View source for Hedeby

{{Short description|Danish Viking Age trading settlement}}
{{distinguish|Hejdeby}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2025}}
{{Infobox UNESCO World Heritage Site
| image         = Wikingerhaeuser Haithabu.jpg
| image_upright = 
| caption       = Reconstructed houses in the area of the old settlement
| location      = [[Busdorf]], [[Schleswig-Holstein]], [[Germany]]
| part_of       = Archaeological Border Complex of Hedeby and the [[Danevirke]]
| criteria      = {{UNESCO WHS type|(iii), (iv)}}(iii), (iv)
| ID            = 1553
| coordinates   = {{coord|54|29|28|N|9|33|55|E|region:DE-SH_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}
| year          = 2018
| area          =
| buffer_zone   =
| locmapin      = Germany#Germany Schleswig-Holstein
| map_caption   =
}}

'''Hedeby''' ({{IPA|da|ˈhe̝ːðəˌpyˀ}}, [[Old Norse]]: ''Heiðabýr'', [[German language|German]]: ''Haithabu'') was an important [[Danes|Danish]] [[Viking Age]] (8th to the 11th centuries) trading settlement near the southern end of the [[Jutland Peninsula]], now in the [[Schleswig-Flensburg]] district of [[Schleswig-Holstein]], [[Germany]]. Around 965, chronicler [[Ibrahim ibn Yaqub]] visited Hedeby and described it as "a very large city at the very end of the [[world ocean|world's ocean]]."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://haithabu.de/de/zur-geschichte|title=Zur Geschichte – Wikinger Museum Haithabu|website=haithabu.de|language=de|access-date=8 April 2020}}</ref>

Due to its unique position between the [[Frankish Empire]] and the Danish Kingdom, the settlement developed as a trading centre at the head of a narrow, navigable inlet known as the [[Schlei]], which connects to the [[Baltic Sea]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Centre |first=UNESCO World Heritage |title=Archaeological Border complex of Hedeby and the Danevirke |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1553/ |access-date=16 April 2025 |website=UNESCO World Heritage Centre |language=en}}</ref> The location was favorable because there is a short portage of less than 15&nbsp;km to the [[Treene River]], which flows into the [[Eider River|Eider]] with its [[North Sea]] estuary, making it a convenient place where goods and ships could be pulled on a [[corduroy road]] overland for an almost uninterrupted seaway between the Baltic and the North Sea and avoid a dangerous and time-consuming circumnavigation of Jutland, providing Hedeby with a role similar to later [[Lübeck]]. Hedeby was the second largest Nordic town during the Viking Age, after [[Uppåkra]] in present-day southern Sweden.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}} The city of [[Schleswig, Schleswig-Holstein|Schleswig]] was later founded on the other side of the Schlei. Hedeby was abandoned after its destruction in 1066.

Hedeby was rediscovered in the late 19th century and excavations began in 1900. The [[Hedeby Viking Museum]] was opened next to the site in 1985. Because of its historical importance during the Viking Age and exceptional preservation, Hedeby and the nearby defensive earthworks of the [[Danevirke]] were inscribed on the [[UNESCO]] [[World Heritage List]] in 2018.<ref name = "unesco">{{cite web |url = https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1553 |title = Archaeological Border complex of Hedeby and the Danevirke |website = UNESCO World Heritage Centre |publisher = UNESCO |access-date = 25 September 2022}}</ref>

Hedeby is mentioned in [[Hans Christian Andersen]]'s fairy tale "The Marsh King's Daughter".

Since 2018, Hedeby has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Home ENG |url=https://haithabu-danewerk.de/en/ |access-date=16 April 2025 |website=Haithabu Danewerk |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Name==

[[File:Haithabu Haddebyer Noor WT2005.jpg|thumb|Site of the former town of Hedeby]]
[[File:Denmark vikings 3.jpg|thumb|Map of Viking Denmark with Hedeby at the southern edge]]
[[File:SchleiSlien.png|thumb|Bilingual map of the Schlei (German and Danish placenames)]]
[[File:Haithabu-msu-2020-9-8561.jpg|thumb|right|Two reconstructed houses at Hedeby]]

