About The Project

Presentation of the Digitisation Project

Acta Archaeologica is an internationally recognised and peer-reviewed journal, published in Copenhagen since 1930, where mainly Danish and Nordic researchers publish their research results from the Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages as well as the Viking Age. From its early years, the journal also began to include studies in ancient Greek and Roman archaeology. The articles and monographs published in Acta Archaeologica are widely regarded by the academic community as being of great importance to both Scandinavian and international archaeology.

Since 2000, Acta Archaeologica has been published digitally; however, all earlier volumes existed only in print. To preserve this significant cultural and scientific heritage from 1930 to 1999, and to make it accessible to researchers and interested readers worldwide, these earlier editions have now been digitised.

Therefore, all articles, monographs, and associated images were scanned – a total of more than 25,000 pages covering every volume from 1930 to 1999. Furthermore, all texts were corrected for errors, each image was individually formatted and processed using specialised graphic software to ensure high quality. All content has now been integrated into a fully searchable database, greatly enhancing access to the journal’s rich academic legacy.

Highlights

Acta Archaeology is therefore proud to announce that the public can now search and read about the famous Nydam boat from 345 AD, 3 tons heavy, 23 meters long and 3.5 meters wide. It was made of oak and published in Haakon Shetelig’s groundbreaking study and reconstruction of the boat in Acta Archaeologica from 1930, which made the Nydam boat an icon of the Danish Iron Age as the oldest known rowing vessel in Northern Europe.

Another highlight in Acta Archaeologica that can be read digitally is Anne Stine Ingstad’s 1970 article The Norse Settlement at L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, which remains one of the few verifiable Viking settlements in North America (1080±70 AD). The site is still believed to be evidence of the Vinland mentioned in several Icelandic sagas and is even included on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

In 1985, Acta Archaeologica published the monograph The Temple of Castor and Pollux on the Forum Romanum, which is now also available to the public. Inge Nielsen and Jan Zahle published the excavation of one of the most important temples on the Roman Forum in the square at the heart of the Roman Empire. In the Republican period (509–27 BC), this gigantic temple served as a meeting place for the 600 members of the Roman Senate and was the stage for the formation of Roman politics and history. The participation of the Nordic institutes in the excavation of the Roman temple has been essential to the understanding of Republican architecture, where, to everyone’s surprise, shops were found built into the high podium of the temple.

These three examples of groundbreaking studies published by Acta Archaeologica are now digitised and can be found in our searchable database, alongside the journal’s annual volumes and supplements.