The picture to the right is an old picture from the center, a new building from "late" iron age has been erected since then.
The idea of the center is to show the public what it might have been like, living in the iron age, and to conduct experiments to show if we are right in the opinions we have of that age.
If you ever get the chance - Visit the place - itīs worth it!!!
You actually live in them 24 hours a day, while you are "iron age people", and you eat what was at disposal for them. - That means no potatoes, no coffe, no fruits except apples when its season!
Of course we cannot hunt down our food in the area, a village this size would need a circle of about 30 km. diameter to provide for it's necessities, and the citycentre of Roskilde is only 12 km's away!
Baking in the iron age
Your first problem with baking is that you have to grind your own flour. That is you have a big stone on wich you place your wheat and then you grind it with a smaller stone.It will take most af a day to finish flour enough for one bread (about 0.750 kg.)
In the new house at Lejre we have a grinding mill, with 2 large flat round stones. The bottom one is unmoveable, but the top one kan be rotated by hand. Here you can grind the same amount of flour in less than 20 minutes!
A big technological advance of that days!
Yor next problem is yeast. No such thing! You have to use leaven. Then last but not least, the oven. The oven is made from clay and stones. To heat it you light a fire in the oven for about 2 hours. Then you remove the charcoals, ashes and embers and put in your bread. You lock the oven with a soacked wooden plate, closed with clay, and after half an hour your bred is ready.
Afterwards you can use the oven to make a roast pork, there is still heat enough for that!.
