate since its recogni￾tion more than 75 years ago, with either climate change or human interference viewed

as the likely culprit. The elm decline was close in time to the arrival of agriculture in

southern Scandinavia. Human interference with elm was a popular explanation for

many years. Suggestions included tree felling for field clearance and the clipping of

elm branches to use for animal fodder, resulting in an absence of pollen.

A study by Peglar and Birks (1993) may have resolved this issue. Studies of pol￾len in deep lake sediments with annual layers in England and Sweden demonstrate

that the elm decline actually took place within a very short time, perhaps a decade

or two. It is difficult to imagine that human interference could cause the decline of

elm over most of northern Europe within a period of 10 to 20 years. Finally, dis￾covery of beetle tunnels in elm wood have confirmed that bark beetles were present

at the time of the elm decline. These insects carry the fungus that is responsible for

Dutch elm disease. In all probability, the rapid disappearance of elm trees across

northern Europe was caused not by climate or humans but by disease.Ancient S candinav ia

Forest composition all through the Atlantic and Subboreal climatic episodes became

usually comparable, with some differences because of human hobby and the decline

in elm and lime. Oak and hazel were extra abundant in poorer soils and lower

regions where the woodland was more open (Aaby 1988). Alder changed into frequent in moist regions

with wealthy soils. Beech have become a wooded area species at some point of the Subboreal section. More

continental situations prevailed in the Subboreal, with somewhat less warm winters

and warmer summers. The woodland was drastically reduced by using human interest dur-

ing the Subboreal. The reducing of trees for the enlargement of subject structures and the

grazing of herds of home animals decreased the volume of the wooded area and created

large and large openings for fields and pasture.

The story of vegetation succession outlined above applies handiest to the southern

1/2 of Scandinavia. The northerly areas above the limits of cultivation experi-

enced a very distinct plant life records. There are two limitations of specific

hobby on this region, the restriction of cultivation and the tree line. Both barriers

moved drastically following the close of the Pleistocene. The glacial ice retreated

across northern Scandinavia and changed into in large part long gone after 7000 BC. At Abisko, close to

the Norwegian border in northern Sweden, pollen research near the modern-day tree

restriction supplied a record of vegetation adjustments on this region (Berglund et al. 1996,

Sonesson 1974). Since deglaciation, the plants has been ruled by way of subal-

pine birch woodland tundra. More temperate situations prevailed between 3500

and 1500 BC and witnessed a pine-birch wooded area in the region, with tree growth a hundred

m (330′) or extra higher than present. Cooling conditions after 1500 BC brought about

a variety of a nearby glacier and a tremendous drop in elevation of the tree line.

Past Environments: Animals

Animals observed the spread of vegetation throughout the fresh panorama of Scandinavia

after the melting of the ice mass. A sample of succession is seen in modifications from

arctic and subarctic species to greater temperate climate animals in the environments

of northern Europe from the Pleistocene to the Holocene. These adjustments in mam-

mal species over time are proven in Figure 1.11 (Aaris-Sørensen 2009).

The succession of fauna at some point of the late Pleistocene and early Holocene is of

essential significance for human hunters of that point. Reindeer arrived in southern

Scandinavia, observed straight away by using wolves. Seasonal statistics from the antler indi-

cate that reindeer were resident for the duration of the yr (Larsson 1991). Other large

ungulates came speedy, appreciably the European elk, wild horse, bison, aurochs,

giant Irish deer, polar bear, and beaver. Mammoth have become extinct in this vicinity and

across Europe before the give up of the Pleistocene.

Continued warming in the course of the Preboreal saw the disappearance of bison and

giant deer. The distribution of reindeer and different arctic species become constrained to high

elevations and latitudes in Scandinavia. New species to the location report the

temperate, forested conditions that commenced to be successful at this time, which includes wild

boar, pink deer, roe deer, wild cat, and marten (Bratlund 1996). In essence, massive

migratory herds of cold-tailored species had been changed by way of the more territorial and

sedentary recreation animals which are nonetheless determined throughout much of Europe nowadays. Faunal

evidence indicates that aurochs (wild cattle) and elk (European moose) had been pre-

dominant throughout the Preboreal and that pink deer (North American elk), wild pig,

and roe deer had come to be the terrestrial animals of most important financial significance via ncient S candinav ia

the time of the Atlantic climatic episode. The latter 3 species have been ubiquitous

all through an awful lot of Europe inside the early Holocene.