The Old Norse name ''Heiða-býr'' simply translates to "heath-settlement" (''heiðr'' "[[Heath (habitat)|heath]]" and ''býr'' = "yard; settlement, village, town"). The name is recorded in numerous spelling variants.<ref>{{cite book |first=Hildegard |last=Elsner |year=1989 |title=Wikinger Museum Haithabu: Schaufenster einer frühen Stadt |location=Neumünster |publisher=Wachholtz |page=13}}</ref>

* ''Heiðabýr'' is the reconstructed name in standard [[Old Norse]], also anglicized as ''Heithabyr''.
* The [[Stone of Eric]], a 10th-century Danish [[runestone]] with an inscription mentioning ᚼᛅᛁᚦᛅ᛭ᛒᚢ (''haiþa bu''), found in 1796.<ref name="DR1">[http://www.nordiska.uu.se/forskn/samnord.htm Project Samnordisk Runtextdatabas Svensk] – [[Rundata]] entry for DR 1.[http://www.arild-hauge.com/arild-hauge/de-rune-haddeby1-b.jpg]</ref>
* Old English ''æt Hæðum'', from [[Ohthere of Hålogaland|Ohtere]]'s and [[Wulfstan of Hedeby|Wulfstan]]'s accounts of their travels to [[Alfred the Great]] in the Old English [[Orosius]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Old English Orosius |url=https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/old-english-orosius |website=The British Library |access-date=27 October 2018 |language=en |at=Digitised image 18 &mdash; f. 9v |archive-date=3 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803042628/https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/old-english-orosius |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Orosius |first1=Paulus |last2=Alfred |first2=King of England |last3=Bosworth |first3=Joseph |last4=Hampson |first4=Robert Thomas |title=King Alfred's Anglo-Saxon version of the Compendious history of the world by Orosius |date=1859 |publisher=Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans |location=London |url=https://archive.org/details/kingalfredsangl00boswgoog/page/n284}}</ref>
* ''Hedeby'', the modern Danish spelling, also most commonly used in English.
* ''[[Haddeby]]'' is the [[Low German]] form, also the name of the administrative district formed in 1949 and named for the site; in 1985, the district introduced a coat of arms featuring a bell with a [[Younger Futhark|runic]] inscription reading ᚼᛁᚦᛅ᛬ᛒᚢ (''hiþa:bu'').<ref>[https://www.haddeby.de/seite/179341/unser-amt.html Unser Amt (haddeby.de)]</ref>
* ''Haithabu'' is the modern German spelling used when referring to the historical settlement; this spelling represents the transliteration of the name as found in the [[Stone of Eric]] inscription; it was introduced among other variants in antiquarian literature in the 19th century and has since become the standard German name of the settlement.<ref>"''Haddeby'', vormals Heidabu, Haithabu, Heidebo, Hethäbye" 
Heinrich Karl Wilhelm Berghaus, ''Schweden, Norwegen u. Dänemark die 3 skandinavischen Reiche'' Hasselberg (1858), [https://books.google.com/books?id=a8xAAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA890 p. 890].</ref>

Sources from the 9th and 10th century AD also attest to the names ''Sliesthorp'' and ''Sliaswich'' (cf. ''[[:wikt:þorp|-thorp]]'' vs. ''[[:wikt:-wich|-wich]]''), and the town of [[Schleswig (city)|Schleswig]] still exists 3&nbsp;km north of Hedeby.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=von Steinsdorff |first1=Katja |last2=Grupe |first2=Gisela |title=Reconstruction of an Aquatic Food Web: Viking Haithabu vs. Medieval Schleswig |journal=Anthropologischer Anzeiger |date=2006 |volume=64 |issue=3 |page=285 |jstor=29542750}}</ref> However, [[Æthelweard (historian)|Æthelweard]] claimed in his Latin translation of the [[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]] that the Saxons used ''Slesuuic'' and the Danes ''Haithaby'' to refer to the same town.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Hardy |editor1-first=Thomas Duffus |editor2-last=Petrie |editor2-first=Henry |title=Monumenta Historica Britannica, Or Materials for the History of Britain from the Earliest Period |date=1848 |publisher=Eyret |page=502 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N1v31IRyUdsC&pg=RA1-PA502 |language=la}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Giles |editor1-first=John Allen |title=Old English chronicles: including Ethelwerd's chronicle, Asser's Life of Alfred, Geoffrey of Monmouth's British history, Gildas, Nennius, together with the spurious Chronicle of Richard of Cirencester |date=1906 |publisher=London: G. Bell |page=[https://archive.org/details/oldenglishchroni00gileuoft/page/5 5] |url=https://archive.org/details/oldenglishchroni00gileuoft}}</ref>

