Rakni's Mound

[12] The trees were quite homogeneous, none over 60 years old, and had been grown in open woodland, providing the first evidence of large-scale forestry in Iron Age Scandinavia.

[5] A layer of coal with animal bones[4] and cremated human skull fragments from an individual between 20 and 35 years old were found at the base of the mound.

He found the carbon layer and the bone fragments and believed it to be from the Migration Age, which newer dating techniques later proved correct.

The German scholar Herbert Jankuhn (1905-1990) sought to place the second season's digging under the direction of the Ahnenerbe,[17][18] which would have entitled the German officials to claim any finds, but Anton Wilhelm Brøgger (1884–1951), director of the Museum of National Antiquities at the University of Oslo, obtained the necessary funds from the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage and the second season's digging was supervised by Norwegians and carried out by unemployed young men.

[5][19] Dagfinn Skre, professor in the Museum of Cultural History at the University of Oslo, reopened one of Grieg's smaller shafts to re-investigate the mound.

This investigation confirmed the identification of the traces at its base as remains of prehistoric agriculture and of cooking pits, possibly from ritual meals.

[23] The Korens were members of the circle around the Norwegian Society and the mound appears as an inspiring monument in poetry and other writings of the period.

[23] [24] In the 20th century, the mound was sometimes the site of celebrations of Olsok, Midsummer and Norwegian Constitution Day (17 May), especially in the period of Norway's becoming independent of Sweden.

[23] In 1743, Circuit Judge Jochum Werner reported that the mound was supposed to be the burial place of "King Ragnvold": "There are in Hovin annex, estate of Ullensaker Parish, the Houg Farm, a mighty height of Sand and soil.

"[26] In a diary entry dated 29 June 1808, Christiane Koren said the king buried there was called Rakni, that the lake was supposedly created by the digging of material to make the mound, and that her kitchen-maid and another girl of similar age saw a "large black man" at the mound one night, apparently the king, insulted by his barrow being dug into and a building built on top.

However, the horse was above the top layer of logs, not below, and the story that a worker died from the smell was probably inspired by the reports about the excavation of Tutankhamun's tomb.