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Department of

Archaeology and Heritage Studies

  • #18 on QS World University Rankings

About the department

At the department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies we are concerned with people and the environment and culture and society from the earliest times, examining the connection between the past and the present – and exploring how real and imagined pasts can inform the future. With a focus on studies of material culture and heritage practice, the department pays strong attention to dissemination and engagement with a wide range of publics and policy makers. Drawing on fieldwork and excavation, laboratory, archival and ethnographic investigation, the department’s interdisciplinarity is at the core of its research and teaching activities, investigating and challenging our understanding of past, present and future societies seen in a long-term perspective.

Research environment

The department has an international profile and strong research networks. A dynamic research environment provides the framework for large research projects, international conferences and a variety of visiting researchers. The environment is versatile and cross-disciplinary, and the academic staff’s research competences span a broad range of topics; from war and power, mobility and globalisation, family and individual, religion and rituals, landscape, settlement and architecture, colonial and decolonial relations, geopolitics and community development, paleo-demography and evolution, trade and networks, technology and knowledge exchange. We hereby apply quantitative analysis methods, field methodology and digital representation. As a research environment we cooperate with international partners across the globe, as well as the Danish heritage and museum sector, not least Moesgård Museum.

Affiliated degree programmes

The archaeology programme at Aarhus University offers a bachelor’s and a master’s degree programme in archaeology, together with an MA Programme in Sustainable Heritage Management (taught in English). We hereby cooperate with the Department of History and Classical Studies as well as the Institut for Geoscience, both at AU. In addition, a variety of elective subjects and events are offered, including Viking age Scandinavia at the Aarhus University Summer University.


Academic staff

Phd students

Archaeological IT

 Archaeological IT website

Latest publications

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Melo, N., Þórsson, B., Riede, F. & Norrgård, S. (2025). Back to the Future: Weaving Climate History into Nordic National Museum Narratives. In D. Collet, I. M. Gundersen, H. Huhtamaa, F. C. Ljungqvist, A. E. J. Ogilvie & S. White (Eds.), Nordic Climate Histories: Impacts, Pathways, Narratives (pp. 317-336). The White Horse Press. https://doi.org/10.63308/63881023874820.book
Atzbach, R. & Sørensen, C. F. (2025). Beliggenhed: en viewshed- og landskabsanalyse. In C. Sørensen & V. Etting (Eds.), Danehoffets borge og byer (pp. 89-105). Syddansk Universitetsforlag.
Kroupin, I., Riede, F., Nowell, A. & Medaets, C. (2025). Charting a middle course: Theory and methods in the practice of cross-cultural research. In A Field Guide to Cross-Cultural Research on Childhood Learning: Theoretical, Methodological, Practical, and Ethical Considerations for an Interdisciplinary Field (pp. 67). Open Book Publishers. https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0440.03

