Archaeologists Find 4,000-Year-Old Late Neolithic House on Denmark’s Zealand Island
This diagram depicts part of the Late Neolithic farmhouse with the position of the postholes. Drawing: Archaeologist Jens Johannsen
The remains of a 4,000-year-old house dated to the Late Neolithic period have been discovered by archaeologists in Vinge, in Denmark’s Zealand province, the country’s largest island.
Archaeologists have been carrying out a survey on the site of a new station in Vinge, a new town under construction in Northern Zealand, The Copenhagen Post Online reports, citing Videnskab.
The discovery of the Late Neolithic house in Denmark’s Vinge is described as “sensational”.
The outline of the large prehistoric farmhouse from ca. 2,000 BC reveal that it was 45.5 metres long, 7.2 metres wide.
The archaeologists note the exceptionally large size of the prehistoric home found on Denmark’s Zealand island, which indicates that the house’s owners were likely wealthy people.
“It proved to be a gigantic farmhouse from the Late Neolithic Period. Up until now, we’ve only seen four farmhouses of this size from this period,” says Jens Johannsen, an archaeologist from Roskilde Museum.
“The house is nearly three times as big as other houses from this period, and it is the only one like it in the area,” he adds.
It is noted that the two-aisled house could have been used to house a Late Neolithic family together with their farmhands and livestock.
“The Vinge house must have belonged to a member of the upper class of the time because it is so large,” the archaeologist adds.
In addition, it is enormously interesting because this is the first period when we can see signs of an elite class in society,” he elaborates.
Johannsen speculates the owner of the newly discovered large prehistoric home in Denmark’s Vinge must have traveled around Europe to secure bronze supplies.
The building style of the 4,000-year-old Late Neolithic home is reported to show signs of other European styles such as traits from Germany, for example.
In another archaeology news story from Denmark, treasure hunters have raided and destroyed a unresearched Bronze Age burial mound on the Jutland Peninsula.