==History==

===Origins===
Hedeby is first mentioned in the Frankish chronicles of [[Einhard]] (804), who was in the service of [[Charlemagne]], as a place Charlemagne stayed in the summer of 804, at the end of the [[Saxon Wars]]. In 808 the Danish king [[Gudfred|Godfred]] (Lat. Godofredus) destroyed a competing [[Early Slavs|Slav]] trade centre named [[Reric]], and it is recorded in the Frankish chronicles that he resettled the merchants from there to Hedeby. This may have provided the initial impetus for the town to further develop.<ref name="kalmring">{{ cite book |last=Kalmring |first=Sven | date=2010 |title=Der Hafen von Haithabu |trans-title=The Harbour of Haithabu |url=https://macau.uni-kiel.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/macau_derivate_00004519/Der_Hafen_von_Haithabu.pdf |language=German |location=Neumünster |publisher=Wachholtz Verlag |isbn=9783529014147 |pages=42–43}}</ref>

The same sources record that Godfred strengthened the [[Danevirke]], an earthen wall that stretched across the south of the Jutland peninsula. The Danevirke joined the defensive walls of Hedeby to form an east–west barrier across the peninsula, from the marshes in the west to the Schlei inlet leading into the Baltic in the east.

The town itself was surrounded on its three landward sides (north, west, and south) by earthworks. At the end of the 9th century the northern and southern parts of the town were abandoned for the central section. Later a 9-metre (29-ft) high semi-circular wall was erected to guard the western approaches to the town. On the eastern side, the town was bordered by the innermost part of the Schlei inlet and the bay of [[Haddebyer Noor]].

===Timeline===
{| class="toccolours" align="centre" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" style="margin:0 0 1em 1em; font-size: 95%;"
|colspan=1 style="padding:0.3em;border-collapse:collapse;background-color:#ccccff" align=center|based on Elsner<ref>{{cite book |first=Hildegard |last=Elsner |year=1989 |title=Wikinger Museum Haithabu: Schaufenster einer frühen Stadt |location=Neumünster |publisher=Wachholtz}}</ref>
|-
|valign=top|'''793'''
|Viking raid on [[Lindisfarne]] – traditional date for the beginning of the [[Viking Age]].
|-
|valign=top|'''804'''
|First mention of Hedeby
|-
|valign=top|'''808'''
|Destruction of [[Reric]] and migration of tradespeople to Hedeby
|-
|'''c. 850'''
|Construction of a church at Hedeby
|-
|'''886'''
|The [[Danelaw]] is established in [[England]], following Viking invasion
|-
|'''911'''
|The Vikings settle in [[Normandy]]
|-
|'''948'''
|Hedeby becomes a bishopric
|-
|'''965'''
|Visit of [[Ibrahim ibn Yaqub al-Tartushi|Al-Tartushi]] to Hedeby
|-
|'''974'''
|Hedeby falls to the [[Holy Roman Empire]]
|-
|'''983'''
|Hedeby returns to Danish control
|-
|'''c. 1000'''
|The Viking [[Leif Erikson]] explores [[Vinland]], probably in Newfoundland
|-
|'''1016–1042'''
|Danish kings rule in England
|-
|'''1050'''
|The Norwegian King [[Harald Hardrada]] destroys Hedeby
|-
|'''1066'''
|Final destruction of Hedeby by a Slavic army.
|-
|'''1066'''
|Traditional end of the [[Viking Age]]
|}

===Rise===
Hedeby became a principal marketplace because of its geographical location on the major trade routes between the [[Frankish Empire]] and [[Scandinavia]] (north-south), and between the [[Baltic Sea|Baltic]] and the [[North Sea]] (east-west). Between 800 and 1000 the growing economic power of the [[Vikings]] led to its dramatic expansion as a major trading centre. Along with [[Birka]] and [[Schleswig]], Hedeby's prominence as a major international trading hub served as a foundation of the [[Hanseatic League]] that would emerge by the 12th century.<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Smith |first=Jillian R. |date=May 2010 |title=Hanseatic Cogs and Baltic Trade: Interrelations Between Trade, Technology and Ecology |chapter=2 |publisher=University of Nebraska at Lincoln |chapter-url=http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/anthrotheses/4 |access-date=1 July 2019}}</ref>