Publications

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Roesdahl, E. & Sindbæk, S. M. (2014). Indledning. In E. Roesdahl, S. M. Sindbæk & A. Pedersen (Eds.), Aggersborg i vikingetiden: Bebyggelsen og borgen (pp. 11-16). Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab.
Giles, K. & Kristiansen, M. S. (2014). Introduction. In M. S. Kristiansen & K. Giles (Eds.), Dwellings, Identities and Homes: European Housing Culture from the Viking Age to the Renaissance (pp. 7-10). Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab.
Roesdahl, E. & Sindbæk, S. M. (2014). Introduction. In E. Roesdahl, S. M. Sindbæk, A. Pedersen & D. M. Wilson (Eds.), Aggersborg: The Viking-Age settlement and fortress (pp. 11-16). Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab.
Sindbæk, S. M. (2014). Introduction: The World in the Viking Age. In S. M. Sindbæk & A. Trakadas (Eds.), The World in the Viking Age (pp. 8-11). Vikingeskibsmuseet.
Vandkilde, H. (2014). Introduction to the theme ‘Rooted in Movement'. In S. Reiter, H. Wrobel Nørgaard, C. Rassmann & Z. Kölcze (Eds.), Rooted in Movement. Essays on Bronze Age Mobility (pp. 1-3). Aarhus Universitetsforlag.
Sindbæk, S. M. (2014). Introduktion: Verden i Vikingetiden. In S. M. Sindbæk & A. Trakadas (Eds.), Verden i Vikingetiden (pp. 8-11). Vikingeskibsmuseet.
Høegsberg, M. S. (2014). Islands Across the Sea: Aspects of Regionality in the Norse North Atlantic Diaspora. In M. S. Kristiansen & K. Giles (Eds.), Dwellings, Identities and Homes: European Housing Culture from the Viking Age to the Renaissance (pp. 97-109). Aarhus Universitetsforlag.
Sindbæk, S. M. & Madsen, H. J. (2014). Keramik. In E. Roesdahl, S. M. Sindbæk & A. Pedersen (Eds.), Aggersborg i vikingetiden: Bebyggelsen og borgen (pp. 266-286). Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab.
Vellev, J. (2014). Knud 2. den Hellige og Edel (Adela). In K. Kryger (Ed.), Danske kongegrave 1 (pp. 190-205). Museum Tusculanum.
Sindbæk, S. M. (2014). Landbebyggelsen. In E. Roesdahl, S. M. Sindbæk & A. Pedersen (Eds.), Aggersborg i vikingetiden: Bebyggelsen og borgen (pp. 103-184). Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab.
Roesdahl, E. (2014). Landbrugs- og fiskeredskaber. In E. Roesdahl, S. M. Sindbæk & A. Pedersen (Eds.), Aggersborg i vikingetiden: Bebyggelsen og borgen (pp. 363-366). Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab.
Riede, F. & Tallavaara, M. (2014). Lateglacial and postglacial pioneer colonisation of northern Europe - an introduction. In F. Riede & M. Tallavaara (Eds.), Lateglacial and postglacial pioneers in northern Europe (pp. 3-10). Archaeopress.
Riede, F. & Tallavaara, M. (Eds.) (2014). Lateglacial and postglacial pioneers in Northern Europe. Archaeopress. BAR International Series
Roesdahl, E. (2014). Leslie Webster: The Franks Casket. The British Museum Press. London 2012. Kuml: Årbog for Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab, 2014, 388-389.
