Exploring the ancient history of Föhr

Both early in the morning and after coffee, Frank took us to see a few interesting sites that tell us some of the ancient history of the island. In the morning, we visited the site of a Viking harbor near Goting. Today, the area is a marshland, but hundreds of years ago, the area was used as a natural harbor. The marsh would flood during storms, so an area of higher ground above a natural dyke was used as the location for merchant shops. Nearby, we visited burial mounds that date back to the Stone Age. Various people have inhabited Föhr for a very long time.

After coffee, we visited Lembeksburg, a Viking ring fortress. This is one of several forts positioned in a line from here extending north east toward Denmark. The line appears to have a stronger than normal magnetic field, but it's unclear how the vikings sensed it or why they chose to build their forts along this line.Read more