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 people tidy their houses in prehistory (CZ)?
Certainly, the earliest Neolithic houses had smooth floors from fine clay stamped down (it was not simply the stamped down surface of the ground but a layer of...
When were the Middle Ages in Scandinavia (DK)?
In Denmark, the Middle Ages began roughly at the death of king Knut the Holy in 1086, and lasted until the reformation in 1536. In most of continental Europe...
How many parish churches existed in Denmark in the Middle Ages (DK)?
In total there were 2,000 stone churches, all built between 1150 and 1250 AD. In libraries in Denmark you will find books about them...
Were people in prehistory buried in some sort of covering, something like coffin or a bag (CZ)?
That depends on time and region. In Bronze Age Czechia there is evidence of wooden coffins either from planks or dug out from tree trunks. Timbered burial chambers...
Were Trébuchets common in Denmark (DK)?
As far as we know, they were relatively common. None have survived till modern times, but they are mentioned regularly in written sources...
Why didn't people build houses from stone (DE)?
Technologically speaking, stone constructions have been known in Central Europe since the Early Iron Age. But in those times stone was rather used for city walls than ordinary houses, because of its limited availability...
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 the interior of the dwellings in the lake fortress look like (LV)?
There were sleeping places and benches along the walls. Sometimes, in one corner of the room, the in- built structure from horizontal logs was made, where house hold items of bigger size and tools were stored...
How old did people in the early Middle Ages become (NL)?
On the basis of research on 66 skeletons from a graveyard in Susteren (from around 800 to 1100 AD) we know that women on average reached the age of 44 years and men on average 38 years. The infant death rate must have been very high. About one third of the children died before reaching five years.
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...