Løgten Mark

Facts

The mysterious cellars of Løgten Mark

By Per Ole Rindel, Lektor, Ph.D., Købehavn Universitet (12 stories)

A number of unusual Iron Age cellars near Flade Church were excavated in the 1950s by archaeologists from the Moesgaard Museum near Aarhus. The cellars, now listed monuments, have been left uncovered in their grassy surroundings. Just under a metre deep, the cellar walls consist of large layered stones. A couple of the cellars consist of just a single interior of 2-3 square metres and a short entrance. Others are more complex and contain several small interiors connected by narrow, winding passageways. Similar cellars from around 0 AD are known only from Vendsyssel.

Public place

Selected entry

An ideal hiding place for food and people

Story written by Per Ole Rindel

Time / Periode -200 0

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Why were these cellars built? The purpose of the cellars is a mystery. The cool interiors may have been used for storing seed grain and foodstuffs such as dried fish. Another possibility is that they were used as a hiding place. Were the cellars roofed? Each cellar room probably had some kind of cover, like a tent-shaped roof. Above ground, the walls may have been raised by lengths of wattle-and-daub, that is, woven branches compacted with mud. On the other hand, if the roof was flat and rested directly on the stone walls, it would not have been possible to stand upright in the cellars, but against that the hideouts would have been almost invisible in the landscape. There is no evidence of any dwellings of the same era nearby.