When Christian Jürgensen Thomsen (1788–1865), in the early 19th century, travels through
parts of Denmark, a country that recently had been bombarded by the British and had lost in
The Napoleonic Wars, he focuses on archaeological monuments. His journey marks the
beginning of a study that laid the foundation to the Three Age System, which was first
published by Oldskriftselskabet (The Royal Society of Antiquaries) in a book with the title
Ledetraad til nordisk Oldkyndighed in 1836. The book begins with an introduction, followed
by a text written by the Danish historian and linguist Niels Matthias Petersen (1791–1861).
Thomsen’s text is the second last, and the book ends with listings and work plans for
Oldskriftselskabet. In the Introduction it says that ”Our time is a very important transition
period for the development of humanity and works as a whole towards a new and better
future”. It is Thomsen’s text that sets this agenda. Petersen’s perspectives, on the other hand,
represent the past. In this paper I will depart from Ledetraad and show how chronology,
through Thomsen’s Three Age System, supported this agenda and became a central part of
museum narration and nation building in 19th century Scandinavia. But this is only half of
the story. The other half concerns the development of the spirit in line with the German
philosopher Hegel. Hence, it will be argued, museum politics in the 19th century was not a
simple nationalistic discourse, but rather a complex and complicated composite of reflections
on nation, identity, the past and – not at least – the future.

First Author: Johan Hegardt

Keywords:
Archaeology
Chronology
Politics