29 March 2024 The Future is the Product of the Past

First Female Viking Grave Discovered In Swedish Mountains

A mountain hiker in Jämtland, in central Sweden, on his way camping in Kalffällen, made a surprising discovery.

The discovery excited archaeologists in Sweden. Mountain hiker Eskil Nyström discovered a brooch 1 year ago. Nyströn discovered something strange sticking up from the ground as he was erecting and securing his tent.

“My first thought was that I had found a mine, but then when I had dug around, I understood that it can’t be, Eskil Nyström told TT.

It has now turned out to be a 1200-year-old brooch, possibly the first female tomb from the Viking Age found in the Swedish mountains.

Examination of the Viking brooch. Photo: Svt
Examination of the Viking brooch. Photo: Svt

Eskil Nyström brought the brooch home and asked around, but no one knew what it was or where it came from. One year later, he made contact with the museum Jamtli in Östersund and realized the archaeological and historical significance of the brooch he had discovered.

Archaeologist Anders Hansson in Jamtli examined the find site for the first time Wednesday morning. There they found soot and burnt bones. Hansson also found another oval brooch which is not much of a surprise because such pins are usually unearthed in pairs.

Researchers have uncovered burnt bones at the site, and they suggest it is a cremation burial.

“What has been established is that it is a cremation grave from the Viking Age and “most likely” a woman’s grave, Hansson says. Previously, only five other Viking graves have been found in the mountains, and all have belonged to men.

“You get the feeling that these people were on their way somewhere when the woman died. The burial took place here, where the woman took her last breath. They could have taken the woman home where they lived, but instead, they make a cremation pit on the mountain,” Hansson told TT.

Hansson says the female Viking tomb is richly equipped.

Photo: Aftonbladet

“It’s really pretty. It is completely socially and religiously correct. The Viking woman took all her most precious objects to the grave, but there are no monuments, burial mounds, or cairns. It’s just flat hill. This grave is thus different compared to Viking graves in Iron Age settlements,” Hansson explained, adding excavations of the grave are not planned this year.

The Vikings had intricate burial rituals, and each discovery adds to our understanding of how people sent their loved ones to the afterlife. When a great Viking chieftain died, he was buried on a ship or burned.

Fire played a central role in spectacular burial rituals practiced by the Vikings. Cremation was common during the early Viking Age. Ashes were later spread over the waters. The vast majority of the burial finds throughout the Viking world are cremations.

There won’t be any major excavations until next summer.

Archaeology is a world full of surprises, and we have frequently witnessed how small discoveries can lead to much larger treasures. This time, a tiny brooch from the ninth century might start a new chapter in the tale of the Vikings in Sweden.

Related Articles

Unique Viking Age sword found in Norway

14 June 2022

14 June 2022

A piece of a sword was found last year on a farm in Gausel, in Stavanger, on Norway‘s west coast,...

Mystery of Knaresborough Roman hoard revealed by Newcastle experts

13 January 2024

13 January 2024

Archaeologists at Newcastle University have investigated one of the most unusual late-Roman metalware ever discovered in the British Isles. Although...

1,500-year-old mosaic found near the Caliph’s palace at Khirbat al-Minya on the Sea of Galilee

30 September 2022

30 September 2022

Archaeologists from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz uncovered an ancient mosaic that once lay in the shadow of a caliph palace...

1300-year-old stone sculpture from the ancient Turkish era found in Kazakhstan

3 August 2021

3 August 2021

A 1,300-year-old stone sculpture from the early Turkish period was discovered in Kazakhstan’s south, around 250 kilometers (155 miles) from...

Paleontologists Unearth 139 Million-Year-Old Pregnant Dinosaur Fossil in Chile

10 May 2022

10 May 2022

Archeologists in Chile have unearthed the fossilized remains of a 13ft-long pregnant ichthyosaur from a melting glacier -marking the first...

2700-year-old Assyrian carvings found near Mashki Gate destroyed by Isis

20 October 2022

20 October 2022

The U.S. and Iraqi archaeologists have unearthed ancient rock carvings believed to be more than 2,700 years old in Iraq’s...

The first Iberian lead plate inscribed with an archaic script was found at Pico de Los Ajos in Yátova

13 June 2021

13 June 2021

At the Pico de Los Ajos site in Valencia, Spain, a rare lead sheet engraved in ancient Iberian was unearthed....

An amateur archeologist has discovered a Roman war site

1 November 2021

1 November 2021

Thanks to the insistence of an amateur archaeologist, a Roman battlefield in Switzerland has been identified. Shortly before the birth...

Researchers find the earliest record of aurora in old Chinese documents

15 April 2022

15 April 2022

Researchers have found the oldest known reference to a candidate aurora in a celestial event, described in an ancient Chinese...

The New Study, Reveals Invisible Stews

25 November 2022

25 November 2022

New Results of Organic Residue Analyzes of Beveled Rim Bowls in Mesopotamia Reveal Invisible Stews. The world’s first urban state...

After 1,300 years, water to again flow from monumental fountain in the City of Gladiators in Turkey

30 December 2022

30 December 2022

The approximately 2,000-year-old monumental fountain in the ancient city of Kibyra in Golhisar, Burdur in southwestern Turkey will start flowing...

‘Roman numerals’ discovered on Stone of Destiny ahead of King Charles III coronation

8 April 2023

8 April 2023

New research has revealed previously unrecorded markings that appear to be Roman numerals on the Stone of Destiny, considered one...

Tomb of an Urartian buried with his dog, cattle, sheep, and 4 horses unearthed

6 September 2021

6 September 2021

In ancient times, the dead were buried with their living and non-living things. The offerings placed as dead gifts varied...

An extraordinary archaeological discovery in Spain: A new decorated stela has been found in context, in the 3000-year-old funerary complex

15 October 2023

15 October 2023 2

Archaeologists have discovered a new decorated stela in the 3000-year-old burial complex of Las Capellanías in Cañaveral de León (Huelva,...

‘Dinosaur dance floor’ dating back 80 million years found in China

20 April 2021

20 April 2021

In China, researchers have found many dinosaur footprints in an area of 1,600 square meters described in the literature as...