Store Åmose

Facts

Summer camp for millenniums

By Anders Fischer, Arkæolog, Ph. D. (11 stories)

Store Åmose is on West Zealand. The 36-square-kilometre bog is one of Scandinavia's most important archives for recording the development of culture and animal life in the early Stone Age. For millenniums, summer after summer, people have lived in Store Åmose. They set up camp right out by the mosquito-infested border between the bog and the lake. The settlements, once deserted, were quickly covered by peat. The bog has therefore stored huge amounts of weapons, tools, and especially remains of the animals that were eaten.

Partly a public place

Selected entry

Head in the clouds

Story written by Anders Fischer

Time / Periode -11000 -3000

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Why did Stone Age man choose to live among clouds of mosquitoes in Store Åmose? The settlements' piles of well-preserved waste may provide the answer: food was more important than comfort. People settled in the large lake and bog area because food was easy to find here. Fish was the most important source of nutrition. Fish comprised at least three-quarters of the inhabitants' protein supply. If you lived by the lakeside, your larder was right next door. Fishing was done with spears, hooks and traps. The fishermen paddled out in small boats. These boats were also very useful when travelling about collecting berries and for transporting home firewood and animals bagged while hunting.