The hunter stone age

10,000 years of hunter-gatherer societies

The three ancient periods in Denmark: the Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages comprise approximately 15,000 years, counting from the end of the last ice age to the present day. Of these, society consisted of scattered hunter-gatherer cultures for almost 10,000 years, so in terms of time, the Stone Age is the dominant period of our prehistory.

However, the first traces we have of humans in Denmark go back even further in time, to between the last and previous of the four ice ages that can be traced geologically in Denmark. The oldest reliable trace of human activity in Denmark was actually found not far from Kongehøjen. In 1912, a number of skeletons from fallow deer that became extinct during the so-called Eem interglacial period (130-110,000 BC) were found in an old lake deposit in the Gudenå Valley near Hollerup, west of Langå. Several of the bones had been split lengthwise by humans to extract the nutritious marrow, but unfortunately no actual traces of settlements or tools have yet been found at the site. However, from other sites – typically from deep soil layers in gravel pits – we now know of a number of isolated finds of primitive stone tools that clearly indicate that Neanderthals also lived in Denmark.

During the last ice age (the Weichselian glaciation, 110,000–13,000 BC), Denmark was only partially covered by ice, and recent studies suggest that the country was also ice-free for a period between 50,000 and 22,000 BC. Southwest Jutland, west of the Jutland ridge, was never covered by ice, and when the ice melted, the meltwater alone gave the country its current generally flat appearance. In the ice-covered areas, the landscape was created by the interaction between the ice glaciers and the meltwater.

When Denmark became ice-free, the country looked quite different than it does today. The treeless land was then connected to both England and Sweden, and the Baltic Sea was a large freshwater lake that was drained through the Danaelv (today's Great Belt).

The continued melting of the ice caused the sea level to rise and, at the same time, the land areas that had been covered by ice slowly rose in response to the pressure of the ice. The climate gradually became milder and forests began to spread. Wildlife and thus the basis of human life changed accordingly, and the various cultural groups of the Stone Age closely reflect this changing existence based on nature's own resources.

It is only from the end of the last ice age that we can follow human activity in more detail. The common denominator for the cultural groups of the Hunter-Gatherer Age is that they survived by constantly adapting to the current natural conditions and the seasonal rhythm that hunting, fishing, and gathering required. This is clearly reflected in the tools, and it is the typological development of these tools, together with modern scientific dating methods – including carbon-14 dating and pollen analysis – that are used to describe and divide cultural development.

Denmark's current outline first appeared around 7,000 BC, when the sea flooded the previously flat tundra steppes, and around 5,000 BC the land was covered by a dense primeval forest. Until then, we only know about Stone Age people through archaeological excavations and finds. Hunter-gatherers did not erect any visible monuments that have survived to this day, but from the last of the hunter-gatherer cultural groups – the so-called Ertebølle culture (5,400–4,000 BC) - the so-called kitchen midden settlements can still be seen – for example at Meilgård on Norddjursland and the Nederst settlement in Kolindsund.

If you would like to see more, click here:

Click here to visit the ancient monument guide's sites from the Hunter-Gatherer Age.

See more about the Stone Age on the National Museum's website.

Watch or rewatch DR's fantastic series: "The History of Denmark" - "The Stone Age"

And below, all children and childlike souls can take a thrilling educational journey through the Stone Age with Sigurd Barrett: