House of Questions
Delphi House of Questions was an EU Culture 2000 project by three EXARC members. Under this umbrella, other EXARC members as well collected and answered the most frequently asked questions by visitors to archaeological open-air museums. The largest part of this collection of questions you can find here – as many of them still carry importance. In most cases we offer the questions both in the original language and in English. With several questions you will find illustrations by Savannah Parent.
Did they really have such beautiful colours in the past (DK)?
Yes. From about the middle of the Danish Iron Age they began to colour their clothes in all sorts of colours. In the Early Iron Age, one had carefully sorted out the wool and made use of the natural colours of the yarn to create dice and striped patterns...
Did prehistoric people use something like our buttons (CZ)?
The finds which we describe in the Czech Republic as buttons date to the Neolithic; they were made, for example, from bone or amber...
How did medieval people burry their dead (NL)?
Medieval people wanted to be buried as close as possible near the relics of a saint or a church altar. Rich people were buried inside the church, in a monastery church or monastery hallway...
Women in prehistory surely wore jewellery. What about men (CZ)?
This differed through times and regions but also within different social groups. We often find in male graves, especially rich ones, ornaments, for example torques and necklaces...
Which types of animals did people keep in the Iron Age (SE)?
The Iron Age agricultural structure was more based on animal husbandry than the growing of crops. The Iron Age farmers of what was to become Sweden kept several types of animals. The two most important ones were cows and sheep...
Are there finds from furniture dating back to the Lake Dwelling Times and how did they look like (DE)?
Yes. We know rests from chairs, beds as well as racks, both from the Stone Age as the following Bronze Age. They were not at all worked as artistically as the furniture from the Mediterranean we know from the same era or from the Near East. They are more the results of sound craftsmanship...
What was the state of hygiene and health care in a lake fortress (LV)?
The lake fortress had a privy and a bathhouse or sauna, located on the perimeter of the complex. Hair was combed with bone and antler combs, and with combs made of pig bristles. Clothes were washed by beating...
What contacts existed between the inhabitants of the lake fortress and other countries (LV)?
In the Early Middle Ages, active trading contacts developed in Latvia, also involving the inhabitants of the lake fortress. Imported jewellery and parts of weapons have been found in the cultural layer...
Where did bronze come from in prehistory (NL)?
Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin. Both metals do not originate in the Netherlands or its surroundings. natural sources of copper can be found in Austria, Spain, Southern France, Northern Italy, Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales and Bulgaria...
Did they have beds in the Early Middle Ages (NL)?
No beds are known from the Netherlands from the early Middle ages. In Oseberg and Gokstad (Norway) two beds were found. They look surprisingly modern: they even have a slatted bed base...