20 denmark
oxen. Important archaeological finds concerning
Norse myths have come from this country. Zealand,
for example, has an important collection of rock
carvings—runestones, from the late Bronze Age,
which began around 1000 b.c., that portray religious
scenes. Two elaborately carved little wagons, which
would have carried the gods, came from a site near
Dejbjerg on the Jutland peninsula. Also a tree coffin,
in which the trunk was carved out to make room
for the body, was found near Egtved. The National
Museum of Denmark houses many Norse artifacts.
This rock carving of a deer is one of the major fea-
tures of the Bolareinen (Bola reindeer) rock carvings
site in Steinkjer, Norway. (Photo by Orland/Used
under a Creative Commons license)
which is found in the P oetic E dda , and in Snorri
Sturluson’s G ylfaginning .
In the Eddic poem H avamal , Odin says he knows
a charm that is supposed to be chanted in front of
the doors of Delling. Scholars suggest that Delling’s
doors represent the sunrise.
See also “Night and Day” under creation.
D enmark
A nation in northwestern Europe
consisting of the Jutland peninsula and many nearby
islands in the Baltic Sea. Denmark is part of Scan-
dinavia and shares a common history with Norway,
Sweden, and Iceland. The Vikings are the ancestors
of the people in these modern-day nations.
According to a story by Snorri Sturluson, the
goddess Gefjion plowed the islan