The Iron Age

Ever larger settlements and the emergence of villages

The Iron Age, which lasted for approximately 1,500 years, was a complex period during which society developed from the chieftain societies of the Bronze Age to the royal power of the Viking Age. Archaeologically, the Iron Age is subdivided into a number of periods that reflect foreign connections and influences, which are clearly evident in the archaeological finds and the development of society: Pre-Roman Iron Age (500 BC - AD 0), Early and Late Roman Iron Age (AD 0 - 400), Germanic Iron Age (AD 400 - 750) and finally the Viking Age (AD 750 - 1050).

Of the three ancient periods, the Iron Age is undoubtedly the best documented. Thousands of finds and excavations have clearly elucidated both the overall social development and provided a detailed insight into many facets of life in the Iron Age. However, only a few structures are visible in the landscape. For example, the most important type of grave in the Iron Age, found under flat fields, was far from as monumental as the dolmens and burial mounds of the Stone and Bronze Ages, and the traces of settlements, which clearly describe the development of the settlements, are only rarely visible to the naked eye in today's cultivated cultural landscape.

Through the many large-scale excavations of Iron Age settlements, we can closely follow the development of the settlement and society. During the Pre-Roman Iron Age, the first collective village settlements emerged, where farms were gathered within a common enclosure. The houses were of the so-called three-aisled type, divided by two rows of roof-bearing posts through the center axis of the house, with living quarters at the west end and stables at the east end. (see Hohøj)

Throughout the Iron Age, houses gradually became larger and more specialized, with individual farm units, including both residential buildings and outbuildings, being fenced off separately within the village community. In several villages, there were also significant differences in the size of the houses, which is interpreted as increasing social stratification and, at the same time, increasing occupational specialization. Blacksmithing is one example that should be seen in the context of the rapid development of agriculture and the many internal conflicts and wars, as clearly evidenced by the finds, including the so-called war booty finds from, for example, Illerup Ådal near Skanderborg. See also Dandiget. The size of villages also grew throughout the Iron Age, and excavations have revealed a pattern in which villages moved around within a smaller local area as the nearby land became depleted.

The size of villages also grew throughout the Iron Age, and excavations have revealed a pattern whereby villages moved around within a small local area as the nearby land was exhausted and the settlements fell into disrepair. Many of today's villages are still located where the Iron Age town ended up in the Viking Age and where the first churches were built.

Iron Age burial customs alternated between cremation and inhumation burials. In the Pre-Roman Iron Age, cremation was, as in the Late Bronze Age, the only form of burial. Cremation graves are found in countless variations, with and without urns, and were often constructed in small mound-shaped hills in large burial fields.
From the early Roman Iron Age around the year 0 and throughout the Iron Age, inhumation graves reappeared alongside cremation graves. The graves are grouped together in large burial grounds near settlements and villages and typically contain large quantities of pottery, weapons, and jewelry (see Rostved).

The new iron metal that appeared during the pre-Roman Iron Age made it possible to expand agriculture to include heavier clay soils, and traces of this have been preserved in several places. In Alstrup Krat near Hohøj, just southeast of Mariager, lie what are perhaps the country's best-preserved fields from the Iron Age. On many uncultivated heathlands and in old deciduous forests, similar fields can be seen on flat terrain, bordered by low boundary mounds and cairns (see Hjortsballe).

Throughout the Iron Age, the Bronze Age's trade connections with other countries developed significantly, and much of the domestic development reflects direct influences from the Roman Empire in particular. Transport and communication by sea and land increased, and many of the deep sunken roads that can still be seen on the slopes of uncultivated areas and in the forests probably date back to this part of ancient history (see Hohøj). Over impassable areas, actual roads made of reeds, branches, or stones were also constructed (see Sjelbro).

When the emphasis is placed on visible monuments, the Iron Age is nevertheless interesting. In contrast to the dominant burial sites of earlier periods, several different visible structures from the "living culture" have been preserved, which the people we know from Tollund and Grauballe Man and the Huldremose Woman, among others, lived in before they were sacrificed in the extensive marshlands that also characterized the Iron Age landscape.

If you would like to see more, take a look here:

Click here to visit the Iron Age sites in the Ancient Monuments Guide.

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

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

And below, all children and childlike souls can take a fascinating educational tour about the Grauballe Man with Sigurd Barrett:

https://youtu.be/hJd45B0nRQI