Prehistoric monuments in the Århus forests

Abstract

Prehistoric Monuments in the Århus Forests

In Denmark, prehistoric monuments, especially barrows, megalithic graves and other grave structures, traditionally play a major part as source material in connection with prehistoric settlement research (1).

It has, however, long been recognized that the extant monuments constitute only a small part of the original number. Although it must be assumed that destruction started in antiquity, it is judged to have been greatest during the last 200-300 years (2).

This destruction led in 1807 to the setting up of Den kongelige Commission til Oldsagers Opbevaring ('Royal Commission for the Preservation of Antiquities') and the establishment of the present National Museum. As encroachment continued unabated, however, there was established in 1847 an Inspection for de antiquariske Mindesmærkers Bevaring ('Inspectorate for the Preservation of Ancient Monuments'), which in 1873 initiated county perambulations with a view to nationwide description and mapping of all preserved ancient monuments, castle mounds, and the like (3). The reports were collected in the so-called parish descriptions, in which the individual monuments are described parish by parish.

Normally, the parish descriptions are considered fairly complete with respect to the occurrence of monuments visible at the time of survey, but in recent years it has become apparent that the old forest areas often contain a large number of unrecorded monuments (4).

This circumstance, which will often be of importance in connection with settlement­historical studies and concomitant analyses of the representativeness of source material, will be elucidated in the following on the basis of a concrete example.

As the old forests are often considered to have afforded protection from the inroads of time, the degree to which this holds good, and when and how any destruction has taken place, will also be looked into (5).

In the spring of 1981, Forhistorisk Museum, Moesgård, carried out a complete registration of monuments in the forests south of Århus -a total area of about 1,000 hectares, fig. 2 (6). This occurred partly for preservation reasons, a large part of the extant monuments being threatened by modern forestry practice, and partly in an effort to improve the information available to the public.

After initial archive study, a systematic reconnaissance of the forests took place in early spring, when visibility is optimal and the forest floor most bare.

According to criteria the validity of which has been confirmed by several excavations in the area of study, the prehistoric monuments were placed in the following categories, which were further defined (7): 1. megalithic graves, 2. round barrows, 3. long barrows, 4. grave mounds, 5. other grave structures, 6. ancient fields, 7. ridged fields, 8. clearing mounds and 9. sunken roads.

In addition, various cultural remains mainly from more recent time were mapped, including vestiges of forestry, hunting, fishing raw material extraction and use of water power (8).

At the time of writing, a total 251 prehistoric monuments have been registered in the Århus forests. Only 28 of these had been recorded during the county perambulations. In the intervening period up to the systematic forest reconnaissance in 1981, a further 37 monuments were recorded, fig. 3-5.

As the diagram fig. 3 shows, a major part of the 186 newly registered prehistoric monuments consists of types of structures which were not recorded during the county survey (ancient fields, ridged fields, clearing mounds and sunken roads). But apart from the ancient fields, most of these are from historical times.

Looking at the prehistoric grave structures alone, it is apparent, however, that here too, there has been a major increase in relation to the registrations of the county survey. Of the 76 newly recorded structures, 26 have been recorded in connection with various investigations carried out within the last 25 years (9-10).

The results of the recent survey of the Århus forests do not support the view that the old forest has afforded especial protection to the ancient monuments from the encroachments of time and should thus give a true picture of the original concentration of ancient monuments in the Danish landscape.

In the Århus forests, this picture has been disturbed by the older Iron Age's and recent times' relatively extensive cultivation, fig. 2 and 5; neither has the stone-plundering and similar activities of various times left many of the preserved monuments intact.

Although a certain part of the ancient monuments in the Århus forests have thus been destroyed, it must at the same time be remarked that the numbers still extant greatly exceed the numbers of known monuments in the contiguous open country. But this can not be elicited from the county records. Investigations in the Århus forests show that the registrations from this area are rather deficient. Even when types of structures which were not normally recorded during the survey are left out of account, a considerable increase in the number of recorded monuments has occurred since the perambulation, from 28 to 104, and it should be remarked in this connection that the newly recorded structures comprise not only inconspicuous grave mounds and the like, but also conspicuous barrows and megalithic graves.

As investigations in other forest areas have also yielded many unrecorded ancient monuments (21), it must be supposed that the old forest areas in the country as a whole contain considerably more prehistoric structures than the perambulation reports show. The explanation may be that those involved had their attention directed particularly to the open country, where monuments were most vulnerable. As it is difficult to see the wood for the trees in forest areas, which can be rather inaccessible, too, a contributory factor may have been the fact that the observations were also made more from a horse-drawn carriage than on foot!

Jesper Laursen

Oversættelse: Peter Crabb