Nielsen, H. M. M. (2014). ’’Lost and forgotten’’ The Castles of Eric of Pomerania (King of Denmark 1396-1439) in the Duchy of Schleswig: The Castles of Eric of Pomerania (King of Denmark 1396-1439) in the Duchy of Schleswig. In P. Ettel, A.-M. Flambard Héricher & K. O’Conor (Eds.), Château et frontière : Actes du colloque international d’Aabenraa (Danemark, 24-31 août 2012) (Vol. 26, pp. 261-272). Presses Universitaires de Caen.
Thrane, H. (2014). Mariesminde II - et bemærkelsesværdigt depotfund. Cartha : årsskrift for Østfyns Museer., 2013/2014, 29-56.
Johannesen, K. (2014). Materiality and Mobility in the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age of Southern Scandinavia: A comparative study of Danish flint and bronze daggers. In S. Reiter, H. Wrobel Nørgaard, C. Rassmann & Z. Kölcze (Eds.), Rooted in Movement: Aspects of Mobility in Bronze Age Movement (pp. 53-64). Aarhus Universitetsforlag.
Vellev, J. (2014). Mere om det "mystiske" maleri. GER - Dansk Mongolsk Selskab, 88(maj), 14-15.
Kristensen, H. K. (2014). Mette Høj (red.): Jacob Kornerup – maler, arkæolog og konservator. Kuml: Årbog for Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab, 2014, 348-351.
Madsen, H. J., Pedersen, U., Roesdahl, E. & Sindbæk, S. M. (2014). Mindre inventar og personlige ejendele. In E. Roesdahl, S. M. Sindbæk & A. Pedersen (Eds.), Aggersborg i vikingetiden: Bebyggelsen og borgen (pp. 314-329). Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab.
Vellev, J. (2014). Møllesten. Skalk, 1, 16-17.
Kristensen, H. K. (2014). Nørre Vosborg og kirkerne. In A. Bøgh, H. Henningsen & K. D. (Eds.), Nørre Vosborg i tid og rum: Herregård i lyst og nød (Vol. 2, pp. 265-268). Aarhus Universitetsforlag.
Roesdahl, E., Jensen, J. S., Madsen, H. J. & Pedersen, A. (2014). Objects from the medieval and later periods. In E. Roesdahl, S. M. Sindbæk, A. Pedersen & D. M. Wilson (Eds.), Aggersborg: The Viking-Age settlement and fortress (pp. 354-360). Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab.
Roesdahl, E., Dobat, A. S., Pedersen, U. & Pedersen, A. (2014). Objects of unknown use. In E. Roesdahl, S. M. Sindbæk, A. Pedersen & D. M. Wilson (Eds.), Aggersborg: The Viking-Age settlement and fortress (pp. 346-351). Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab.
Henningsen, H., Greve, M. H. & Kock, J. (2014). På sporet af forsvundne borge - Geofysiske jorbundsundersøgelser. In Nørre Vosborg i tid og rum - Borg og herresæde (Vol. Bind I, pp. 87-91). Aarhus Universitetsforlag.
Sindbæk, S. M. & Madsen, H. J. (2014). Pottery. In E. Roesdahl, S. M. Sindbæk, A. Pedersen & D. M. Wilson (Eds.), Aggersborg: The Viking-Age settlement and fortress (pp. 214-234). Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab.
Roesdahl, E., Madsen, H. J. & Pedersen, A. (2014). Prehistoric objects. In E. Roesdahl, S. M. Sindbæk, A. Pedersen & D. M. Wilson (Eds.), Aggersborg: The Viking-Age settlement and fortress (pp. 352-353). Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab.
Kristiansen, M. S. (2014). Proper Living - Exploring Domestic Ideals in Medieval Denmark. In M. S. Kristiansen & K. G. (Eds.), Dwelling, Identities and Homes: European Housing Culture from the Viking Age to the Renaissance (1 ed., pp. 149-161). Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab.
