Weapons cache sufficient to arm small army unearthed under Danish chieftain's house

Archaeologists in Denmark have uncovered a remarkable cache of over 100 ancient weapons buried beneath the house of an Iron Age chieftain. The discovery was made by researchers from the Vejle Museum during highway expansion excavations in Løsning Søndermark, according to Live Science.

"Already in the first investigations, we knew this would be an extraordinary find, but the excavation has exceeded all our expectations," said Elias Witte Thomasen. "We suddenly feel very close to the people who lived here 1,500 years ago," Thomasen added.

The cache, estimated to be 1,500 years old, includes 119 lances and spears, eight swords, five knives, an axe, and a rare set of chainmail. These weapons are sufficient to equip a small army, indicating the substantial influence of the chieftain who resided there during the early 400s, according to Live Science. The chainmail is particularly noteworthy; very few examples from the Iron Age have been found in southern Scandinavia. Live Science reports that this elaborate piece of armor was expensive and time-consuming to produce and likely belonged to the chieftain himself.

In addition to the weapons, archaeologists discovered fragments of two bronze neck rings known as "oath rings," which were symbols of power during the Iron Age. These accessories further attest to the chieftain's influence. The team also found fragments of a horse bridle and a bugle, as well as numerous iron and bronze objects that await further study. Münchner Merkur reports that these additional findings still need to be examined more closely.

Experts believe that the cache was intentionally buried as a sacrifice following a successful war, possibly linked to the chieftain's house. It remains unclear whether the weapons belonged to local warriors or were amassed as spoils of war. "The sheer number of weapons is astonishing," Thomasen said, as reported by Focus Online.

The archaeological team concluded that the site was not a weapons workshop or barracks based on how the items were deposited. The weapons were placed in a hole left by a post that supported the structure's roof, which was then backfilled.

War booty was common in central Europe during the first few centuries CE, and such weapons may have been offerings to the gods. In one of the houses, the weaponry was deposited during the house's deconstruction. The community could have used the weapons but instead chose to hide them in a posthole, Gizmodo reports.

Between the first and fourth centuries CE, Denmark was on the periphery of the Roman Empire as part of greater Germania. Most people in this area were simple farmers, but powerful chieftains like the one at Løsning suggest a more complex societal structure. Some scholars believe that the Romans may have supplied tribes in Denmark with weapons, possibly to maintain peace at the border with Scandinavia.

A similar Iron Age hoard found in the town of Vindelev, just 10 miles west of Løsning, indicates the presence of multiple powerful chieftains in the area.

This article was written in collaboration with generative AI company Alchemiq