The horse from Thoruplund
Skeletal remains of a horse, c. AD 250, found by a house in a settlement near the farm Thoruplund, east of Odense. The skeletal remains are now at Møntergården in Odense. Photo: Jens Gregers Aagaard.
Intro
Houses are crucial to human survival, and the burying of offerings to the gods in or by a house is a ritual that has existed for millennia. In Thoruplund archaeologists have excavated skeletal remains of a horse, which Iron Age farmers buried by a house.
At the bidding of the gods
Faith and rituals have shaped life on Funen since antiquity. In the hope of gaining the gods’ favour, Funen’s inhabitants dispatched grave goods to the kingdom of the dead, constructed churches and wore both Thor’s hammers and Christian crosses.
Magical animals
Nature and faith have been closely linked since the earliest Stone Age. Back then, people on Funen lived by hunting, fishing and gathering edible plants. They were dependent on nature, which, therefore, became a central part of their religious world. But magical properties have also been attributed to nature much later in history.
This location is part of the exhibition 'Funen – at the centre of the universe', at Møntergården in Odense. Read more about the exhibition on our website.