Prehistoric Architecture

Five thousand years ago, megalithic tombs such as dolmens and passage graves were built in Denmark. Their construction methods, stability, and preservation are quite extraordinary within European architecture – and in many places in Denmark today you can crawl into these beautiful, ancient stone chambers and get the same sense of space our Stone Age ancestors experienced.

Materials and Collaboration Behind Ancient Construction

In prehistoric times, homes and burial sites were built from whatever materials were available – earth, clay, sand, wood, and stone. Stones often had to be transported over long distances, and people managed to move boulders weighing more than 20 tons using nothing but human power. This transport required close collaboration among many people and a well-organized society.

Settlements Disappeared – but Traces Remain in the Soil

Stone burial monuments have been preserved for posterity, but homes built of wood and clay have naturally decayed. As a result, we know little about what prehistoric houses looked like. Based on postholes in the ground, however, archaeologists and architects can attempt to reconstruct the houses of different periods.

Healthy and Durable Constructions

Prehistoric houses often had walls made of wattle and daub. Around a lattice of thin branches – known as “withies” – clay was pressed on from both sides of the wall. Studies show that clay walls regulate heat and moisture extremely well, making them healthy to live in.

Post-and-plank, log, and timber-frame construction techniques were also known, using hewn timber. When set vertically, the technique is called post construction; when placed horizontally, it is a log house.

In their basic structure, there is little difference between a Stone Age longhouse and a farmhouse from the 1700s.

The Mesolithic and Neolithic Period
– about 12,500 to 1,700 BC

In the earliest Stone Age, Denmark was for thousands of years a barren, desolate tundra – essentially a vast marshland where the ground remained frozen year-round. Later, forests spread, made up of many tree and shrub species adapted to shifting climates.

The population lived mainly from hunting and fishing, which required constant movement. Archaeological finds from this period include small, lightweight huts, probably consisting of a fragile wooden frame covered with hides – perhaps resembling a traditional Native American tipi.

The First Farmers and Permanent Settlements

Around 4000 BC, people in Denmark began farming. This meant they no longer had to move between hunting and fishing grounds. They could stay in one place as farmers with crops and livestock. Within just a few centuries, people began building more permanent homes. These houses were scattered across the landscape, so villages did not yet exist. People likely lived close to grazing areas and cultivated fields.

Longhouses and Community in the Neolithic Age

The two-aisled longhouses of the Neolithic Age had a row of strong central posts supporting the roof, with walls usually made of wattle and daub. These houses were 5–7 meters wide and up to 40 meters long. Archaeologists believe one or two families lived in each.

Because settlements were scattered, people likely needed shared community structures where they could gather. About 500 years after farming began, people started building dolmens. It is estimated that about 30,000 dolmens were built in Denmark within just 200–300 years.

Dolmens – the Earliest Burial Monuments

A dolmen consists of at least four upright stones topped with a large horizontal capstone. Sometimes a small corridor led to the chamber, but it was never roofed.

Dolmens could stand alone in the landscape, be grouped together, or be framed by other large stones. A circle of dolmens is called a round dolmen, and a rectangular arrangement is a long dolmen.

Used for Burial

Dolmens were built around 3500 – 3200 BC and are thought to have been used for burials. However, the skeletons found inside are often several hundred years younger.

This does not necessarily mean dolmens were not graves from the start, but rather that they were reused later. Early burials may have disappeared over time, for example due to rebuilding. Excavations have uncovered beautiful clay vessels and flint axes, showing that dolmens also had major ritual significance.

Passage Graves – Advanced Stone Construction with Technique and Symbolism

Around 3200 BC, stone architecture evolved into passage graves. Large stone chambers with covered entrance passages were built. Passage graves are usually 2.5 meters wide, more than 2 meters high, and over 10 meters long.

At a right angle to the chamber was always a low passage. These graves were built inside circular or elongated mounds, always completely covered with earth.

Construction and Materials of Passage Graves

In passage graves, gaps between the large chamber stones were filled with small flat stones known as dry-stone packing. These walls were built in alternating layers, using a primitive mortar of clay or chalk dissolved in water.

