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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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Roesdahl, E. (2026). Vølvens spejl: Glasskår fra Fyrkats grav 4. In M. Hansson, T. Ahlström, J. B. Rydén, C. Peter, I. Gustin, A. Håkansson & J. M. Nordin (Eds.), Skärvor ur det förflutna: En vänbok till Mats Roslund (pp. 215-218). Lunds Universitet.
Franjić, A., Freestone, I. C., Barfod, G., Sommer, U. & Degryse, P. (2025). A glimmer of the eastern adriatic: Compositional analysis of first-millennium BCE glass from Histria (Istria, Croatia). Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 67, Article 105368. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2025.105368
Kristensen, H. K. (2025). Andre danske cistercienserklostre: planer og udformning. In E. Rosengren, P. Wranning & A. H. (Eds.), Ås kloster: Om grundandet, godset och byggnaderna (pp. 33-82). Hallands länsmuseer.
Wisher, I. & Tylén, K. (2025). An integrative approach to early symbolic evolution: Experimenting with the past. In The Oxford Handbook of Approaches to Language Evolution (pp. 259-274). Oxford University Press.
Løvschal, M., Caple, Z. A., Farrell, M. & Haughton, M. (2025). A Place for the Heathlands? Human-Heath Relations in Deep-Time and Contemporary Perspectives. In A Place for the Heathlands?: Human-Heath Relations in Deep-Time and Contemporary Perspectives Jutland Archaeological Society Publications. https://heathland.place/intro

Publications

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Holst, M. K., Rasmussen, M. & Breuning-Madsen, H. (2015). Intended preservation? In M. K. Holst & M. Rasmussen (Eds.), Skelhøj and the Bronze Age Barrows of Southern Scandinavia Vol. 2: Barrow building and barrow assemblies (pp. 293-306). Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab.
Atzbach, R., Jensen, L. M. S. & Sørensen, C. F. (2015). Introduction. In R. Atzbach, L. Meldgaard Sass Jensen & L. Plith Lauritsen (Eds.), Castles at War: The Danish Castle Research Association "Magt, Borg og Landskab" Interdisciplinary Symposium 2013 (1 ed., Vol. 1, pp. 7-9). Dr. Rudolf Habelt.
Kristiansen, M. S. & Roesdahl, E. (2015). Introduction. In M. S. Kristiansen, E. Roesdahl & J. Graham-Campbell (Eds.), Medieval Archaeology in Scandinavia and Beyond. History, trends and tomorrow : Proceedings of a conference to celebrate 40 years of medieval archaeology at Aarhus University, 26-27 October 2011 (pp. 13-18). Aarhus Universitetsforlag.
Breuning-Madsen, H., Holst, M. K., Rasmussen, M., Elberling, B. & Borggaard, O. (2015). Iron pan formation in burial mounds. In M. K. Holst & M. Rasmussen (Eds.), Skelhøj and the Bronze Age Barrows of Southern Scandinavia : Vol. 2: Barrow building and barrow assemblies (pp. 193-210). Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab.
Holst, M. K. & Breuning-Madsen, H. (2015). Iron pans - preservation and significance: Introduction. In M. K. Holst & M. Rasmussen (Eds.), Skelhøj and the Bronze Age Barrows of Southern Scandinavia Vol. 2: Barrow building and barrow assemblies (pp. 175-192). Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab.
Philippsen, B. (2015). Isotopic analyses of food crusts on pottery: Implications for dating and palaeocuisine reconstructions. In F. Biermann & T. Terberger (Eds.), The Dąbki Site in Pomerania and the Neolithisation of the North European Lowlands (c. 5000–3000 calBC) (Vol. 8, pp. 307-320). Verlag Marie Leidorf.
Thrane, H. (2015). Kirkebjergbopladsens støbeaktiviteter. In S. Boddum, M. Mikkelsen & N. Terkildsen (Eds.), Bronzestøbning i yngre bronzealders lokale kulturlandskab: Seminarrapport fra seminaret "Bronzestøbning i yngre bronzealders lokale kulturlandskab" afholdt i Viborg, 6. marts 2014 (pp. 121-130). Viborg Museum og Holstebro Museum.
Larsen, M. (2015). Klosterkultur mellem ideal og realitet: Arkæologiske studier af Danmarks middelalderlige tiggerklostre. Afdeling for Middelalder- og Renæssancearkæologi, Aarhus Universitet.
Sindbæk, S. M. (2015). Northern emporia and maritime networks. Modelling past communication using archaeological network analysis. In J. Preiser-Kapeller & F. Daim (Eds.), Harbours and Maritime Networks as Complex Aadptive Systems (Vol. 23, pp. 105-118). Verlag des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums.
