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Gamla Uppsala - The Royal Mounds
The Royal mounds (Swedish Kungshögarna) is the name for the three large barrows which are located in Gamla Uppsala. They are dated to the 5th and 6th centuries. As Sweden's oldest national symbols they are even depicted on the covers of books about the Swedish national identity.
In the 6th century, Gamla Uppsala was the location of royal burials. The location was chosen carefully and in order to make them majestic, they were constructed on top of the ridge. They were built as symbols the divine origins and powers of the Swedish kings of the House of Yngling. Hundreds of people worked for thousands of days in order to realize such mounds. Only a powerful dynasty, such as the Ynglings could muster such a workforce.
By burning the dead king and his armour, he was moved to Valhalla by the consuming force of the fire. The fire could reach temperatures of 1500 °C. The remains were covered with cobblestones and then a layer of gravel and sand and finally a thin layer of turf.
Thus he (Odin) established by law that all dead men should be burned, and their belongings laid with them upon the pile, and the ashes be cast into the sea or buried in the earth. Thus, said he, every one will come to Valhalla with the riches he had with him upon the pile; and he would also enjoy whatever he himself had buried in the earth. For men of consequence a mound should be raised to their memory, and for all other warriors who had been distinguished for manhood a standing stone; which custom remained long after Odin's time. [...] It was their faith that the higher the smoke arose in the air, the higher he would be raised whose pile it was; and the richer he would be, the more property that was consumed with him. (Ynglinga saga)
Gamla Uppsala - An old controversy and its solution
In the 1830s, some scholars claimed that the mounds were pure natural formations and not barrows. This affront to ancient Swedish national symbols could not be accepted by the future Swedish king Karl XV and in order to remove any doubt, he decided to start an excavation.
The task was given to Bror Emil Hildebrand, the director-general of the National Archives. In 1846, he undertook the excavation of the nine metres tall Eastern mound with the hope of finding the grave of a Swedish king of old.
The excavation was complex and generated a lot of publicity. A 25-metre long tunnel was dug into the cairn, where they found a pot of clay filled with burnt bones and around it there were the remains of the charred grave offerings.
Among the most important finds in the Eastern mound were many fragments of a decorated bronze panels with a dancing warrior carrying a spear. These panels have probably adorned a helmet of the Vendel Age type, common in Uppland (the only foreign example being the one in Sutton Hoo). There were also finds of gold which probably had adorned a scramasax, but according to another interpretation, they were part of a belt. The dead was also given several glass beakers, a tafl, a comb and a hone.
Most scholars agree that the mound was either raised for a woman or for a young man and a woman, but as Hildrebrand reburied most of the remains, a new excavation would have to be undertaken before the controversy can be settled. What is quite certain is that the dead belonged to a royal dynasty.
In 1874, Hildebrand started an excavation of the Western mound and opened an enormous shaft right into the cairn in the centre of the mound. Under the cobble stones, there were the charred remains of the funeral fire.
In the western mound were found the remains of a man and animals, probably for food during the journey. The remains of a typically male warrior equipment were found. Luxurious weapons and other objects, both domestic and imported, show that the buried man was very powerful. These remains include a Frankish sword adorned with gold and garnets and a board game with Roman pawns of ivory. He was dressed in a costly suit made of Frankish cloth with golden threads, and he wore a belt with a sumptuous buckle. There were four cameos from the Middle East which were probably part of a casket. The finds show the distant contacts of the House of Yngling in the 6th century.
Other related archives1070s, 1164, 11th century, 1240, 1273, 12th century, 13th century, 15th century, 1830s, 1846, 1874, 1991, 2000, 5th, 6th centuries, 6th century, Adam of Bremen, Archaeological sites in Sweden, Archbishopric, Blot-Sweyn, Disting, Expressen, Frankish, Freyr, Fyris Wolds, Fyrisvellir, Germanic Iron Age, History of the Germanic peoples, House of Yngling, House of Ynglings, Iron Age, Karl XV, Locations in Norse mythology, Medieval literature, Middle Ages, Middle East, Nationalencyklopedin, Nordic Bronze Age, Norse mythology, Northern Europe, Odin, River Fyris, Roman Iron Age, Sagas of Iceland, Sutton Hoo, Sweden, Temple at Uppsala, Thor, Ting, Uppland, Uppsala, Uppsala Nya Tidning, Uppsala öd, Valhalla, Vendel Age, Viking Age, Ynglinga saga, barrows, blóts, cameos, comb, hall, ivory, land elevation, scramasax, tafl, Östra Aros
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The Royal Mounds", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