Hedeby played an important role in the international Viking slave trade between Europe and Byzantines as well as the Islamic world.<ref>{{Citation |last=Roşu |first=Felicia |title=Slavery in the Black Sea Region, c.900–1900: Forms of Unfreedom at the Intersection between Christianity and Islam |date=2 December 2021 |work=Slavery in the Black Sea Region, c.900–1900 |url=https://brill.com/display/title/55443?language=en&srsltid=AfmBOooRrv-jGRA4aZc6Cq5LwyK4zHzmGwaOmQwrf9LG4OFZKgH4v8UM |access-date=16 April 2025 |publisher=Brill |language=en |isbn=978-90-04-47089-7}}</ref> People taken captive during the Viking raids across Eastern Europe could be sold to [[Slavery in al-Andalus|Moorish Spain]] via the [[Dublin slave trade]]<ref name="aroundtheworldineightyyears.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.aroundtheworldineightyyears.com/viking-dublin/|title=The Slave Market of Dublin|date=23 April 2013}}</ref> or transported to Hedeby or [[Brännö]] in Scandinavia and from there via the [[Volga trade route]] to Russia, where Slavic slaves and furs were sold to Muslim merchants in exchange for Arab silver ''[[dirham]]'' and silk, which have been found in [[Birka]], [[Wolin|Wollin]] and [[Dublin]];<ref>The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 3, C.900-c.1024. (1995). Storbritannien: Cambridge University Press. p. 91</ref> initially this trade route between Europe and the Abbasid Caliphate passed [[Khazar slave trade|via the Khazar Kaghanate]],<ref>The World of the Khazars: New Perspectives. Selected Papers from the Jerusalem 1999 International Khazar Colloquium. (2007). Nederländerna: Brill. p. 232</ref> but from the early 10th-century onward it went [[Volga Bulgarian slave trade|via Volga Bulgaria]] and from there by caravan to [[Khwarazm]], to the [[Samanid slave trade|Samanid slave market]] in Central Asia and finally via Iran to [[slavery in the Abbasid Caliphate|the Abbasid Caliphate]].<ref>The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 3, C.900-c.1024. (1995). Storbritannien: Cambridge University Press. p. 504</ref>

The following indicates the importance achieved by the town:
* The town was described by visitors from England ([[Wulfstan of Hedeby|Wulfstan]] – 9th century) and the Mediterranean ([[Ibrahim ibn Yaqub al-Tartushi|Al-Tartushi]] – 10th century).
* Hedeby became the seat of a bishop (948) and belonged to the Archbishopric of [[Hamburg]] and [[Archdiocese of Bremen|Bremen]].
* The town minted its own coins (from 825).
* [[Adam of Bremen]] (11th century) reports that ships were sent from this ''portus maritimus'' to Slavic lands, to [[Sweden]], [[Sambia Peninsula|Samland]] (''Semlant'') and even [[Greece]].

A Swedish dynasty founded by [[Olof the Brash]] is said to have ruled Hedeby during the last decades of the 9th century and the first part of the 10th century. This was told to [[Adam of Bremen]] by the Danish king [[Sweyn Estridsson]], and it is supported by three [[runestone]]s found in Denmark. Two of them were raised by the mother of Olof's grandson [[Sigtrygg Gnupasson]]. The third runestone, discovered in 1796, is from Hedeby, the ''[[Stone of Eric]]'' ({{langx|sv|Erikstenen}}). It is inscribed with [[Runic alphabet#Younger Fuþark|Norwegian-Swedish runes]]. It is, however, possible that Danes also occasionally wrote with this version of the [[Runic alphabet#Younger Fuþark|younger futhark]].

===Lifestyle===
Life was short and crowded in Hedeby. The small houses were clustered tightly together in a grid, with the east–west streets leading down to jetties in the harbour.<ref name="denmark_org" />

