Archaeologists have uncovered an ornate sword and other striking finds dating back to before the Viking Age in a burial site close to Uppsala.
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| Parts of the handle of a sword found in a grave in Fyrislund in Uppsala [Credit: Archaeological consultant/TT] |
It is believed to belong to a person of high status who was closely connected with the royal family around 1,500 years ago.
"It's a mystery as to why the tomb is located where it is. There are no other such elaborate graves in the area," project leader Anna Hed Jakobsson told TT. She was referring to the location in Fyrislund, eastern Uppsala, which is some way away from the burial mounds in Gamla Uppsala.
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| Detail of a gold pendant from the grave finds in Fyrislund in Uppsala [Credit: Archaeological consultant/TT] |
"This was some kind of symbol of value and power during this time. The man who was buried with this sword must have been in the royals' inner circle," commented Hed Jakobsson.
The tomb was first found in 2016, but archaeologists waited for the findings to be conserved and fully analyzed before sharing details with the public, according to Forskning & Framsteg.
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| A selection of the 50 ivory game pieces found in Fyrislund in Uppsala [Credit: Archaeological consultant/TT] |
Archaeologists also discovered around 50 ivory game pieces, which were extremely unusual. The grave contained a glass cup and a gold pendant decorated with herringbone, of which only one similar item has been found before, which was located in a chieftain's grave outside Sundsvall.
A man and a child were apparently buried together, and the archaeologists found the remains of a bird of prey, horses, dogs, sheep, two bear traps, and other animals in the grave, all of which are indicators of the man's high status.
The finds are fragmentary, since the grave was a so-called fire grave, which were common during the period and meant that bodies, and often the objects to be buried with them, were burned before burial.
Source: The Local [August 26, 2019]
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