Jelling - an introduction

The small town of Jelling in eastern Jutland is in many ways an enigmatic place. Although today a thriving community that is directly linked to the railway line running from the neighbouring harbour town of Vejle on the east coast of Jutland to inland Herning, up until the early nineteenth century Jelling was little more than a large village. Nonetheless, the historical and ideological significance of Jelling far surpasses that of most archaeological sites in Denmark at both a national and international level. The results of the many investigations carried out by the Jelling Project in and around Jelling are brought together in this double volume which, as is evident from its title Monuments and Landscape, covers both the monument site and its local and regional setting. This introductory chapter provides a survey of the historical background and previous research, especially the archaeological investigations of the past two centuries, followed by a summary of some of the main research objectives defined by the project and a brief outline of the structure of the publication.