Lindholm Høje

Travel Date: July 26, 2008
Travel Destination: Lindholm Høje

Before we begin, you can click here to see the panoramic pictures Peter took of the harbor in Hanstholm. He even has a picture of what used to be ocean floor between the islands. Go check them out, they're pretty cool.

Anywho....

After our trip to Aalborg we went passed by Lindholm Høje (an ancient burial ground used during the Iron and Viking Age, located in the town of Nørresundby) and decided to stop. It has been a couple of years since I've been there, and I knew that Emma would love to see it, too. It is here I learned something about my husband....he had never been here before. Now I have been there three times since 2003 (two business trips before I moved there and once while I lived there). He, on the other hand, lived in Denmark for the first 30 years of his life and had never been here.

When I asked why he said something to the effect it's just a bunch of rocks. I was shocked! A bunch of rocks? Their not just rocks...it's an ancient burial ground. From 1400 years ago! And besides, some of his and Emma's ancestors might be buried here.

Maybe Danes do find these sorts of things boring because there's so much old crap scattered all over the country, but for me it is all new and exciting. And I want to teach Emma all I can about Denmark, since it's part of her heritage.

But before we begin our tour, here's the aerial view courtesy of Google Maps:







As I said before, it's an ancient burial ground, used from about 400 AD to 1000 AD. Excavations between 1952 and 1958 uncovered over 700 graves. The ones located at the top of the hill are the oldest, the youngest at the bottom of the hill. Most of the graves we see today are from the Iron Age, just before the Viking Age. Over times stones were removed for other purposes, such as building roads.

There is also evidence that villages were located here, but as with much of Denmark during those times, moving sand dunes forced them to abandon their land around 1200 AD. But archaeologists have uncovered a wealth of everyday items from the site...from cooking utensils to ancient coins from the Middle East. This shows that the site was an important trade route during that time.

It is interesting to note that there is a distinction between the male and female graves. Women were placed in circular graves....







....while the men were buried in a ship-shaped grave.







Even though this is a burial ground, very few people were actually buried here. Most were cremated. The body would be placed within the stones and then burned.

I also learned something extremely sad....the men were buried with their dogs. Even if the dog wasn't dead, they'd kill it and bury it next to their owner. How mean! Why didn't they just give the dog to the guys kids or best friend? As Peter explained, the Vikings took their dogs with them everywhere. It was their constant companion. So the dogs had to go with their owner on their trip to the afterlife, too. I suppose it makes sense, but still. I don't think that practice would be very popular today.

So here are the pictures...and yes it does look like an ordinary field of rocks. But it's a cool pile of rocks. Try and see how many graves you can pick out.

Here's a panoramic view from Peter.