In Denmark, birch bark membranes have been found between stone slabs. Behind the chambers are complex structures designed to hold the massive stones in place and keep the interior dry.

By layering fine clay, crushed flint (sometimes heat-treated to turn white and brittle), and sand, builders were able to drain water away. This is why passage grave chambers remain dry more than 5,000 years later.

Function and Use as Burial Chambers

Passage graves were built only for about 200 years but were used as burial sites for more than a millennium. Over 5,000 years ago, Denmark saw a burst of monumental building activity, moving and fitting massive stones into constructions that still stand today.

The Sarup Enclosure – Ritual Grounds and Communities

Between 3400 and 3100 BC, people also built enclosures up to 20 hectares in size, marked by large trenches and palisade fences. The best-excavated site of this type is at Sarup in southwestern Funen.

Because these enclosures were made of perishable materials, they are barely visible in today’s landscape. Archaeologists estimate that building Sarup required 170 men working for three months.

The Sarup Enclosures and stone tombs may have been part of a complex ritual system. Bodies may first have been buried at Sarup, then parts of their skeletons reburied in the stone tombs.

The Bronze Age
– about 1700 to 500 BC

Society evolved, and trade and seafaring increased. The large amounts of bronze from this period point to active trade networks with southern Europe. Archaeologists have found traces of many houses from this period, initially resembling those of the Neolithic Age.

Large Burial Mounds Built of Sod

The most distinctive structures of the period are the more than 100,000 burial mounds built in Denmark. Only 30,000 survive today, but they still dominate the cultural landscape, with mounds crowning nearly every hilltop. No other country has such a dense concentration.

The mounds were made of sod. A typical mound required more than 100,000 sod blocks measuring 40 × 40 × 5 cm. Building them was heavy work and removed fertile topsoil needed for farming. In the middle of Bronze Age mounds stood oak coffins. The best-known finds are the Egtved Girl’s grave and Borum Eshøj.

Three-Aisled Houses and Decorated Walls

In the early Bronze Age, construction methods changed significantly. Houses became three-aisled, with two rows of roof-bearing posts running lengthwise. This made houses wider and strong enough to store hay in lofts.

On the long walls, two doors were always placed opposite each other. Walls were still wattle and daub, but at Voldtofte on Funen, evidence shows the clay was painted. These houses, therefore, stood in bright colors rather than dull earth tones.

Like earlier houses, they were scattered across the landscape, but clusters of houses at the same site suggest people stayed longer in one place, shifting only slightly when building new houses.

The Iron Age
– about 500 BC to 800 AD

In the Iron Age, people lived much as they had in the Bronze Age. But with iron smelted from bog ore available locally, bronze imports were no longer needed.

In the centuries before the Common Era, settlements changed. People began living together in villages. Three-aisled longhouses were clustered, and villages could be surrounded by fences. Some houses were larger, with extra fencing, suggesting an emerging class society led by wealthy farmers.

Farm Complexes and Wealth at the End of the Iron Age

This class system developed further over time, resulting in large farmsteads with many outbuildings, barns, and richly furnished burial grounds.

The period had close contact with southern Europe, especially the Roman Empire, indicating mutual awareness of each other’s societies.

Houses and Materials Across Denmark

Thousands of Iron Age houses have been found throughout Denmark. They resemble Bronze Age three-aisled longhouses with clay walls. Evidence shows that stables were in the east end, with traces of stalls and drainage ditches. Families lived in the west end, where hearths are always found.

Specialized Buildings and Pit Houses

After the beginning of the Common Era, houses grew larger, and people built economic structures such as barns, granaries, and workshops. Some houses became very long, combining living quarters, stables, and hay storage under one roof. In northwestern Jutland, where wood was scarce, walls were sometimes made of sod up to a meter thick.

Toward the end of the Iron Age, people built small semi-subterranean huts called pit houses. These were used mainly as workshops for activities such as blacksmithing and weaving.