Croix, S. (2015). Permanency in Early Medieval Emporia: Reassessing Ribe. European Journal of Archaeology, 18(3), 497-523.
Atzbach, R. (2015). (Review of) Rikke Agnete Olsen: Danish Medieval Castles. Burgen und Schloesser, 56(4), 293-296.
Holst, M. K. & Rasmussen, M. (Eds.) (2015). Skelhøj and the Bronze Age Barrows of Southern Scandinavia: Vol. 2. Barrow building and barrow assemblies. Aarhus Universitetsforlag. Jysk Arkæologisk Selskabs Skrifter Vol. 89
Croix, S., Knudsen, M., Pedersen, A., Pentz, P., Sindbæk, S. M. & Sørensen, A. C. (2015). Tales. In S. M. Sindbæk (Ed.), Dragons of the Northern Seas: The Viking Age of Denmark (pp. 31-93). Liljebjerget.
Frei, K. M., Mannering, U. & Thrane, H. (2015). Textiles on the Move: The Provenance of a Late bronze Age Nettle Textile from Lusehøj, Denmark. In P. Suchowska-Ducke, S. Scott Reiter & H. Vandkilde (Eds.), Forging Identities. The Mobility of Culture in Bronze Age Europe. Vol.2: Report from a Marie Curie Project 2009-2012 with Concluding Conference at Aarhus University, Moesgaard 2012 (Vol. 2, pp. 55-62). British Archaeological Reports.
Holst, M. K. (2015). The activity sequence reconstructed. In M. K. Holst & M. Rasmussen (Eds.), Skelhøj and the Bronze Age Barrows of Southern Scandinavia Vol. 2: Barrow building and barrow assemblies (pp. 119-126). Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab.
Holst, M. K. (2015). The architecture and history of Skelhøj: Introduction. In M. K. Holst & M. Rasmussen (Eds.), Skelhøj and the Bronze Age Barrows of Southern Scandinavia : Vol. 2: Barrow building and barrow assemblies (pp. 11-12). Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab.
Holst, M. K. & Rasmussen, M. (2015). The barrow gathering. In M. K. Holst & M. Rasmussen (Eds.), Skelhøj and the Bronze Age Barrows of Southern Scandinavia Vol. 2: Barrow building and barrow assemblies (pp. 127-136). Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab.
Holst, M. K. (2015). The basic building practices. In M. K. Holst & M. Rasmussen (Eds.), Skelhøj and the Bronze Age Barrows of Southern Scandinavia Vol. 2: Barrow building and barrow assemblies (pp. 91-110). Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab.
Kristiansen, M. S. (2015). The future for the past. In M. S. Kristiansen, E. R. & J. Graham-Campbell (Eds.), Medieval Archaeology in Scandinavia and Beyond. History, trends and tomorrow: Proceedings of a conference to celebrate 40 years of medieval archaeology at Aarhus University, 26-27 October 2011 (pp. 57-72). Aarhus Universitetsforlag.
Holst, M. K. & Jensen, P. (2015). The idea of the barrow. In M. K. Holst & M. Rasmussen (Eds.), Skelhøj and the Bronze Age Barrows of Southern Scandinavia Vol. 2: Barrow building and barrow assemblies (pp. 13-52). Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab.
Holst, M. K., Breuning-Madsen, H. & Rasmussen, M. (2015). The iron pans and the barrow construction. In M. K. Holst & M. Rasmussen (Eds.), Skelhøj and the Bronze Age Barrows of Southern Scandinavia: Barrow building and barrow assemblies (Vol. 2, pp. 249-285). Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab.
Atzbach, R. (2015). The Legend of Hot Tar or Pitch as a Defensive Weapon. In R. Atzbach, L. Meldgaard Sass Jensen & L. Plith Lauritsen (Eds.), Castles at War: The Danish Castle Research Association "Magt, Borg og Landskab" Interdisciplinary Symposium 2013 (pp. 119-134). Dr. Rudolf Habelt. http://atzbach.heimat.eu/data/Atzbach_CastlesAtWarHotTar.pdf
Mannino, M. (2015). The question of voyaging at sea by Central Mediterranean foragers. In O. Bar-Yosef, J. K. Kozlowski & A. Belfer-Cohen (Eds.), Eurasian Prehistory 11 (pp. 165-184). Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History.
Holst, M. K. (2015). The restoration of order: - repairs, adjustments and preparation. In M. K. Holst & M. Rasmussen (Eds.), Skelhøj and the Bronze Age Barrows of Southern Scandinavia Vol. 2: Barrow building and barrow assemblies (pp. 111-118). Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab.
