PROTOHISTORIC EVIDENCE FOR
LIGHT AND SMOKE HOLES
Evidence for the existence of poles rising from the ground
to form a canopy around and over the hearth has been
found in aisled Iron Age houses at Hodorf, Germany (fig.
307), and Wijchen, Holland (fig. 359), as well as in the
Migration Period houses of Nauen, Germany; also in
single-span Iron Age houses at Kraghede, Vendsyssel,
Denmark (fig. 360); Källberga, Alunda (Uppland), Sweden;
and the Migration Period village Vallhagar on the island
of Gotland, Sweden.[234]
The relatively rare occurrence of these hearth poles
suggests, however, that in general the protective shields
were mounted directly on the roof rather than on special
supports. The latter system would have been entirely inappropriate
in larger halls, since it would have required an
underpinning of timbers entirely out of scale with the
superstructure that it served to support.