Køkkenmødding from Åmølle
The midden of Åmølle is a prehistoric waste heap of food residues ( midden ), mainly oyster shells . It is located on the south bank of the Mariagerfjord , about two kilometers south of Hadsund in Jutland, Denmark .
Køkkenmøddinger can be found in many parts of Europe and the rest of the world on coasts, which created good conditions for seafood to be found close to the shore. The piles of rubbish are small if they have only been used for a short time, or are considerable in size if they have been used for centuries. As far as is known, people did not live on them, but seasonally right next to them.
The early landfills are only accessible where the sea level has not risen above the original coastline due to land uplift . Since the end of the Ice Age , the melting of the Scandinavian glaciers has lifted north-eastern Denmark by four to five meters at Åmølle . In the meantime the sea in the fjord area covered a larger area than it does today. A tributary of the Mariagerfjord ran from Åmølle, in today's river bed of Kastbjerg Å to the south, about to Edderup and formed a bay to the east that ended at Trudsholm .
The mussel piles are widespread along the old coastline of the Mariagerfjord and come primarily from the Mesolithic Ertebølle culture . The excavated Køkkenmødding from Åmølle is located on the east side of the Kastbjerg valley. The route of the Randers – Hadsund railway line, which was closed in 1969, runs over the rubbish heap, which is not visible on the surface today. An area 65 × 10 m and 1.2 m deep was one of the first excavated in 1893. The Køkkenmødding consists of several heaps and mainly contained oyster shells, but also shells of mussels , sea snails and nuts. 10,800 shell pieces were determined per cubic meter.
Also found antlers , some herd , spitzbodige thick-walled ceramic and grinding stones and axes , scrapers , drills and knives made of flint . Most of the tools are from the Ertebølle culture, but tools from the Neolithic period have also been found. A well-preserved 180 cm long skeleton may date from this period, while two or three skeletons lying close to the surface were probably buried later. The finds from the Køkkenmøddinger near Mariager are on display in the Mariager Museum.
Well-known Køkkenmøddinger on the south side of the fjord is the Køkkenmødding Marcilleborg further west; on the former island of Havnø east of Hadsund , today part of the north bank of the fjord, there is a 100 m × 25 m large Køkkenmødding; the one in Visborg was excavated in the late 1990s.
See also
literature
- Karen Marie Christensen: Archaeological sites and Monuments in the Mariager Area 1994 ISBN 87-90099-08-7
Web links
Coordinates: 56 ° 40 ′ 57 ″ N , 10 ° 6 ′ 35 ″ E