The excavation lies only four kilometres from Lisbjerg, where Moesgaard previously uncovered an elite Viking Age settlement<\/a> with close ties to the Viking town of Aros (modern Aarhus). In 2024, a Viking Age silver hoard was also discovered at nearby Elsted, suggesting that this area north of Aarhus formed an important economic landscape during the Viking Age.<\/p>\n The most striking evidence comes from the settlement\u2019s layout. Instead of a conventional village, archaeologists found distinct zones dedicated to production and crafts alongside a single residential building. Areas used for processing flax into linen fibres point to textile manufacture on a considerable scale.<\/p>\n Also uncovered were dozens of pit houses\u2014small, sunken buildings commonly used as workshops during the Viking Age. Such structures were ideal for activities including weaving, spinning, metalworking, and woodworking.<\/p>\n \u201cWe do not see traces of an ordinary village, but of a production area that has been specialized and organized on a large scale,\u201d says excavation leader Liv Stidsing Reher-Langberg. \u201cThe settlement appears with separate areas for production, crafts and a single residential house. The structure suggests that the activities have been led by a central actor with control over resources and production.\u201d<\/p>\n The discoveries suggest that S\u00f8ften formed part of the wider economic network that supported Viking Age Aarhus. During the ninth and tenth centuries, Aarhus emerged as one of Denmark\u2019s most important royal trading centres, linking Scandinavia with commercial networks stretching across northern Europe.<\/p>\n Settlements like S\u00f8ften supplied towns with food, raw materials, and manufactured goods. Textile production was especially valuable during the Viking Age, when woven cloth was an important trade commodity and, in some regions, even functioned as a form of currency.<\/p>\n Finds from the excavation reinforce this interpretation. Archaeologists recovered loom weights and spindle whorls that testify to extensive textile production. They also uncovered silver fragments, coins, and beads, indicating that the settlement participated in regional and long-distance trade.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the Viking Age, Aarhus emerged as one of the kingdom\u2019s most important trading centres under the king,\u201d says historian Kasper H. Andersen. \u201cBut Viking Age cities did not arise alone \u2013 and S\u00f8ften and Lisbjerg are very clear examples of this. Goods and resources were brought from the surrounding countryside, which were traded in the cities and thus entered the extensive international network of the Viking Age.\u201d<\/p>\n The scale of the settlement has also impressed researchers. The current excavation covers just over 60,000 square metres, while earlier investigations carried out in 2008 and 2013 immediately south of the site uncovered similar evidence of Viking Age production. Together, archaeologists estimate that the settlement extended across at least 100,000 square metres.<\/p>\n So far, excavators have identified 48 pit houses during the current project. Combined with the 34 found during previous excavations, at least 82 workshop buildings formed part of what appears to have been a vast production complex.<\/p>\n The excavation has been underway since August 2025 and is expected to conclude by the end of this month. As work continues, the S\u00f8ften settlement is providing archaeologists with a better understanding of how specialized rural communities helped sustain Viking Age towns and their international trading connections.<\/p>\n @n.mas<\/a> La arque\u00f3loga Liv Stidsing Reher-Langberg, del Museo Moesgaard de Dinamarca, dirigi\u00f3 una excavaci\u00f3n por 10 meses cerca de la ciudad de S\u00f8ften, descubriendo hallazgos relacionados con la ropa vikinga, principalmente textiles, aunque tambi\u00e9n encontraron monedas de plata, cuentas de vidrio y cer\u00e1mica. Se trata de un yacimiento de 100 mil metros cuadrados con objetos de entre los a\u00f1os 600 y 950 d. C. en lo que ser\u00eda una lugar de producci\u00f3n de textiles y artesan\u00edas vikingas, as\u00ed como una zona de comercio. Los expertos sostienen que este hallazgo es una prueba m\u00e1s de que los vikingos \u201cno eran simplemente hordas b\u00e1rbaras, incivilizadas y sin rumbo, que vagaban por Europa\u201d. #viralnm\u00e1s<\/a> #vikingos<\/a> #dinarmarca<\/a> #europa<\/a> \u266c sonido original \u2013 Nm\u00e1s<\/a><\/p>\n Top Image: Archaeologists excavating a pit house at S\u00f8ften. Photo courtesy Moesgaard<\/p>\n Subscribe to Medievalverse<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.medievalists.net\/wp-content\/plugins\/gumlet\/assets\/images\/pixel.png\"){kind=tracking}
<\/a>S\u00f8ften Current and past excavation sites. Photo courtesy Moesgaard<\/p>\n<\/a>Map of Aarhus with the old main road from the Viking Age drawn in. The main road went up to Lisbjerg \u2013 close to S\u00f8ften and Elsted. Photo courtesy Moesgaard<\/p>\n<\/a>Ten weights used in connection with textile production. Photo courtesy Moesgaard<\/p>\n<\/a>X-ray photograph of a knife, scissors and key from the Viking Age found in a pit house. Photo courtesy Moesgaard<\/p>\n<\/a>Beads discovered at the site. Photo courtesy Moesgaard<\/p>\n<\/a>Excavation manager Liv Stidsing Reher-Langberg. Photo courtesy Moesgaard<\/p>\n