Archaeological Open-Air Museum

Kierikki Stone Age Centre is the biggest Stone Age Centre in Finland. It is located 55 kilometres NE from Oulu, the biggest city in Northern Finland, on the banks of the Iijoki river.

The island Öland is situated 400 kilometres south of Stockholm, between the Swedish mainland and Gotland. It is 137 kilometres long, and maximum 16 wide. Its favourable position in the Baltic Sea has lead to active occupation – it is rich in archaeological artefacts. Spread across the island, there are 17 so called ring forts dating to the pre medieval period.

In the wetlands, 80 kilometres north-east of Poznań, 1933, a local school teacher, Walentin Szwajcer, discovered traces of a wooden settlement at Biskupin. The year after, the influential archaeologists Kostrzewski and Rajewski started large scale excavations. By the beginning of WWII, 2500 square metres were unearthed.

25 km south of Malmö, Sweden, you will find the Archaeological Open-Air Museum of Foteviken. Inside a city wall open toward the sea, the world’s only attempt to recreate an entire Viking Age town shows a number of streets with 23 houses and homesteads, reflecting life in a late Viking Age and early Middle Age town in 1134 AD.

The “Stone Age Park Dithmarschen” in Albersdorf (Schleswig-Holstein, Germany) is being reconstructed as a Neolithic cultural landscape from ca. 3.000 BC. Lying close to megalithic tombs and grave mounds dating from the first farmers in Northern Germany, the site offers educational activities like flint knapping, archery and leatherwork.

The archaeological open-air museum at Unteruhldingen is situated at the Lake Constance in the very south of Germany. It dates back to as long ago as 1922 when the first two ‘Stone Age’ houses were constructed. All reconstructions since (22 so far) are based on lake dwelling excavations in and around the Alps dating to the Stone and Bronze Age.

At Āraiši Archaeological Park (Āraišu arheoloģiskais parks) you can discover and explore dwellings from Stone Age to Midle Age. There are Stone Age and Bronze Age building reconstructions, that are reconstructed according to recerch data in Latvia so far. The main object in Āraiši Archaeological Park is the reconstruction of the Viking Age ancient Latgallian fortress in the original place – on a small lake island. This fortress represents unique tipe of settlements in Latvia, that is discovered only in 10 lakes in Eastern part of Latvia. At the park complex you will find an original medieval 14th century castle ruins as well.

The preHistorisch Dorp in Eindhoven is the replica of a prehistoric village, complete with dwellings and demonstrations of skills used by historic people. The open-air museum recreates life from this and later eras, including Roman and early medieval. Find out how the Romans lived, meet militant Batavians, visit farmers from the Iron Age and go on a hunt in the prehistoric times.

Avaldsnes is called the Norway’s oldest royal seat because King Harald Fairhair made this place his royal residence after he had unified Norway ca. 870 AD. Avaldsnes continued to be a royal residence for almost 500 years.

Parco Archeologico didattico del Livelet is an open-air museum based on the western shore of Lago lake, in the municipality of Revine Lago, province of Treviso. The area is located in a glacial valley at the foothills of the Pre-Alps (225m a.s.l.), surrounded by a rich naturalistic environment, Site of Community Importance (S.I.C.) for Natura 2000 and included in the recent naturalistic park “Parco dei Laghi della Vallata”.