Period: Iron Age (500 BC - 700 AD)

Project title: En indgang til fortiden. Udgravning af indgangen på et sammenstyrtet, rekonstrueret Jernalderhus / A door to the past. Excavation of the entrance door at a collapsed, reconstructed Iron Age house.

Researcher: Anna S. Beck, Archaeologist, University of Copenhagen.

E-mail: annasbeck(at)gmail.com

Year: 2008

Research Problem:

Since its establishment in 1964 Lejre Research Centre has been reconstructing a series of Iron Age long houses. But only few visitors to the Iron Age village discover, that there are several more houses right under their feet. Over the last 40 years long houses have been built, used and left to decay - barely distinguishable from the the natural landscape. By digging out one of these reconstructed houses and comparing the results with the original archaeological material, we have a unique opportunity to evaluate how close we are to understanding the long houses of the Iron Age.

Conclusion:

In this experiment part of an earlier reconstruction - House 4 - was excavated by ordinary archaeological methodes. House 4 was built in 1965 and was still standing till approximately 1990. The house is reconstructed after House XIV from the Iron Age Village of Nørre Fjand in the Nothern part of Jutland.

The excavation of house 4 covered the southern part of the southern entrance and areas both inside and outside the house. The purpose of the excavation was to investigate the specific archaeological traces created around an entrance.

Both traces of construction and artefacts were discovered. The construction traces included pots from door and wall, clay floor and pavement, whereas the artefacts included effects from before the center was etasblished, from the useperiod of house 4 and from the time after the house had collapsed. Among these were "Iron Age objects", such as ceramics, bone and charcoal, as well as traces of modern life in the house (candywrappers and glas).

The entrance is clear to see, via constructions like threshold, doorpots ect. but the door area is also visible through the spread of objects. A fanshaped pattern spreads out from the door, most likely debris from sweping out the floor of the house. In conclusion a door would also be recognisable in a well preserved archaeological material.

The excavation also generated more generel information about the formation of archaeological material. For instance the processes that occure when a posthole is filled in and the spread of artefacts through animal activity. To investigate so well preserved a material also gives an impression of how much material is lost due to plowing - only the postholes remain of most Iron Age hoses that are excavated today.

Another important conclusion, is that a far more thourough registration of the Centres reconstruction is necessary in the building fase, in order to benefit fully from future excavations of this kind. It is crucial to write down all changes and and activities in the houses, if the reconstructed houses are to keep their value as archaeological experiments. There must be an increase in registration in future.

In conclusion the data from the original archaeological material and the reconstruction corresponded quite well, showing a great likeness between the "morden Iron Age" house and the original house from Nørre Fjand. This confirmes that we are on the right track, with regards to the habits of building and living in the Iron Age.

Reference number HAF 12/08