Like an Egyptian pharaoh, but in Denmark: 3,400-year-old folding chair reveals the luxury of Nordic chiefs

A wooden folding chair found in a Bronze Age chief’s grave in Denmark has survived for roughly 3,400 years. Its remarkable condition has made it one of the striking objects recovered from the Guldhøj burial mound in southern Jutland.

Archaeologists excavated the mound in 1891 and were surprised by the chair’s design. It resembled folding chairs known from ancient Egypt and Greece, yet the Danish example had been made locally during the Bronze Age.

The chair was probably a symbol of status. The National Museum of Denmark describes it as the only completely preserved chair from the European Bronze Age.