Valby Hegn

Facts

The barrows along the ancient highways

By Svend Illum Hansen , Bachelor i forhistorisk arkæologi Konservator Tagdækker Sømand (13 stories)

The Valby Hegn area is unique for its great number of long barrows. In a row along the western edge of the forest, six large barrows lie in the land as they would have at the verge of an ancient highway. The great barrows were built circa 3500-3200 BC and were used for burials throughout the Neolithic period. Today the barrows lie in ruins and look more like longhouses. The kerbstones around the mound would have stood upright, forming walls. The barrows were constructed in open land with an unobstructed view of the village that lay somewhere nearby.

Public place

Selected entry

Ancestral graves

Story written by Svend Illum Hansen

Time / Periode -3500 -3200

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Barrows and passage graves are often clustered, defining the territory of the Stone Age village. When the barrows were created in the Neolithic period, there was no forest at Valby Hegn. The barrows were built so they could be seen from afar. Any stranger was to understand that he was now on claimed territory. Here the ancestors watched over the lands of their kin. Up to 90 per cent of all Danish barrows and passage graves were removed within the last couple of centuries to make way for roads and railways. This makes it difficult today to get a sense of the clustering of the burial sites. But at Valby Hegn, the forest protected the area's stone tombs from destruction.