While Hedeby primarily served as a trade emporium, archaeological evidence demonstrates that it had produced many goods locally. Discovery and analysis of excavated artifacts reveal that tools such as spindle whorls, spindle rods, loom weights, and bone needles were standardized products. The distribution of these various tools demonstrates that there was a wide range of textiles produced at Hedeby, ranging from coarse fabric for sailcloth and outer-garments, to fine worsted wool fabric for higher quality clothes.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Corsi |first=Maria R. D. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv13vdj3q |title=Urbanization in Viking Age and Medieval Denmark: From Landing Place to Town |date=2020 |publisher=Amsterdam University Press}}</ref> More than 340,000 pieces related to comb making, tools for working leather, remains of ironworking and goldsmithing, and mercury from fire gilding were also found. <ref>{{Cite book |last=Corsi |first=Maria R. D. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv13vdj3q |title=Urbanization in Viking Age and Medieval Denmark: From Landing Place to Town |date=2020 |publisher=Amsterdam University Press}}</ref> There was also evidence found for the presence of a glass furnace active in the site from the period of 850 to 900. A total of 7,700 decorative beads have been unearthed in Hedeby, although it is likely that a small percentage of those were produced in situ.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Delvaux |first=Matthew C. |date=2018 |title=Colors of the Viking Age: A Cluster Analysis of Glass Beads from Hedeby |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26678008 |journal=Journal of Glass Studies |volume=60 |pages=41–68 |issn=0075-4250}}</ref> The presence of these artifacts at the site indicate that Hedeby had a robust local economy that produced a wide variety of goods, likely for domestic use and for trade at the sites markets.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Corsi |first=Maria R. D. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv13vdj3q |title=Urbanization in Viking Age and Medieval Denmark: From Landing Place to Town |date=2020 |publisher=Amsterdam University Press}}</ref>

Analysis of some of Hedeby’s burial sites provide evidence for the existence of an aristocracy. Graves that are lavishly furnished with jewelry, commodities, weapons and armor set apart from more humble inhumation sites indicate an established degree of stratification among Hedeby’s society.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lorenzen |first=Daniel Henvig |date=1 January 2018 |title=The Vikings of Haithabu (8th −10th Century AD): Burials and Identity (Master&#39;s thesis 2018) |url=https://www.academia.edu/36892711/The_Vikings_of_Haithabu_8th_10th_Century_AD_Burials_and_Identity_Masters_thesis_2018_}}</ref>

The trade and production of beads was tied to a robust fashion within Hedeby. Beads made of varying materials such as carnelian, rock crystal, amber, jet, silver, brass, bronze, and mosaic glass have been found in the harbor excavation sites, burials, and throughout the settlement. Dating of these finds reveals that there was a change in style roughly every 10–35 years within the settlement.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Delvaux |first=Matthew C. |date=2018 |title=Colors of the Viking Age: A Cluster Analysis of Glass Beads from Hedeby |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26678008 |journal=Journal of Glass Studies |volume=60 |pages=41–68 |issn=0075-4250}}</ref>

[[Ibrahim ibn Yaqub al-Tartushi|Al-Tartushi]], a late 10th-century traveller from [[al-Andalus]], provides one of the most colourful and often quoted descriptions of life in Hedeby. Al-Tartushi was from [[Córdoba, Spain|Cordoba]] in [[Spain]], which had a significantly more wealthy and comfortable lifestyle than Hedeby. While Hedeby may have been significant by Scandinavian standards, Al-Tartushi was unimpressed:
:''"Slesvig (Hedeby) is a very large town at the extreme end of the world ocean... The inhabitants worship [[Sirius]], except for a minority of Christians who have a church of their own there.... He who slaughters a sacrificial animal puts up poles at the door to his courtyard and impales the animal on them, be it a piece of cattle, a ram, billy goat or a pig so that his neighbours will be aware that he is making a sacrifice in honour of his god. The town is poor in goods and riches. People eat mainly fish which exist in abundance. Babies are thrown into the sea for reasons of economy. The right to divorce belongs to the women.... Artificial eye make-up is another peculiarity; when they wear it their beauty never disappears, indeed it is enhanced in both men and women. Further: Never did I hear singing fouler than that of these people, it is a rumbling emanating from their throats, similar to that of a dog but even more bestial."''<ref name="denmark_org">{{cite web |author=Consulate General of Denmark in New York |title=Factsheet |url=http://www.denmark.org/about_denmark/factsheets_articles/factsheets_vikings.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060113013845/http://www.denmark.org/about_denmark/factsheets_articles/factsheets_vikings.html |archive-date=13 January 2006 |access-date=14 January 2006}}</ref>

