Ancient burial hills on Fur

In the ancient time the people decided to make their mark on the land to put a claim upon it for their family. They did it by making large burial mounds around the country – they preferred to make the burial mounds on places which would stand out in the landscape so they could be seen from far away. This meant the burial mound was often put on top of the highest points in the landscape.

On Fur you can find a series of old burial mound across the landscape. The largest one was called Bette Jenses hill – which was a bit ironic since bette means tiny in Danish. So the hill of tiny Jens was actually located at the highest point on the island. Unfortunately Bette Jenses burial mound was on top of some prime gravel – and this gravel were mined during the 19^th century and the hill fell into the dig site and the old burial hill was permanently lost. There is still a little dirt road which used to lead to the old burial mound and this little dirt road is called Bette Jenses Highway – a bit ironic considering the condition of the road.

Fortunately some of the hills did survive the mining for gravel on the island and they still stand out in the landscape. One you can easily reach along Bette Jenses Highway is Stendal Høje. There is a small parking lot so it is easy to stop here and head to the top of the hill. From the top of the hill you have a good view of the island of Fur including a couple of old hills called Store and Lille Odinshøj – or large and small Odin hill.

Inside the burial mounds some of the rich members of the ancient society would be buried. They were usually buried in an oak casket and they were given gift to use in the afterlife. They would be buried in their best clothing. The men usually had a kind of cardigan which went down to the knees and then they would have a woolen cape on top of this. The women clothing had two versions. One short and one long. Nobody knows the difference on the woman dresses. It might signal if they are married or single – but it could also be one of the dresses belonged to a priestess.