Hvide Haller - store haller på kongsgårdene i yngre germansk jernalder og vikingetid - konstruktion og farver

The architecture and construction of prehistoric houses are substantial elements when we seek to explore aspects of the appearances and colour of the buildings. Particularly, in relation to the full-scale reconstruction of the 8th century hall, excavated in Gl. Lejre (House XLI). New results from the research project pre-Christian Cult Sites have revealed that the great halls found by Lake Tissø, in use from the 6th to the 9th century, were built with wattle and daub and painted with whitewash as evident by the finds of wattle and daub with whitewash at the site. Recent finds of the oldest lime kilns in Denmark at Tissø and a huge cluster of pits used for clay extraction bear witness to the construction and the subsequent whitewashing of the great halls. The complex excavation of House LXI at Gl. Lejre also reveals possible traces of a hall built with wattle and daub. Additionally, new research at the later fortresses of Trelleborg and Fyrkat suggests that the houses at Fyrkat could have been built with wattle and daub, too.
An important aspect of the architecture of the halls is their location in the landscape. Many of the known halls are located on a height, often facing a slope, making the building taller and more visible. Such visibility was an important element loaded with symbolic meaning. A wooden natural-looking building will easily disappear into the surrounding landscape; an aspect, which could, however, be changed by painting the halls white.