Digging in Denmark, archaeologist uncovers rare prize Denmark

Submitted by coldrum on Monday, 03 July 2006 Page Views: 3573

Country: Denmark For nearly 30 years, Wisconsin archaeologist T. Douglas Price has tramped the damp fields and coastal meadows of Denmark looking to put flesh on the bones of prehistory.

In the Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age, an epoch that spanned a period of about 6,000 years beginning in 10,000 B.C., Denmark, it turns out, was a happenin' place.

"It was a superb place for people to live," says Price, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of anthropology. "Everything we find indicates it was a very rich environment. It was a very, very good place to be."

With a climate moderated by the ocean and abundant natural resources — seals, fish, deer, wild pig, fowl, nuts — the hunting and gathering life in prehistoric Denmark was about as good as it got in an age when the height of technology was a stone axe.

Modern Denmark also boasts a high quality of life, but it is an especially good place to be if you are an archaeologist. Neolithic graves dot the countryside. And, importantly, the moist soil of the Scandinavian country lends itself to the preservation of organic material - the remains of food, clothing and other mundane necessities that help archaeologists piece together a picture everyday life in the Stone Age.

For Price, Denmark has been a particularly rewarding environment, as his work over many years has earned the Wisconsin researcher the unique distinction of being the first non-Dane to be awarded the Westerby Prize, Denmark's pre-eminent award for archaeology. The $17,000 (100,000 Danish kroners) prize is awarded annually for "distinguished contributions to Danish archaeology."

More: WISC

Contributor Bio for coldrum: Based in Milkyway, contributing since 2002. Favourite site: Avebury.

<< Tennessee's Prehistory Revealed at Mineral Springs

News

Looters help team uncover 4,800-year-old ruins >>