There are important changes in the distribution of sure species for the duration of

the Holocene. Bears, elk, and aurochs disappeared from the islands of southern

Scandinavia, because of a aggregate of overhunting and constrained wearing capability

on the islands. Aurochs had been in all likelihood additionally absent in Sweden via this time. These spe-

cies remained in Jylland and the rest of continental northern Europe. Red deer on

the islands became rather smaller in size throughout the Holocene, in all likelihood a con-

series of restricted meals sources on small islands (Foster 1964). The temperate

species which include pink deer, roe deer, and wild boar are observed almost solely within the

southern half of of Scandinavia. European elk retain into principal Scandinavia, and

reindeer are the primary huge-game species within the a long way north.

A sort of small fur-bearing species have also been discovered at archaeological

websites, along with marten, otter, squirrel, wildcat, and others. Approximately 55 spe-

cies of chicken, both aquatic and terrestrial sorts, are known from Holocene websites

in northern Europe. The canine changed into domesticated and present in Scandinavia with the aid of the

cease of the Pleistocene. The introduction of agriculture delivered extra species

of animals in the shape of domestic cattle, pigs, sheep, and goats. Domesticated

horses appeared via the beginning of the Bronze Age.

Following the give up of the Pleistocene, the warming waters of the oceans were full

of meals. Mollusks, crustaceans, fish, and sea mammals had been all important sources

for coastal-living hunter-gatherers. Although water temperatures inside the early

postglacial won't have supported a ramification of shellfish, their numbers and range

accelerated greatly via this era. Seals, porpoises, and whales are all observed

some of the fauna at archaeological web sites. Many species of fish from a extensive variety of

habitats were concerned about a selection of equipment.

It is vital to remember that the melting of the ice and the expansion of

plants and fauna are time-transgressive phenomena. This is perhaps exceptional visualized

by a chain of bands stretching from north to south, from the ice sheet and its

the front, throughout a zone of sparkling, uncooked sediments and rocks to a greater distant sector of

pioneer herbs and shrubs, and further south zones of birch and pine woodlands.

The growth of those zones to the north took hundreds of years and became depen-

dent on converting climatic situations. During the Younger Dryas, southernmost

Sweden and japanese Denmark have been tundra, whilst to the south and west birch

woodlands blanketed western Denmark and pine forests likely extended across cen-

tral Germany. These modern-day, but special, environments invoked distinctive

human responses.

Past Environments: Resources

Although prehistoric Scandinavia become now not imbued with a wealth of herbal

resources, there are numerous substances that were significantly crucial for gear and

trade. These materials provide part of the wonderful archaeology of the region.

The most essential of those turned into flint (Vang Petersen 2008). The chalk bedrock

throughout northern and japanese Denmark and southern Sweden contains huge deposits

of this uncooked cloth, rather valued for the production of stone tools (Figure 1.12).

Flint nodules have been also scattered from their authentic resources via the glaciers and

occur in some amount on a whole lot of the floor surface and a few of the beaches of

southern Scandinavia. Stone Age sites in southern Scandinavia are dense with flint

artifacts and waste material from the production of stone equipment.

These flint deposits are particularly vital for the manufacturing of large pol-

ished flint axes, which started out to appear in the Neolithic length (e.G., Knarrström

2001). These beautiful axes—once idea to be the recommendations of thunderbolts thrown

through the gods—are observed inside the tens of heaps across the panorama of south-

ern Scandinavia. Virtually each modern-day farm has a set of those polished

flint axes—a pertinent and instantaneous reminder of the beyond. This flint become additionally

traded long distances across Scandinavia and suggests up in big portions in cen-

tral Sweden, on the island of Bornholm, in Norway, and in other places without

herbal flint assets.

Outside southern Scandinavia, top materials for flaked stone equipment are uncommon,

and a variety of much less suited substances such as quartz, quartzite, and slate had been

put to use. The assemblages of best blades and large flint gear that represent the

Stone Age of southern Scandinavia take on a completely distinct appearance when

translated into other substances. Other stone, but, together with diabase for floor

stone axes and slate for ground stone artifacts, is greater common in assemblages in

the northern components of Scandinavia. Sources of soapstone for carved bins and

other stones for grinding grain and sprucing gear were vital at various instances

within the prehistory of Scandinavia.