Croix, S. (2015). The setting of everyday life in Viking-Age Scandinavia. In M. Svart Kristiansen, E. Roesdahl & J. Graham-Campbell (Eds.), Medieval Archaeology in Scandinavia and Beyond. History, trends and tomorrow: Proceedings of a conference to celebrate 40 years of medieval archaeology at Aarhus University, 26-27 October 2011 (pp. 91-110). Aarhus Universitetsforlag.
Holst, M. K. & Rasmussen, M. (2015). The significance of the barrow construction: Introduction: Introduction. In M. K. Holst & M. Rasmussen (Eds.), Skelhøj and the Bronze Age Barrows of Southern Scandinavia Vol. 2: Barrow building and barrow assemblies (pp. 289-291). Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab.
Kristiansen, M. S. (2015). Training excavations at the Department of Medieval/Medieval and Renaissance Archaeology, Aarhus University, 1971-2014. In M. S. Kristiansen, E. Roesdahl & J. Graham-Campbell (Eds.), Medieval Archaeology in Scandinavia and Beyond. History, trends and tomorrow: Proceedings of a conference to celebrate 40 years of medieval archaeology at Aarhus University, 26-27 October 2011 (pp. 381-382). Aarhus Universitetsforlag.
Vellev, J. (2015). Tycho Brahes salg af hovedgården Knutstorp i Skåne 1594-98. Ale: Historisk Tidskrift for Skåne, Halland och Blekinge, 3, 24-37.
Ashby, S. P., Coutu, A. N. & Sindbæk, S. M. (2015). Urban networks and Arctic outlands: Craft specialists and reindeer antler in Viking towns. European Journal of Archaeology, 18(4), 679-704.
Nielsen, P. O., Andresen, J.-B. R. & Thorsen, M. S. (2015). Vasagård på Bornholm – palisader, solsten og et 4.900 år gammelt, dekoreret kulthus. Nationalmuseets Arbejdsmark, 2015, 50-63.
Riede, F. (2015). Volcanic eruptions and human vulnerability in traditional societies past and present – towards a palaeosocial volcanology. In Past Vulnerability: Volcanic eruptions and human vulnerability in traditional societies past and present (pp. 9-22). Aarhus Universitetsforlag.
Frei, K. M., Coutu, A. N., Smiarowski, K., Harrison, R., Madsen, K. K., Arneborg, J., Frei, R., Gudmundsson, G., Sindbæk, S. M., Woollett, J., Hartman, S., Hicks, M. & McGovern, T. H. (2015). Was it for walrus? Viking Age settlement and medieval walrus ivory trade in Iceland and Greenland. World Archaeology, 47(3), 439-466.
Roesdahl, E. (Ed.), Sindbæk, S. M. (Ed.), Pedersen, A. & Wilson, D. M. (Ed.) (2014). Aggersborg: The Viking-Age settlement and fortress. Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab. Jysk Arkæologisk Selskabs Skrifter Vol. 82
Roesdahl, E. (2014). Aggersborg gennem historien. In E. Roesdahl, S. M. Sindbæk & A. Pedersen (Eds.), Aggerborg i vikingetiden: Bebyggelsen og borgen (pp. 47-54). Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab.
Roesdahl, E., Sindbæk, S. M. & Pedersen, A. (Eds.) (2014). Aggersborg i vikingetiden: Bebyggelsen og borgen. Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab. Jysk Arkæologisk Selskabs Skrifter Vol. 81

Recent Publications (2016 onwards)

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Kristiansen, M. S. (2019). Bondens bygninger i Danmarks middelalder - med fokus på typologi. In M. S. Kristiansen & C. B. H. Andersen (Eds.), Bygning og bolig, gård og toft: Middelalderens rurale Danmark (pp. 69-75). Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab.
Kristiansen, M. S. & Andersen, C. B. H. (Eds.) (2019). Bygning og bolig, gård og toft: Middelalderens rurale Danmark. Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab. Jysk Arkæologisk Selskabs Skrifter Vol. 109
Kristiansen, M. S. & Andersen, C. B. H. (2019). Bygning og bolig, gård og toft. En Introduktion til MIRUDA 2018. In M. S. Kristiansen & C. B. H. Andersen (Eds.), Bygning og bolig, gård og toft. Middelalderens rurale Danmark (pp. 7-9). Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab.
