Standing atop of a 30-meter high cliff overlooking the quiet Limfjord with the sun setting behind it, I thought back on the two previous days. Two days that were extremely special to me.
Do you know that feeling when a dream comes true and you just feel total happiness? Well, that happened to me in August. After befriending an archaeologist at Moesgård Museum, I got the opportunity to participate in an excavation of a large kitchen midden from the Late Mesolithic-Early Neolithic (circa 4500-3500 BC), located by the Mariager Fjord in Denmark.
Kitchen middens are dumps for domestic waste, which in this period consist of shells, animal bones, botanical material, lithic debitage and in some cases human bones. They provide a useful resource for studying the diet and habits of the ancient society. For some, excavating what is basically an old dumpster might seem like a weird dream, but to me it was one of the biggest. The Ertebølle period is my favourite archaeological period and kitchen middens characterize that period. In fact, the finding of the kitchen midden in Ertebølle led to the discovery of the culture and, as you might have guessed, also gave name to it.
Therefore, it was an opportunity I couldn't say no to. I was there for just two days, but in those two days I learned so much. I learned how to dig through a kitchen midden with complex layers of shells, lithics and animal bones. I saw a kitchen midden for the first time, giving me a much better idea about how large they can be. How monumental they must have looked in the landscape back then. I got to practice my archaeological English as the others from the team were from England, USA, Lithuania and Germany. I met some great people, all of whom welcomed me with open arms and smiles. I found some awesome artefacts, but I cannot go into any more detail. Also, I cannot post pictures from the excavation, at least not until it's published.
When I had done my two days at the excavation, I drove off directly west for two hours towards Thy, where I was spending the following two days with my parents before moving to Nuuk. An hour into the trip, I noticed a sign that pointed to a beach cliff called Ulbjerg Klint. I love the famous cliffs of Møns Klint and Stevns Klint, and I love finding smaller and less known cliffs around the country. And there I was, just a few kilometers from one.
I decided to make a detour so I could catch the sunset at the cliffs. The decision was just right. The place is gorgeous and was the perfect place to start the adventures in North Jutland. My country is beautiful, it really is. And I need to see so much more of it!
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