5.500 – 4.000 BC

Shell middens show us that oysters were a dominating part of the diet of the people of the Stone Age.

7,500 years ago, what is now the Limfjord was an archipelago open to the North Sea, Skagerrak and Kattegat. Mussels, beach snails, cockles and especially flat oysters were in massive abundance and gave way to large population growth in this area. The approximately 500 massive shell middens scattered around the Limfjord are an important archaeological testimony of our Stone Age ancestors from the Ertebølle culture and period in time.

At the end of the 19th century, a commission launched large-scale archaeological, botanical and zoological excavations of one of the largest shell middens. The massive midden of hunter-gatherer kitchen waste, which consisted mainly of millions of flat oyster shells, is located close to the village of Ertebølle, which gave name to the midden, as well as the South Scandinavian Mesolithic culture that populated southwestern Sweden and all of Denmark from 5300 BC – 3950 BC

The Ertebølle midden is 140 metres long, 20 metres wide and 2 metres deep and contains around 20 million oyster shells. The excavation revealed that during this period of a 1000 years the dominant diet was shellfish. In addition to the many oyster shells, the mud consists of cockle, beach snail and clam shells as well as bones from eel, cod and flatfish. But it also showed that the abundance of fish and shellfish was supplemented with nuts and berries and meat from deer and red deer, wild boar, the now extinct flightless auk, as well as seals and whales.

The Stone Age people opened their oysters and shellfish by heating them over fires or on hot stones, as they had no useful tools to open the shells.

Some research argues that it was actually this seafood-rich coastal diet with its unique combination of essential fatty acids as well as other brain nutrients such as iodine, selenium, zinc, copper and vitamin B12 that enabled the development of early man's brain.

A diet rich in shellfish is still considered essential for today's brain and mental health, and some researchers even suggest that enjoying shellfish is beneficial for treating depression, reportedly acting like natural Prozac.

In the middle of the beautiful nature in Vesthimmerland, and close to the famous shell midden you can find the Ertebølle Stone Age Centre which offers unique experiences with the play and learning. The centre focuses on children's activities, good stories and the unique cultural and natural landscape around Ertebølle.