===Destruction===
The town was sacked in 1050 by King [[Harald Hardrada]] of Norway during a conflict with King [[Sweyn II of Denmark]]. He set the town on fire by sending several burning ships into the harbour, the charred remains of which were found at the bottom of the Schlei during recent excavations. An unnamed Norwegian ''[[skald]]'' in Harald's army, quoted by [[Snorri Sturluson]], describes the sack as follows:
:''All Hedeby was burned from end to end out of anger, and that one can call a valiant deed, I believe.''
: ''There is hope that we will do harm to Sveinn; I was on the rampart of the stronghold last night before dawn; high flame burst from the houses.''<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://skaldic.org/m.php?i=1345&p=verse| title=Kari Ellen Gade and Diana Whaley (eds) 2009, ‘Anonymous Lausavísur, Lausavísur from Haralds saga Sigurðarsonar 2’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 816-17.}}</ref>

In 1066 the town was [[Looting|sacked]] and burned by [[West Slavs]].<ref>{{cite news|author1=Nancy Marie Brown|title=The Far Traveler: Voyages of a Viking Woman|date=6 October 2008|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aUE9ZFNeCBsC&pg=PT110 |access-date=6 March 2016|pages=95|isbn=9780547539393}}</ref> Following the destruction, Hedeby was slowly abandoned. People moved across the [[Schlei]] [[Förde|inlet]], which separates the two peninsulas of [[Angeln]] and [[Schwansen]], to the growing town of [[Schleswig, Schleswig-Holstein|Schleswig]]. Hedeby’s royal tolls and levies were transferred to the town by the monarchy.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Corsi |first=Maria R. D. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv13vdj3q |title=Urbanization in Viking Age and Medieval Denmark: From Landing Place to Town |date=2020 |publisher=Amsterdam University Press}}</ref>

==Archaeology==

=== 20th-century archaeology ===
[[File:File Haithabu Wikinger Museum 3 28-03-2010.jpg|thumb|View of the Viking Museum]]
[[File:Hedebyhouses010.jpg|thumb|right|Reconstructed houses]]

After the settlement was abandoned, rising waters contributed to the complete disappearance of all visible structures on the site. It was even forgotten where the settlement had been. This proved to be fortunate for later archaeological work at the site.

The exact location of the site was rediscovered by [[Sophus Müller|Sophus Muller]] in 1897. Archaeological work began at the site in 1900 after the rediscovery of the settlement with small-scale excavations by [[Johanna Mestorf]]. Excavations were conducted for the next 15 years, and additionally in 1921. These early efforts would result in over 350 small trenches being dug, and the discovery of a burial site within the rampart dating from earlier in the site's history, they were led by Wilhelm Splieth and Friedrich Norr.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hedeby in Wulfstans Days PDF {{!}} PDF |url=https://www.scribd.com/document/374424441/Hedeby-in-Wulfstans-days-pdf |access-date=12 December 2024 |website=Scribd |language=en}}</ref>

Further excavations were carried out between 1930 and 1939 by Nazi Germany’s [[Ahnenerbe]], the pseudoscientific organization within the SS under [[Herbert Jankuhn]].<ref>{{Cite journal |date=13 October 2015 |title=Graben für Germanien, Graben für Germanien. Archäologie unterm Hakenkreuz. Hrsg. v. Focke-Museum unt. Mitarb. v. <i>Sandra Geringer</i>, <i>Frauke von der Haar</i>, <i>Uta Halle</i> u. a. Stuttgart, Theiss 2013 |url=https://doi.org/10.1515/hzhz-2015-0450 |journal=Historische Zeitschrift |volume=301 |issue=2 |pages=566–567 |doi=10.1515/hzhz-2015-0450 |issn=2196-680X|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The results of Jankuhn’s discoveries were never published in detail. What has been published shows that this period saw the digging of several trial trenches, discovering a group of ten chamber burials, a cremation burial site, and two inhumation graves.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hedeby in Wulfstans Days PDF {{!}} PDF |url=https://www.scribd.com/document/374424441/Hedeby-in-Wulfstans-days-pdf |access-date=12 December 2024 |website=Scribd |language=en}}</ref>

Excavation in 1956 found more inhumation and cremation burials south of the rampart, which prompted many large-scale excavations. Klaus Raddatz, [[Heiko Steuer]], and Konrad Weidemann investigated much of the cemetery site at that time, but their findings have not been published in detail.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hedeby in Wulfstans Days PDF {{!}} PDF |url=https://www.scribd.com/document/374424441/Hedeby-in-Wulfstans-days-pdf |access-date=12 December 2024 |website=Scribd |language=en}}</ref>

