similarly remarkable stamps, while the imported pottery is mostly from the Frankish
region.
During the seventh century the settlement moved a few hundred metres southwards
to Mysselhøjgård (ROM j.nr. 641 / 85 ). In the 1980 s and early 1990 s, parts of a settlement
complex, dated to the seventh to the tenth centuries, were excavated here. It appears to
have had a permanent form, in which the central buildings over at least three phases
were raised on the same spot as their predecessors. Two buildings are marked out by
their dimensions and construction technique: a structure 42 m long and 7. 5 m wide,
and most spectacularly the structure 50 m long and 11. 5 m wide that from its discovery
in 1986 was named the ‘Lejre Hall’ (Figure 8. 4. 1 ; Christensen 1991 , 1993 , 2001 ,
2004 ).
These buildings, set out on a little hill some 7 m high, form the core of the dwelling
houses. Downslope is an area characterised by handicraft activities with sunken-featured
buildings and a smithy. Most interesting in this context is a pile of burnt stone 35 m in
diameter and 1 m high, a parallel to that found on the earlier site at Fredshøj.
At some point in the tenth century the great halls were abandoned, and use of
the large stone piles ceased. The area was covered by a cultural deposit, with a few
Figure 8. 4. 1 The hall at Lejre, tenth century. (Photo: Roskilde Museum.
Copyright © Roskilde Museum.)–– Tom Christensen––