Roesdahl, E., Dobat, A. S., Pedersen, U. & Resi, H. G. (2014). Råmaterialer, forarbejder, spild. In E. Roesdahl, S. M. Sindbæk & A. Pedersen (Eds.), Aggersborg i vikingetiden: Bebyggelsen og borgen (pp. 386-394). Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab.
Roesdahl, E., Dobat, A. S., Pedersen, U. & Resi, H. G. (2014). Raw material, rough-outs, waste. In E. Roesdahl, S. M. Sindbæk, A. Pedersen & D. M. Wilson (Eds.), Aggersborg: The Viking-Age settlement and fortress (pp. 337-345). Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab.
Roesdahl, E. & Dobat, A. S. (2014). Remains of building materials and larger objects. In E. Roesdahl, S. M. Sindbæk, A. Pedersen & D. M. Wilson (Eds.), Aggersborg: The Viking-Age settlement and fortress (pp. 211-213). Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab.
Sørensen, T. F. (2014). Re/turn: cremation, movement and re-collection in the Early Bronze Age of Denmark. In I. Kuijt, C. Quinn & G. Cooney (Eds.), Fire and the Body: cremation as a context for social meaning (pp. 168-189). University of Arizona Press.
Roesdahl, E. & Pedersen, A. (2014). Rideudstyr og skøjter. In E. Roesdahl, S. M. Sindbæk & A. Pedersen (Eds.), Aggersborg i vikingetiden: Bebyggelsen og borgen (pp. 356-362). Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab.
Roesdahl, E. & Pedersen, A. (2014). Riding and skating. In E. Roesdahl, S. M. Sindbæk, A. Pedersen & D. M. Wilson (Eds.), Aggersborg: The Viking-Age settlement and fortress (pp. 306-312). Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab.
Vellev, J. (2014). Sibirisk sølv under mikroskop. GER - Dansk Mongolsk Selskab, 89(sept), 21-24.
Roesdahl, E. (2014). Situation. In E. Roesdahl, S. M. Sindbæk, A. Pedersen & D. M. Wilson (Eds.), Aggersborg: The Viking-Age settlement and fortress (pp. 17-30). Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab.
Kristensen, H. K. (2014). Skærum Kapel i middelalderen. In A. Bøgh, H. Henningsen & K. Dalsgaard (Eds.), Nørre Vosborg i tid og rum: Borg og herresæde (1 ed., Vol. 1, pp. 80-86). Aarhus Universitetsforlag.
Madsen, H. J., Pedersen, U., Roesdahl, E. & Sindbæk, S. M. (2014). Small objects and personal equipment. In E. Roesdahl, S. M. Sindbæk, A. Pedersen & D. M. Wilson (Eds.), Aggersborg: The Viking-Age settlement and fortress (pp. 262-278). Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab.
Nielsen, S. K. & Johannsen, N. N. (2014). Stendyngegravene ved Vestrup og Østerbølle. Vesthimmerlands Museum, årg. 6, 19-37.
Riede, F. (2014). Success and failure during the Late Glacial pioneer human re-colonisation of southern Scandinavia. In F. Riede & M. Tallavaara (Eds.), Lateglacial and postglacial pioneers in northern Europe (pp. 33-52). Archaeopress.
Roesdahl, E. & Croix, S. (2014). Supplerende information om fund og illustrationer. In E. Roesdahl, S. M. Sindbæk & A. Pedersen (Eds.), Aggersborg i vikingetiden: Bebyggelsen og borgen (pp. 415- 422). Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab.

