A thingstead is a communal meeting place located outdoors.

The thingstead usually consists of 12 large stones placed in a circle around a bigger stone. The bigger stone was used as a platform, from where the speaker would address the assembled.

During the Viking Age and the Middles Ages, the thingstead was where the legislative, executive and judicial branches would make their decisions.

All free men, inluding farmers, were eligible to state their opinions at the thingstead.

The oldest known thingstead is named Thingvellir and lies in Iceland.