The hydrology in huge burial mounds built of loamy tills: a case study on the genesis of perched water tables and a well in a Viking Age burial mound in Jelling, Denmark

A perched water table, long assumed to form only through iron pan development in Bronze Age burial mounds, has been identified in Viking Age royal mounds at Jelling, Denmark. This discovery challenges previous assumptions about the hydrological processes governing such features. Through a series of borings and an in situ experiment conducted in 2009, researchers found that perched water tables developed at the bottom of the bioturbation zone in both mounds, with one mound containing a well fed by this water table. The well's formation is attributed to an unrepaired intrusion into the mound, highlighting the persistence of conditions that support such structures even after large-scale excavations. This study provides new insights into the hydrology of Viking Age burial mounds and their long-term stability.

Breuning-Madsen, H., Holst, M. K., & Henriksen, P. S. (2012). The hydrology in huge burial mounds built of loamy tills: a case study on the genesis of perched water tables and a well in a Viking Age burial mound in Jelling, Denmark. Geografisk Tidsskrift-Danish Journal of Geography, 112(1), 40–51. https://doi.org/10.1080/00167223.2012.707797