The first grave of a Viking woman discovered by chance in a mountain in Sweden 1720
Viking brooch, 8th century AD, Jämtland Mountains, Sweden © Eskil Nyström
In Sweden, a hiker who was camping, accidentally discovered an exceptional tomb over 1200 years old. This is the very first female grave from the Viking Age found in the mountains of Jämtland.
Last year, hiker Eskil Nyström decided to camp in the mountains of Jämtland. While pitching his tent, he accidentally discovers an object that turns out to be an exceptional brooch. A few months later, the walker gave the object to the Jamtli County Museum. He then took the institution's archaeologists to the site of his discovery, allowing the discovery of what could be the very first female tomb of the Viking period (793-1066), dating here from the 8th century, found in the mountains of Jämtland .
?A discovery too good to be true
While camping in the mountains of Jämtland, a hiker named Eskil Nyström finds this object while pitching his tent. “ My first thought was that I had found a mine. But by digging a little, I realized that it was not possible ”, he explains to the Swedish newspaper “ Expressen ”.
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Viking brooch, 8th century AD, Jämtland Mountains, Sweden © Eskil Nyström
Not knowing what it is, he brings the object home and tries to find out more. Finding no plausible information on the origin of the object, he decided a few months later to entrust his discovery to the Jamtli County Museum. The photo of the object is sent to the chief archaeologist of the museum Anders Hansson who is amazed by what he discovers: " I thought it was too good to be true " he confides to the " Expressen ”.
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Viking brooch, 8th century AD, Jämtland Mountains, Sweden © Eskil Nyström
Remains of funeral pyre
The object is actually a quality brooch , dated from the Viking period, and more precisely from the 8th century AD. She had therefore been waiting in the earth for more than 1200 years. Museum archaeologists, led by Anders Hansson, visited the site and began to study it. In no time, they discovered a second loop. The director explains to us: “ We have just opened a square decimetre. We found that extra loop, soot, charcoal and burnt bones .” These are mostly remains of funeral pyres, the graves not being accompanied by visible markers allowing them to be identified or their exact position to be known.
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Second Viking brooch found at the site, 8th century AD, Jämtland Mountains, Sweden © Jamtli
The clothing seems to indicate that this is the grave of a Viking high society woman. Several other burials had already been found in these mountains but they were exclusively male, making this one the first of its kind.
An unusual grave
The discoveries have prompted archaeologists to make initial assumptions about the burial, which will be confirmed later. The tomb resembles, in a few details, what is found at the same time in classical burials: “ The burial by cremation and the graves are similar. The only difference is that there are no burial mounds or tombstones. And of course, the location is far from known dwellings ”, explains Hansson, contacted by “Connaissance des Arts” .
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View of the site whose position is kept secret, Jämtland mountains, Sweden © Jamtli
The main problem is then to understand why this burial was made in the mountains, certainly far from the region of origin of the deceased. “ The fact that she was close to a known track through the mountains indicates that she died while traveling ,” Hansson reveals. “ There are no burial mounds either. They are normally important close to where you live but if you died far from home, the construction of a funeral monument of this type was not easy ”.
The archaeologist also put forward a second hypothesis on the origin of this tomb: “It could also be an example of a prestigious tomb in a Sami context ”. The Sami are a people spread across the different countries of northern Europe. They are also known as Lappons, which is however a pejorative term coming from the Swedish language and meaning “wearer of rags”. “ It's in the middle of Sami land and there are known historical settlements not so far away. It could therefore be a Sami tomb given the location ”.
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Second Viking brooch found at the site, 8th century AD, Jämtland Mountains, Sweden © Jamtli
To better understand the tomb, we will have to wait for the excavations planned for next summer. Anders Hansson described to “ Connaissance des Arts ” what he expected to find there: “ The second loop was to be part of a pair, so we can expect to find one more. It is likely that there are also pearls and a comb, possibly a knife . With a bit of luck, we will also come across bones that are sufficiently intact for an analysis of stable isotopes, preferably strontium ( chemical elements which, when they are stable, make it possible to know the diet and the geographical origin of a being living, editor's note) , in order to study the mobility patterns of the person, for example, where they lived or where they were born ".



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