Visit to Denmark and search for ancient burial mounds

In the past week, we had the pleasure to visit Prof. Gábor Lövei at the Fjakkebjerg Institute of Agroecology, Aarhus University, Denmark. The primary aim of our trip was a visit to the state-of-the-art experimental greenhouse system of the institute to get inspiration on how to build ours in the future. Thanks to Gábor, we also had the opportunity to visit many ancient burial mounds and several other wonderful places. The structure and ecological function of the ancient burial mounds in Denmark are very similar to the 'kurgans' in many parts in Eurasia. It was impressive to see mounds very similar to our beloved kurgans in a different climatic and geographic context. Inspired by this field trip our research group is planning a cooperation with scientists in Denmark to study the biodiversity potential of the mounds in the intensively used agricultural landscape.

Many thanks to Gábor and Éva for their kind hospitality, we had a wonderful time! We hope that we can return to this nice country to study the biodiversity related to the ancient burial mounds :)

Below we selected some pictures to illustrate the highlights of our trip.

Typical ancient burial mound in the Møn island. A total of 8000 ancient burial mounds have remained intact in Denmark.

The entrance of the chamber remained intact or has been restored in many mounds. Also, in many cases, it is possible to go inside the chamber.

The entrance seems very narrow from outside, but inside, the chamber is quite spacious.

The inside part of the chamber.

A spider living in the chamber.

The chamber was built from megaliths, and the space between the megaliths was filled by smaller carved stones.

Large megaliths are often visible on the top of the mounds. Besides steep slopes, these large stones also protected the mounds from ploughing.

In a few cases, the mounds were surrounded by large stones.

Beautifully reconstructed stone age mound, surrounded by large stones on Møn island.

Grassland habitat island in the agricultural landscape.

Woody encroachment on the mounds is a typical phenomenon.

This was one of the mounds with the steepest slopes. Interestingly - similar to Hungary - the mounds in Denmark often have cultural importance also in modern times. The last public execution in Denmark took place on this mound.

Mound with moderate woody encroachment, which still holds landscape values.

On unmanaged mounds, litter accumulation and the encroachment of competitor grasses (in this case Calamagrostis epigeios) is typical.

Cultural diversity: on the left, an ancient burial mound; on the right, a medieval church on Møn island.

We also visited ancient viking sites, including the Trelleborg fortress.

Within the tall earthen rampart, houses were arranges in a regular order towards the four main directions.

Reconstructed viking 'long house' in Trelleborg - archaeologists used ancient materials and technology for the reconstruction of the buildings.

Long house in Trelleborg.

Mosses on the roof.

We also visited the wonderful white cliffs of Møns Klint.

Møns Klint.

It was very nice to see this nature-close beech forest at such a low altitude.

Early spring in the beech forest.

View to the white cliffs and the Baltic sea.

Wonderful seashore in the western part of Zealand.

Common kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) on the seashore.

Thousands of Barnacle geese (Branta leucopsis).

Whooper swans (Cygnus cygnus).

Foraging Barnacle geese.

Some disagreement among Black-headed gulls (Larus ridibundus).

Drying Great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo).

Common eider (Somateria mollissima).

Red-breasted mergansers (Mergus serrator).

And a few more pictures about the beauties of Denmark :)

The Cristiansborg in Copenhagen.

One of the millions of Danish bikes :)

A fountain with cranes in the old town of Copenhagen.

The colorful houses in the famous Nyhavn canal.

Guards at the Amalienborg palace.

Military band.

HRH Mary Crownprincess of Denmark, on her birthday at the Amalienborg palace.

The Amalienborg palace.

The famous Little Mermaide statue.

The Rosenborg palace.

Beautiful medieval church on Møn island.

Ship model in a medieval church.

Fortress cathedral in Kalundborg.

This 15th century house is one of the oldest preserved residential buildings in North-Europe.

This orange globe was made from recycled plastic and is being displayed in Copenhagen. On the background you can see the Opera House.

Picturesque old town of Dragør.

The harbour of Dragør, with the bridge to Malmö, Sweden in the background.

Harbour of Dragør.

Dragør seashore.

The cathedral of Roskilde is the burial place of the Danish royal family.

Roskilde was the ancient viking capital city. At the viking ship museum they reconstruct the ships using the ancient materials and tools.