Naum, M. E. & Nordin, J. M. (2019). Colonial Entanglements: Crossroads, Contact Zones, and Flows in Scandinavian Global History. Itinerario: International Journal on the History of European Expansion and Global Interaction, 43(2), 191-193. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0165115319000226
Walsh, M. J., Riede, F. & O’Neill, S. (2019). Cultural transmission and innovation in archaeology. In A. M. Prentiss (Ed.), Handbook of evolutionary research in archaeology (pp. 49-70). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11117-5_3
Atzbach, R., Cante, M., Freckmann, K. & Klein, U. (Eds.) (2019). Dänemark und der Hausbau im Norden. Michael Imhof Verlag. Jahrbuch für Hausforschung Vol. 64
Roesdahl, E. (2019). Danmarks vikingetid. Lindhardt & Ringhof.
Løvschal, M., Iversen, R. B. & Holst, M. K. (Eds.) (2019). De dræbte krigere i Alken Enge: Efterkrigsritualer i ældre jernalder. Aarhus Universitetsforlag. Jysk Arkæologisk Selskabs Skrifter No. 108
Løvschal, M., Iversen, R. B. & Holst, M. K. (2019). De dræbte krigere i Alken Enge: En introduktion. In e dræbte krigere i Alken Enge: Efterkrigsritualer i ældre jernalder (pp. 11)
Riede, F. (2019). Depth and diversity: A reply. Current Swedish Archaeology, 26, 86-92.
Kristensen, H. K. (2019). Der Wiederaufbau Viborgs nach dem Brand von 1726 – mit Hilfe von deutschen Baumeistern. In Dänemark und der Hausbau im Norden (pp. 131-144). Michael Imhof Verlag.
Kristiansen, M. S., Iversen, R., Grane, T. & Sørensen, L. (2019). Editorial. Danish Journal of Archaeology, 8, 1-2. https://doi.org/10.7146/dja.v8i0.115607
Harvey, D. & Mozaffari, A. (2019). Foreword. In T. Læhdesmæki, S. Thomas & Y. Zhu (Eds.), Politics of scale: new directions in critical heritage studies (pp. ix-x). Berghahn Books.
Kristiansen, M. S. (2019). Gård og toft i Danmarks middelalder: Arkæologisk rekonstruktion af tid og rum. In M. S. Kristiansen & C. B. H. Andersen (Eds.), Bygning og bolig, gård og toft: Middelalderens rurale Danmark (pp. 11-22). Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab.
Kristiansen, S. M., Stott, D. & Sindbæk, S. M. (2019). Har kunstig intelligens og maskinlæring en plads i arkæologien?. Abstract from Organisationen af Danske Museer (ODM), Vejle, Denmark.
Harvey, D. (2019). Heritage Pasts and Heritage Presents: Temporality, Meaning and the Scope of Heritage Studies. In S. Watson, A. J. Barnes & K. Bunning (Eds.), A Museum Studies Approach to Heritage (pp. 14-28). Routledge.
J.S. Frederiksen, C., Jensen, C. M. B., Kristiansen, M. S. & Heide, P. B. (2019). Historien i baghaven - undersøgelser af tid og rum i den historiske landsby. Poster session presented at Middelalderens Rurale Danmark, Skjern, Denmark.
Løvschal, M., Gullbekk, S. H., Johansen, M.-L., O'neill, S. & Willerslev, R. (2019). Human Sacrifice and Value. Antiquity, 93(370), Article e23. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2019.104
Walsh, M. J., Prentiss, A. M. & Riede, F. (2019). Introduction to cultural microevolutionary research in anthropology and archaeology. In A. M. Prentiss (Ed.), Handbook of evolutionary research in archaeology (pp. 25-47). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11117-5_2
Mannino, M. (2019). Invertebrate Zooarchaeology. In M. P. Richards & K. Britton (Eds.), Archaeological science: an introduction (pp. 233-275). Cambridge University Press.
Apel, J., Dell'Unto, N. & Riede, F. (2019). Istidsjägare i Uppåkra. Fornvaennen, 114, 47-51.
Sauer, N. (2019, Mar 3). Koppen. Baggrund. http://baggrund.com/koppen/
Riede, F., Weber, M.-J., Westen, B., Gregersen, K. M., Lundqvist Eriksen, K. K., Murray, A. S., Henriksen, P. S. & Mortensen, M. F. (2019). Krogsbølle, a new Hamburgian site in eastern Denmark. In B. V. Eriksen, E. Rensink & S. Harris (Eds.), The Final Palaeolithic of Northern Eurasia: Proceedings of the Amersfoort, Schleswig and Burgos UISPP Commission Meetings (Vol. Band 13, pp. 11-30). Ludwig.
Riede, F. & Walsh, M. (2019). Kulturel evolution. In T. K. Nielsen, C. Andersen, A. R. Kratschmer & M. Clasen (Eds.), Menneske, kultur, evolution: et biokulturelt perspektiv (pp. 47-60). Aarhus Universitetsforlag.

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