Very nice video, Søren... I like you extended the time frame to before the nomminel viking era... From around year 600 the largest mead hall in Denmark was found by Museum Silkeborg, but since the excavation was due to the motor way build nothing of its context was reveiled... I just have to have the new Lejre book, and I expect to buy it when we come to the Saga King Festival in october, as the Heruli Reenactment Group... PS: denmark should do much more about Lejre and Beowulf, since it is only known outside our national boarders... ;-)
So cool. I've always been curious about what Denmark looked like during the so-called "Viking Age." Usually when I mention Vikings to people, they emagine Iceland or Norway with the huge mountains and harsh Winters (and I confess that I think as much too). But what about Denmark? I'm so curious
@@camrendavis6650 Yeah, pretty much all of the country was forest until it was cut down, first for farms, then for ships starting especially with the vikinh age. But even after that, we've historically always been a seafaring people with a strong navy, so the middle ages really took its toll on our trees
@@justarandompally wow, at least it wasn't for nothing. What about winter? I hear present day Denmark doesn't keep snow. Is that true? Surely Jutland gets cold enough
@@camrendavis6650 We do plenty, it just hasn't snowed a lot the past years. When I was a kid I would go sledding down hills and shit, and have plenty of christmas photos where it's completely white.
RIP Sorte Muld. May you be remembered dearly. "Perhaps our next step should be to investigate what people did there (the halls)". Correct me if I am wrong, Søren, but I believe people are already actively doing this; one of the more interesting approaches being Nygaard's (2019) "Poetry as Ritual in Pre-Christian Nordic Religion".
I had no idea that there are halls as old as the 3rd century. Are there great halls from Late Antiquity in Germany or was this only a scandinavian thing?
The idea of the hall as a ruler's residence certainly existed in Germany and in Anglo-Saxon England, but the architecture is rather different from Scandinavia.
@@srensindbk5473 Interesting that it hasn't been investigated deeply, since it's another historical center from the viking age. Perhaps it's the next center to be investigated?