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Archaeology & History

Viking ring fortress discovered in Denmark

By T.K. Randall
September 8, 2014 · Comment icon 27 comments

The Viking ring fortress of Trelleborg. Image Credit: CC BY-SA 3.0 Thue C. Leibrandt
An impressive ring-shaped fortress has been unearthed on an island 50km south of Copenhagen.
Only the fifth of its kind to ever be found and the first within the last 60 years, the unique circular fortress is believed to date back to somewhere around the 10th century.

Historians believe that these ancient buildings may have been built during the reign of Harald Bluetooth who christianised Denmark and Norway. The actual construction is thought to have been overseen by his son Sweyn Forkbeard who used them as a barracks from which to launch invasions of the British Isles.
The latest discovery measures 145m in diameter and was surrounded by a 10m-wide rampart protected by a palisade of wooden spikes to fend off attackers.

Access to the fortress was made possible by four gateways corresponding to the four main compass directions which lead to an inner courtyard that was itself divided up in to four sections.

"Although there were Vikings in other countries, these circular fortresses are unique to Denmark," said Viking historian Lasse Sonne. "Many have given up hope that there were many of them left."

Source: New Zealand Herald | Comments (27)




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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #18 Posted by Franskhotdog 10 years ago
That is why I'd like to see a photo of the site. I've seen some but there's actually not much to see at the moment, they just made some small test digs around the area, to get a plan going i guess so just a few boring holes in the ground right now but i can try to find some pictures if you really want to see but there's a pretty cool picture of the scans they did of the ground when they searched for it that shows the shape of it clearly.. its actually located on a farmers field very close to the freeway, but as stated before its been plowed by farmers many times so you can't see it from the ai... [More]
Comment icon #19 Posted by shrooma 10 years ago
I am assuming it used to be a big stone wall or wooden wall, now covered in vegetation? . probably wooden ballustrades, comparable to iron-age hill forts, and roman encampments. (although, romans built (like the greeks) in straight lines, not curves, which seems to be a mediterranian oddety compared with the rest of europe.) .....and welcome to UM..... .
Comment icon #20 Posted by Franskhotdog 10 years ago
That is why I'd like to see a photo of the site. I found away to show you some pictures of the site i think. This picture here is the cool ground scan of the area, were you clearly see the ringshape underground http://i57.tinypic.com/fu5e14.jpg And here i compared the scan with a google earth image of the same area., you should see the match http://i61.tinypic.com/f03spc.jpg And here is one from the actual site itself were they just started to excavate http://i59.tinypic.com/33oif07.jpg hope it works
Comment icon #21 Posted by pallidin 10 years ago
What else do you think it could be? If I have this correctly, there were numerous wooden stakes surrounding that structure. This portends to more of a "fort" than a "ceremonial" facility even though the entrances were aligned to N/S/E/W. which understandably offers confusion. Perhaps archeological digs, if permitted, can shed some more light on it's purpose.
Comment icon #22 Posted by Franskhotdog 10 years ago
If I have this correctly, there were numerous wooden stakes surrounding that structure. This portends to more of a "fort" than a "ceremonial" facility even though the entrances were aligned to N/S/E/W. which understandably offers confusion. Perhaps archeological digs, if permitted, can shed some more light on it's purpose. Yes hopefully it can most archaeologist believes that they were used to control the area they were located in., there was kind of a battle going on in denmark at the time about who was going to be the next king, and it is believed that harald bluetooth build them as protecti... [More]
Comment icon #23 Posted by DieChecker 10 years ago
I found away to show you some pictures of the site i think. This picture here is the cool ground scan of the area, were you clearly see the ringshape underground http://i57.tinypic.com/fu5e14.jpg And here i compared the scan with a google earth image of the same area., you should see the match http://i61.tinypic.com/f03spc.jpg And here is one from the actual site itself were they just started to excavate http://i59.tinypic.com/33oif07.jpg hope it works That is really interesting. Thank you very much for those links.
Comment icon #24 Posted by Franskhotdog 10 years ago
That is really interesting. Thank you very much for those links. Your welcome and let me know if there's anymore questions and i'll try to answer the best i can
Comment icon #25 Posted by Peter B 10 years ago
That is really interesting. Thank you very much for those links. And thanks from me too. I had a look at the site on Google Maps. If you look hard in the right place you can just about make out the circle, though it looks more like a hexagon to me. But the thing is that I could make out other shapes in the surrounding land which are probably naturally occurring, so it doesn't surprise me the ring was hard to find.
Comment icon #26 Posted by Franskhotdog 10 years ago
And thanks from me too. I had a look at the site on Google Maps. If you look hard in the right place you can just about make out the circle, though it looks more like a hexagon to me. But the thing is that I could make out other shapes in the surrounding land which are probably naturally occurring, so it doesn't surprise me the ring was hard to find. That is exactly what i was seeing too i think i can spot the circle, but as you saw yourself, then there's suddenly circles/shapes everywhere if you look hard enough The way they found this one was actually very unconventional compared to the way ... [More]
Comment icon #27 Posted by Franskhotdog 9 years ago
Tjeck this out!! looks awesome


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