The 'Controversial' Stone Age
Today we talk about prehistory as being divided into a Stone, Bronze and Iron Age as a matter of course, but in the early 1800s it was a controversial matter. The categories were the brainchild of Christian Jürgensen Thomsen (1788-1865), who as director of the predecessor to The National Museum in Denmark attempted to classify the many antiquities and organise the collections so the public could have the opportunity to experience them. In 1836 he published his Three Period System of dividing prehistory into a Stone, Bronze and Iron Age, something several contemporary German researchers viewed with a certain scepticism. The division, however, held water, and is used throughout the world today.
Danish Prehistory at The World Exhibition
One of the guiding principles of the exhibition Golden Horns and Amber Bears is a timeline that runs decade by decade through exhibition cases with large and small and celebrated and less famous finds. A striking feature of the timeline is a display dedicated to the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages. This installation gives an impression of how Danish prehistory was presented at The World Exhibition in Paris in 1889 - a curious contribution seen with the eyes of today, since the exhibition in Paris was a platform for the most outstanding contemporary design and technology. The exhibition in Jelling also includes significant finds like the Erritsø hoard, ritual axes from Brøndsted Forrest, and a complete Bronze-Age toilet set
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