Øster Lem Heath and Løvstrup Plantation

Oversigtskort over agersystemet på Øster Lem Hede

Facts

From arable land to heath

By Lea Meistrup-Larsen , Arkæolog, cand.mag. (8 stories)

A large late Bronze Age and early Iron Age field system stretches across part of the plantation and the heath. Very recent research has shown that the fields were not established at the same time, as the farmers extended the system with new larger areas of fields every time new arable land was needed. The appearance and spread of the field system are not random but were carefully planned and coordinated by prehistoric farmers. Crops such as barley and flax were grown in the fields, which had a certain amount of manure added – either from the grazing animals or by spreading waste and muck on the fields.

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New technology and old fields

Story written by Lea Meistrup-Larsen

Time / Periode -800 -500

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The Danish landscape is quite rich in fine and well preserved prehistoric field systems. But our knowledge of what the fields were used for, their age and construction is surprisingly limited. A team of researchers led by PhD student Nina Helt Nielsen from the University of Aarhus has therefore decided to solve the riddles of the fields. The researchers have carried out a number of investigations on the fields at Øster Lem Heath. Advanced height models, scientific analyses and hi-tech equipment from Risø will ultimately reveal the field systems' age and chronological development. This will give us greater insight into the prehistoric community that cultivated the fields.