Jens Jacob Asmussen Worsaae

Born in Vejle on March 14, 1821, Jens Jacob Asmussen Worsaae became one of the principal founders of prehistoric archaeology. As a young scholar, he studied Denmark’s ancient monuments and argued that many stone structures were tombs, not altars, helping shift archaeology away from speculation and toward evidence-based interpretation.

Worsaae is especially remembered for using excavation and stratigraphy to support C. J. Thomsen’s Three-age system of Stone, Bronze, and Iron. His 1843 book The Primeval Antiquities of Denmark was highly influential, and his work helped establish scientific archaeology in the 19th century. He later served as the second director of the National Museum of Denmark and also held office as Denmark’s culture and education minister from 1874 to 1875.

He died on August 15, 1885. Today, he is remembered not just as a museum leader and writer, but as a careful investigator who helped show how artifacts, burial mounds, and layers of soil could tell the story of the human past.