Amber, every other valuable resource, washes up alongside the beaches of northern

Europe, eroding from deposits on the floor of the Baltic and North Sea. Amber is

located in lots of locations alongside the coasts of southern Scandinavia, but abundantly on

Ancient S candinav ia

the North Sea coast of Jylland. This petrified resin is a beautiful darkish yellow, nearly

golden, in coloration sparkling with trapped air chambers and debris. The material some-

times floats, holds expenses of static energy, and is the essence of magic. Amber

become used for the duration of maximum of prehistory. Large adorned pendants and small animal

figurines of amber are known from the Mesolithic; hundreds of huge amber beads

and adorns had been observed cached or buried inside the Neolithic. Literally lots of

amber have been exported to the Aegean area inside the Bronze Age, funding Bronze Age

society in Scandinavia.

High-satisfactory animal fur—beaver, marten, wildcat, and different species—may also

had been every other exportable made from the region.

Iron ore within the form of what's referred to as bog iron is located across much of the location

and provided an essential raw fabric within the Iron Age. Other metallic resources in

Scandinavia are restricted or nonexistent for a good deal of prehistory.

ARCHAEOLOGY IN SCANDINAVIA

The past of Scandinavia is one of the richest and most certain inside the international for

numerous reasons—a long history of research, wonderful preservation, terrific

uncooked substances, and an abiding contemporary interest inside the past. The depth of

statistics this is available makes it feasible to answer questions that can't but

be asked in lots of different locations.

The visibility of archaeology at the landscape of Scandinavia has performed a main

position in countrywide identification, in public hobby, and as a focal point for take a look at in this location for

many years. The stark standing stones of the megalithic tombs of the Neolithic are

scattered for the duration of the location, and the special earthen barrows of the Bronze

and Iron Age dot the skyline—steady reminders of the ancient past and magnets

for the curious. These capabilities surely piqued the hobby of dilettantes in the

eighteenth century as gathering antiquities started as a kind of interest some of the

elite. The king of Denmark participated in excavations into these barrows within the

center of the nineteenth century.

This fascination with the past has continued to grow in Scandinavia and has

caused sturdy public guide for archaeology together with a properly-knowledgeable cadre of

amateurs who make contributions appreciably to expertise and regularly report new finds

to the authorities. The maintenance of archaeological materials in northern Europe

is occasionally brilliant, presenting an brought dimension to the archaeological

record. This natural factor of the beyond records many of the extra thrilling

and unusual aspects of human generation and conduct and vividly enriches our

angle.

Several factors are liable for the superb situations of preservation that

are from time to time encountered. The chalky soils of a good deal of southern Scandinavia are

impartial or primary as opposed to acidic, in order that organic substances remain intact for lon-

ger periods. Human movements within the beyond additionally improved conditions for exquisite

upkeep, specifically the burial of gadgets in massive earthen mounds and the

deposition of artifacts and other objects in bogs and wetlands. The first-rate bathroom

bodies of northern Germany and southern Scandinavia are testimony to the pre-

servative powers of the wetlands. The peat deposits inside the bogs have furnished fuel for heating for centuries. Peat-cutting activities to quarry this gasoline have uncovered

limitless bog deposits from the past.

Some appreciation of the records of brilliant studies that has taken place

is essential for an knowledge of Scandinavian prehistory. The time period prehistoric

turned into in truth initially coined in Denmark (forhistorisk) in 1834 and published by means of

Christian Molbech (Rowley-Conwy 2006). Scandinavia also played an vital

role in converting archaeology from the collection of curiosities to a technological know-how of cul-

ture history (Graslund 1987). The early assembling of antiquities under royal aus-

pices led to the beginnings of museums and the emergence of descriptive systems,

bringing classifications and order.

An crucial parent inside the records of Scandinavian archaeology is Ole Worm.

Born in Aarhus in 1588, he became the king’s medical doctor and professor of pedagogy

on the University of Copenhagen. Worm had a excellent curiosity about all things,

which includes antiquity. He compiled a six-volume paintings at the historical monuments of

Denmark, published in 1644. Most importantly, he became a collector who assembled

prehistoric artifacts and other gadgets of herbal ancient interest from Denmark’s

beyond in his Museum Wormianum (Figure 1.Thirteen). This collection changed into the precursor

of the National Museum of Denmark, based in 1849.