Dating Ancient Burial Mounds in Denmark – Revealing Problematic Ancient Charcoal

Abstract

The National Museum of Denmark and the Department of Geography at the University of Copenhagen have collaborated on a project investigating burial mounds near early Medieval churches. The aim was to identify a possible continuity in cult sites across the shift to Christianity in the late Viking Age. Charcoal samples from 18 mounds were radiocarbon dated but the results showed they were far older than expected. Control dating undertaken on burial mounds of known age confirmed that charcoal in the mound fill can at least be up to 3000 years older than the mound itself. As charcoal can survive in the surface soil layer for millennia, in spite of ploughing, bioturbation and frost, it may also dominate the charcoal pool of the grass or heather turfs used in the mound construction. Therefore, the article concludes, charcoal cannot be used to securely date archaeological features built with turfs and it is important to be aware of the possible presence of very old charcoal when selecting material for dating archaeological features, even those which otherwise would be judged unaffected by material from earlier archaeological periods.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This project was financed by the Jelling research project at the National Museum of Denmark with financial support from Bikubenfonden. We are grateful to Catherine Jessen for comments and revision of the manuscript and to Poul Otto Nielsen for useful comments and suggestions regarding the Neolithic period. Anne Pedersen is thanked for making her manuscript on Churches and Ancient Mounds available for us. All errors remain our own.