In 1963, Torsten Capelle and Kurt Schietzel conducted further work on the site, they were the source of the youngest find at the site, with an excavated well dated to 1020 A.D. by dendrochronology.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hedeby in Wulfstans Days PDF {{!}} PDF |url=https://www.scribd.com/document/374424441/Hedeby-in-Wulfstans-days-pdf |access-date=12 December 2024 |website=Scribd |language=en}}</ref>

Archaeological work on the site was productive for two main reasons: that the site had never been built on since its destruction some 840 years earlier, and that the permanently waterlogged ground had preserved wood and other perishable materials. The embankments surrounding the settlement were excavated, and the harbour was partially dredged, during which the wrecks of multiple [[Viking ships]] were discovered, including the [[Hedeby 1]]. Despite all this work, only 5% of the settlement (and only 1% of the harbour) has as yet been investigated.

The most important finds resulting from the excavations are now on display in the adjoining [[Hedeby Viking Museum]].

===21st-century archaeology===
[[File:Simplified Interpretation of magnetic anomalies by Volker Hilberg.png|thumb|A contour map of Hedeby, overlaid on top of this is the magnetic map created by the archaeological teams at Vienna and Marburg. These images are interpreted by Volker Hilberg who color coded various features of interest.]]
Work has continued on the site since the earlier projects.

In 2002 a large scale geophysical project was started by teams from Marburg, Munich and Vienna. Over the course of three weeks, a total of ca 29 ha in and around the semi-circular rampart were analysed using [[Magnetometer|Fluxgate]], [[Magnetometer|Caesium magnetometer]] and ground-penetrating radar.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hedeby in Wulfstans Days PDF {{!}} PDF |url=https://www.scribd.com/document/374424441/Hedeby-in-Wulfstans-days-pdf |access-date=12 December 2024 |website=Scribd |language=en}}</ref>

Further work continued in 2003 when the ''Archäolgisches Landesmuseum'' began a metal detector survey with the help of the ''Bornholmske Amatørarkaologer'' and a group from Schleswig-Holstein. Throughout their work, 11,500 metal finds were collected and catalogued with a D-GPS system.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hedeby in Wulfstans Days PDF {{!}} PDF |url=https://www.scribd.com/document/374424441/Hedeby-in-Wulfstans-days-pdf |access-date=12 December 2024 |website=Scribd |language=en}}</ref>

In 2005 an ambitious archaeological reconstruction program was initiated on the original site. Based on the results of archaeological analyses, exact copies of some of the original Viking houses have been built.

==See also==
* [[Hedeby stones]]
* [[Rurik]]
* [[Jelling]]
* [[Ribe]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography and media==
* A number of short archaeological films relating to Hedeby and produced by researchers during the 1980s are available on DVD from the ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20080611134228/http://www.uni-kiel.de/cinarchea/neu/dvd-e.htm University of Kiel's Archaeological Film Project.]''
* Most publications on Hedeby are in German. See ''[[:de:Haithabu|Wikipedia's German-language article on Hedeby.]]''
* {{cite book | first = Ole | last = Crumlin-Pedersen | year = 1997 | title = Viking-Age Ships and Shipbuilding in Hedeby/ Haithabu and Schleswig. Ships and Boats of the North 2. | location= Schleswig and Roskilde | publisher=Archaeologisches Landesmuseum der Christian-Albrechts-Universitat, Wikinger Museum Haithabu, The National Museum of Denmark, and The Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Haithabu}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20170627081650/http://www.schloss-gottorf.de/haithabu Website of the Haithabu Viking Museum]
* [http://www.euro-t-guide.com/See_Coun/Germany/D_NW/D_See_Viking_Museum_Haithabu_1-1.htm Pictures from the Haithabu Viking Museum] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180130191742/http://www.euro-t-guide.com/See_Coun/Germany/D_NW/D_See_Viking_Museum_Haithabu_1-1.htm |date=30 January 2018}}
* [https://www.flickr.com/photos/kai-erik/collections/72157612176451746/ Flickr Photo Gallery: Viking houses and museum]

{{World Heritage Sites in Germany}}
{{Baltic emporia}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Archaeological sites in Germany]]
[[Category:Former populated places in Germany]]
[[Category:History of Schleswig-Holstein]]
[[Category:Viking Age populated places]]
[[Category:World Heritage Sites in Germany]]