History of Alken Enge

Harald Andersen’s excavation

Archaeologist Harald Andersen conducted excavations at Alken Wetlands from 1957 to 1960. The excavations concentrated on the canal that was dug in 1956. The site was named after the crossing point, Vædebro. Furthermore, he conducted archaeological surveying in the hinterland of Alken Wetlands. Early in the excavations it became clear that in the Iron Age there had been a lake in the area. In the top, sandy peat-layer, just above the sandy/gravelly lake bed, human skeletal remains were discovered. The bones were not in any anatomical order, but were instead, discovered as scattered single bones. It was almost exclusively the larger bones of the body; shoulder blades, pelvis and craniums/cranium fragments that were discovered. Only a few bones from the hands, feet, ribs and spine were also discovered. The reason for this particular accumulation has not been established. One theory was that intact individuals were sacrificed in the Iron Age lake. These then decomposed, and the bones ended up being spread by the wind, currents and waves more or less randomly around the lake. However, it was quite clear that the discovery involved skeletal remains from younger adult males. On some of the bones, damage from melee weapons could be seen. Harald Andersen’s conclusion was that these were sacrificed individuals from a defeated army. Some years later C-14 datings were conducted on several human bones, discovering that they were all dated to the time around the birth of Christ. It would obviously be fantastic if this dating fitted in with the dating on weapons deposited further up the river valley. However, the oldest weapons deposit is from approx. 200 AD, and therefore there can be no direct temporal correlation between any weapons deposits and human sacrifices.

Harald Andersen's excavation protocol and documentation was very well executed. By using the old excavation data and excavation plans, finds lists and other descriptions it has been possible to update the documentation to a modern digital level. This means that the old excavation data can be correlated with data from the new archaeological investigations.