Alken tightness

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Alken Enge ( German  "Alkenwiesen" ) on Mossø (lake) is an archaeological site in Jutland, Denmark . In a silted-up lake, a mass grave with a thousand dead has been found in various excavations. It is located near Illerup Ådal , where weapons were found. The mass grave from the Roman Empire is reminiscent of the battlefield in the Tollensetal , which, however, dates back to the Bronze Age .

The site is between the Autal and Lake Mossø. The raised bog was archaeologically examined for the first time between 1957 and 1962 by the archaeologist Harald Andersen (1917–2005) , which revealed numerous human bones. However, the great importance of the site only became clear after renewed prospecting in 2008 and 2009. A cooperation between the Skanderborg Museum and the University of Aarhus was started with funds from the Carlsberg Foundation for the scientific development of the site .

The discovery of human skeletons in the Alken Enge was not surprising. Illerup Ådal, the "Sacred Valley", is known for its various sacrificial sites. There is no doubt that the area is a sacrificial site for the surrounding area, which apparently was used regularly during the Iron Age. At Forlev Nymølle there is a ritual place where sacrifices were found in the form of ceramics, stone collections and various wooden objects. One of the wooden objects has been interpreted as a goddess figure. It is believed that several of the excavated objects were sacrificed to this goddess.

Alken is best known in connection with the discovery of sacrificed warriors, but there are victims of various types with different dates. Within the peat layer, roughly on the same horizon as the human remains, three iron lance tips and a wooden shield were found. Some of the skeletons have injury patterns that result from a fight or deliberate dismemberment. Parts of weapons and armor that are somewhat older than the skeletons have also been found. The weapons are usually found in such small numbers that they are not considered sacrificed. There are large amounts of wood in several horizons. A large number of piles set more or less vertically into the subsoil were also found in the peat layers. Pottery has also been discovered that can be dated to the early pre-Roman Iron Age and the early Middle Ages. Several excavation sites contain sacrificed animal bones, so that it must be a time and space very expensive sacrifice site. Weapons were also sacrificed here in later times. Troldborg Ring is nearby .

literature

  • Mads Kähler Holst et al .: Direct evidence of a large Northern European Roman period martial event and post-battle corpse manipulation . In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) . May 21, 2018, doi : 10.1073 / pnas.1721372115 (English, online pre-publication).

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Coordinates: 56 ° 2 ′ 57 ″  N , 9 ° 51 ′ 6 ″  E