First evidence of lime burning in southern Scandinavia: lime kilns found at the royal residence on the west bank of Lake Tissø

In connection with investigations of the aristocratic residence at Tissø from the Viking Age, the earliest evidence so far of lime burning in Denmark has been excavated. The excavations unearthed traces of up to five lime kilns which were subsequently dated to the end of the ninth century. This corresponds well with the dating of the erection of the hall in the third construction phase at Fugledegård. Finds of mud-and-wattle with whitewashing show that the lime was used to whitewash the halls at Tissø in both the Germanic Iron Age and the Viking Age. Analyses of lime from the lime kilns and the whitewashed mud-and-wattle demonstrate that the raw material for the lime burning was mainly travertine deposited in spring water, but that bryozoan limestone was also used. The lime kilns were just under 2 m in diameter with stone-built edges, and there are indications that the superstructure may have been built up with clay. This resembles the corresponding parallel finds from the Iron Age in the German area

Iron and Viking Age grapes from Denmark: vine seeds found at the royal complexes by Lake Tissø

Since the mid 1990s the National Museum of Denmark and Museum Vestsjælland have conducted excavations on two royal residential complexes from late Germanic Iron Age and Viking Age. During the excavations a range of samples were collected for macrofossil analysis. In two of these samples two seeds of vine grapes dated to the late Germanic Iron Age and the Viking Age were discovered. So far they are the oldest grape seeds discovered in the present Danish area. One of the seeds was chosen for strontium isotope analysis in order to determine the provenance of the grape. The strontium isotopic composition of the grape seed yielded a 87Sr/86Sr ratio of 0.71091 (±0.00004; 2σ) which falls within Denmark’s strontium isotopic baseline range indicating that the seed could be of local origin. Archaeological and historical evidence seem to point to that people in the Iron and Viking Age knew and consumed wine and even had access to gain potential know-how related to wine production. Hence, even though it is not possible to determine whether the two seeds found at Tissø are a result of either grape consumption (fresh or dried) or used for wine production, these finds point to that grapes and probably wine were products consumed by the elite at Tissø

Vegetation development in south-east Denmark during the Weichselian Late Glacial: palaeoenvironmental studies close to the Palaeolithic site of Hasselø

Eastern Denmark was an important region for the early immigration of humans into southern Scandinavia throughout the Late Glacial period. One possible explanation for this is that the landscape provided an especially favourable environment for Palaeolithic hunters. To examine this, the local and regional environment is reconstructed through the analysis of pollen and plant macrofossils from a small kettle hole and is discussed in relation to human presence in the region. The kettle hole is situated close to a Palaeolithic occupation site with artefacts belonging to the Federmesser and Bromme Cultures. The lake sediments encompass the Bølling, Allerød, Younger Dryas and the early Preboreal biostratigraphic periods. An increase in charcoal dust between c. 14,000 and 13,900 cal. BP may be related to the occupation site. This study shows that an ecotone was positioned between present-day Denmark and northern Germany during a large part of the Late Glacialperiod. This was especially the case during the Older Dryas and early Allerød periods, when woodland was expanding in northern Germany while the Danish area remained open. Later in the Allerød period, northern Germany seems to have beenthe northern limit for pine woodland. The low-lying region separating Denmark and Germany was periodically covered by the Baltic Ice Lake and this may have delayed the dispersal of plants from south to north. Areas lying between differenthabitats are known to have a high biodiversity and this may be why a high frequency of Palaeolithic finds is seen here. It has long been thought that tree birch grew in the Danish region from the beginning of the Late Glacial, but this study of both local and regional proxies clearly shows that the immigration of tree birch was delayed by more than 1000 years. A delay of c. 250 years between the climatic transition from GI-1a to GS-1 and the biostratigraphic transition from the Allerødto the Younger Dryas periods is also shown. The three 14 C ages available from the Danish Bromme Culture are from this transition phase when the birch woodland was becoming more open. Pollen analysis also shows the classical Younger Dryascold separated into an early dry phase (until c. 12,100 cal. BP) and a later wetter phase. This was most likely due to a change in atmospheric circulation and variation in the extent of sea ice in the North Atlantic. The combined analysis of bothpollen and plant macrofossils has led to a detailed and accurate reconstruction of the local environment and, in turn, the preconditions for human presence