Recent Publications (2016 onwards)

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McAtackney, L. (2019). Transforming Long Kesh / Maze: from understanding an ‘icon’ of the Troubles to moving forward with the enduring material culture of conflict. In M. Krenn & A. O'Beirn (Eds.), Dispersed Presence, Scattered Artefacts and Disparate Voices from Long Kesh / Maze. K. Verlag.
Riede, F. & Walsh, M. (2019). Udviklingen af kultur. In T. K. Nielsen, C. Andersen, A. R. Kratschmer & M. Clasen (Eds.), Menneske, kultur, evolution: et biokulturelt perspektiv (pp. 33-45). Aarhus Universitetsforlag. https://unipress.dk/media/15724/menneske-kultur-evolution.pdf
Schroeder, H., Margaryan, A., Szmyt, M., Theulot, B., Włodarczak, P., Rasmussen, S., Gopalakrishnan, S., Szczepanek, A., Konopka, T., Jensen, T. Z. T., Witkowska, B., Wilk, S., Przybyła, M. M., Pospieszny, Ł., Sjögren, K.-G., Belka, Z., Olsen, J., Kristiansen, K., Willerslev, E. ... Allentoft, M. E. (2019). Unraveling ancestry, kinship and violence in a Late Neolithic mass grave. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), 166(22), 10705–10710. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1820210116
Swenson, D., Fuller, B. T., Kveiborg, J., Ritchie, K., Kristjánsdóttir, S., Olsen, J., Linaa, J., Larsen, L. K. & Mannino, M. (2019). Viking Age diet in Aarhus: An isotopic investigation of human and faunal remains. Abstract from EAA 25th Annual meeting of the European Archaeology Association, Bern, Switzerland.
Roesdahl, E. (2019). Vikingetid: eventyr-hverdag-myter. Aarhus Universitetsforlag.
Sindbæk, S. M. (2019). Von Händlern und Räubern. Archaeologie in Deutschland, (2), 40-43.
Brozou, A., Fuller, B. T., Lynnerup, N., Boldsen, J. L., Jørkov, M. L. S., Dangvard Pedersen, D., Olsen, J. & Mannino, M. (2019). What can diet reveal? An isotopic investigation of leprosy sufferers from Medieval Denmark. Abstract from EAA 25th Annual meeting of the European Archaeology Association, Bern, Switzerland.
Sumartojo, S., Bouchat, P., Graves, M., Hanna, E., Harvey, D., Kesteloot, C., Luminet, O., van Ypersel, L. & Wallis, J. (2018, Apr 21). Accounting for experience: commemorating 11 November 2018. https://www.commemorationreframed.com/accounting-experience-commemorating-11-november-2018/
Mannino, M., Talamo, S., Goude, G. & Richards, M. P. (2018). Analisi isotopiche e datazioni sul collagene osseo degli inumati dell'Arma dell'Aquila (Finale Ligure, Savona). In P. Biagi & E. Starnini (Eds.), Gli scavi nell'arma dell'Aquila (Finale Ligure, Savona): Le ricerche e i materiali degli scavi del Novecento (pp. 183-188). Museo Civico di Storia Naturale.
Larsen, J. S., Hasager Kirk, L. O., Frederiksen Madsen, C. & Knudsen Møller, K. (Eds.) (2018). Anno Domini 18: 2018. Middelalderarkæologisk Forum. Anno Domini Vol. 18
Dodd, J. A. (2018). Art, Artists, Rock Art and Underslös. In J. Dodd & E. Meijer (Eds.), Giving the Past a Future: Essays in Archaeology and Rock Art Studies in Honour of Dr. Phil. h.c. Gerhard Milstreu (pp. 4-27). Archaeopress. http://www.archaeopress.com/ArchaeopressShop/Public/download.asp?id={A8D9F304-C57D-49AE-BD5D-212102201891}
Holst, M. K. (2018). At the scene of cosmology construction: The religious effects of barrow building in the Nordic Bronze Age. In L. B. Christensen & J. T. Jensen (Eds.), Religion and material culture: Studying religion and religious elements on the basis of objects, architecture, and space (pp. 227-252). Brepols Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1484/M.ASH-EB.5.114433
Roesdahl, E. (2018). Bedstefars pistol fra 1. Verdenskrig. Sønderjysk Månedsskrift, 4(2018), 131-133.
Vandkilde, H. (2018). Body Aesthetics, Fraternity and Warfare in the long European Bronze Age – postscriptum. In C. Horn & K. Kristiansen (Eds.), Warfare in Bronze Age Society (pp. 229-243). Cambridge University Press.
Atzbach, R. (2018). Burgenbau. Baurecht und Bauwirklichkeit. In K. Rheidt & W. Lorenz (Eds.), Groß Bauen: Großbaustellen als kulturgeschichtliches Phänomen (pp. 179-198). Birkhäuser Verlag.
Atzbach, R., Fenger, J. H. J. & Høgsberg, K. T. (2018). Castle and Landscape in Denmark. A Topography of Power. Zeitschrift für Archäologie des Mittelalters, 45, 193-214.
Nørgaard, H. W., Vandkilde, H. & Pernicka, E. (2018). Comparing lead isotope data of metal artefacts with the archaeological evidence: Reconstructing early Bronze Age networks to Scandinavia. In Reflecting Futures: 24th EAA Annual Meeting, Barcelona, 5-8 September 2018 (Vol. Abstract Book II, pp. 530). European Association of Archaeologists.
Riede, F. (2018). Da himlen faldt ned. Skalk, (3), 3-8.
Løvschal, M. (2018). De lineære hulbælter og de hollandske ’landweer’. In P. Eriksen & P. O. Rindel (Eds.), Lange linjer i landskabet: Hulbælter fra jernalderen (pp. 377-382). Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab.
Linaa, J., Jensen, L. M. S., Jensen, P. M. & Østergaard, S. (2018). Det middelalderlige fyrstemåltid fra Marsk Stig til Valdemar Atterdag cirka 1300-1350. In I. Adriansen, B. Andersen, M. Aaberg Andersen & B. Møller Knudsen (Eds.), Fyrstelige Måltider: Herregårdshistorie 13 (pp. 15-32). Gammel Estrup - Danmarks Herregårdsmuseum.

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