Lindholm Høje (Lindholm Hills, from

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

''haugr'', hill or mound) is a major

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

burial site and former settlement situated to the north of and overlooking the city of

Aalborg Aalborg or Ålborg ( , , ) is Denmark's List of cities and towns in Denmark, fourth largest urban settlement (behind Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Odense) with a population of 119,862 (1 July 2022) in the town proper and an Urban area, urban populati ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

About the area

The southern (lower) part of Lindholm Høje dates to 1000 – 1050 AD, the

Viking Age The Viking Age (about ) was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonising, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. The Viking Age applies not only to their ...

, while the northern (higher) part is significantly earlier, dating back to the 5th century AD in the

Nordic Iron Age Iron Age Scandinavia (or Nordic Iron Age) was the Iron Age, as it unfolded in Scandinavia. It was preceded by the Nordic Bronze Age. Beginnings The 6th and 5th centuries BC were a tipping point for exports and imports on the European contine ...

. Mads Ravn, ''Death Ritual and Germanic Social Structure (c. AD 200-600)'', BAR international series 1164, Oxford: Archaeopress, 2003,
p. 51
An unknown number of rocks have been removed from the site over the centuries, many, for example, being broken up in the 19th century for use in road constructions. The Viking Age part of the burial ground has suffered more from this than the older parts.Kristian Helmersen
Lindholm Høje
Viking Ship Museum The first major

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

excavation, which ultimately included 589 of the approximately 700 graves,Fredrik Svanberg, ''Decolonizing the Viking Age: Papers of the Lunds Universitets Historiske Museum'' Part 2 ''Death Rituals in South-East Scandinavia: AD 800 - 1000'', Acta Archaeologica Lundensia Series in quarto 24, Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 2003,
p. 136
began in 1952, although excavations had been conducted as early as 1889. Remains of villages has been found.
Viking Denmark, EssentialContent.com The settlement is at an important crossing over the

Limfjord The Limfjord ( common Danish: ''Limfjorden'' , in northwest Jutlandish dialect: ''Æ Limfjord'') is a shallow part of the sea, located in Denmark where it has been regarded as an inlet ever since Viking times. However, it now has entries both ...

, a stretch of water which divides the

Jutland Jutland (; , ''Jyske Halvø'' or ''Cimbriske Halvø''; , ''Kimbrische Halbinsel'' or ''Jütische Halbinsel'') is a peninsula of Northern Europe that forms the continental portion of Denmark and part of northern Germany (Schleswig-Holstein). It ...

peninsula. During the Viking Age, it was only possible to make the crossing at this point or much further west along the

fjord In physical geography, a fjord (also spelled fiord in New Zealand English; ) is a long, narrow sea inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Antarctica, the Arctic, and surrounding landmasses of the n ...

at Aggersund, because of the swamps which then edged the fjord on either side. The settlement was abandoned in approximately 1200 AD, probably due to sand drifting from the western coast, which was a consequence of extensive

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal and destruction of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. Ab ...

and the exposed sand then being blown inland by the rough westerly winds. The sand which covered the site served to protect it in large part over the intervening centuries. Kbh Mus Bronzespange

Because of its location and transportation links, the settlement was obviously a significant centre for

trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. Traders generally negotiate through a medium of cr ...

at the time, and this is borne out by glassware, gems and Arab coins found at the site. An 11th-century silver

Urnes style Viking art, also known commonly as Norse art, is a term widely accepted for the art of Scandinavian Norsemen and Vikings, Viking settlements further afield—particularly in the British Isles and Iceland—during the Viking Age of the 8th-11th ...

brooch found in one grave is the model for bronze copies that were being cast in a

Lund Lund (, ;"Lund"
(US) and ) is a city in the provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, southern Swed ...

jeweler's workshop in the early 12th century. The majority of the

burials Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and object ...

discovered were

cremation Cremation is a method of Disposal of human corpses, final disposition of a corpse through Combustion, burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India, Nepal, and ...

s, although a number of inhumations were also discovered, and it appeared that the tendency towards cremation or burial depended upon the period, cremation supplanting inhumation in the Viking Age. The pre-Viking Age burials were under

mounds A mound is an artificial heap or pile, especially of earth, rocks, or sand. Mound and Mounds may also refer to: Places * Mound, Louisiana, United States * Mound, Minnesota, United States * Mound, Texas, United States * Mound, West Virginia * Moun ...

. Of the later graves, some women's graves appear to be distinguished by placement of rocks in a circle or oval, but most of the graves are marked with rocks either in a triangle or in the traditional shape of a boat (

stone ship The stone ship or ship setting was an early burial custom in Scandinavia, Northern Germany, and the Baltic states. The grave or cremation burial was surrounded by slabs or stones in the shape of a boat or ship. The ships vary in size and were ...

), indicating the importance that the Vikings placed upon water. The ship settings constitute the largest assemblage of well-preserved examples extant.Mark Treib, "The Landscape of Loved Ones" in ''Places of Commemoration: Search for Identity and Landscape Design'', Selected papers from the 19th Dumbarton Oaks Colloquium on the History of Landscape Architecture held in 1995, Ed. Joachim Wolschke-Bulmahn, Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 2001, , pp. 88–106
p. 98, note 27
The shape and size of the grave outline apparently indicate the status of the person – all of which is reminiscent of the

ship burial A ship burial or boat grave is a burial in which a ship or boat is used either as the tomb for the dead and the grave goods, or as a part of the grave goods itself. If the ship is very small, it is called a boat grave. This style of burial was pr ...

s of the

Anglo-Saxons The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

, Norwegian and Swedish Vikings and other ancient Germanic societies. A

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

adjacent to the site donated by Aalborg Portland A/S

cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mi ...

company to commemorate their centennial was opened in 1992. In 2008 the museum was enlarged, and a new exhibition of pre-history in the area of the Limfjord opened.

References

Sources

* ''Lindholm Høje: Burial Ground and Village''. Translated by Annette Lerche Trolle. Aalborg: Aalborg Historical Society, Aalborg Historical Museum, 1996. * Oscar Marseen. ''Lindholm Høje: Beskrivelse af udgravninger og fund''. 5th ed. Aalborg: Aalborg Historiske Museum, 1992. (Danish with English, German, and French summaries)

External links

Lindholm
by students at Aalborg Teachers' College, Denmark, 15 April 2000

at VisitDenmark.com
Lindholm Høje Museet
Nordjyllands Historiske Museum
Photographs of Lindholm Høje
at Panoramio {{DEFAULTSORT:Lindholm Hoje Archaeological museums in Denmark Archaeological sites in Denmark Former populated places in Denmark History of Aalborg Museums in Aalborg Tourist attractions in Aalborg Viking Age museums