Metro excavation rewrites history

Schoolchildren have always been taught that Bishop Absalon founded Copenhagen in around 1160 AD, but those history lessons could rest on unstable ground, much like the capital city itself.

Initial samples from the Metro system�s expansion indicate that the area known as Copenhagen was in use as a harbour around 300 years before Absalon moved the capital from Roskilde.

Archaeologists are left with few clues, however, as to why people initially might have settled in the area which was swampy and ill-suited for farming or habitation.