HISTORY OF ARCHAEOLOGY

Maybe you've bent down to pick up an old pot shard. Turned it a little, looked at the vague patterns. The smooth outside, the rough inside. It doesn't tell you anything. You have no idea if it's from the Middle Ages or the 1970s. It falls back onto the ground and out of your thoughts as you move on. But have you ever thought about what an archaeologist might get out of that little pot shard?

At the Danish Castle Center, we would like to enlighten you a little. We take a deep breath and dive into the history of archaeology. All the way back to the earliest excavations at Vordingborg in the 1880s, when the castle slowly began to emerge after centuries underground. In the following 130 years, archaeologists' focus changed from the hunt for kings and power to a curiosity about the individual and everyday stories. A 'fantastic find' went from being a ring that you could dream of having been lost from a royal hand. It could also include wood, rope and other organic material that can help put a date on history.

The technology here has opened up some wild possibilities for getting up close and personal with life in the Middle Ages. We open the archaeologist's toolbox and find carbon-14 dating, dendrochronology and macrofossil analyses. These are some of the tools that can help determine exactly what year the wood used for the castle's earliest constructions was felled. Or when a piece of porridge has burned onto the inside of a bowl.

Visit our outdoor exhibition pavilions and see pictures, stories and finds from 130 years of archaeology at the castle.