The first tomb of a Viking woman discovered by chance in a mountain in Sweden
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Viking brooch, 8th century CE, 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 Viking Age female grave found in the Jämtland mountains.
Last year, hiker Eskil Nyström decided to camp in the Jämtland mountains. While he is pitching his tent, he discovers by chance an object which 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 unearthing of what could be the very first female tomb from the Viking period (793-1066), here dating from the 8th century, found in the Jämtland mountains .
?A discovery too good to be true
While camping in the mountains of Jämtland, a hiker named Eskil Nyström found this object while pitching his tent. “ My first thought was that I had found a mine. But when I dug a little deeper, I realized that it was not possible ,” he explains to the Swedish newspaper “ Expressen ”.
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Viking brooch, 8th century CE, 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 was sent to the museum's chief archaeologist Anders Hansson, who was stunned by what he discovered: " I told myself it was too good to be true, " he confided to the " Expressen .”
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Viking brooch, 8th century CE, Jämtland Mountains, Sweden © Eskil Nyström
Remains of funeral pyre
The object is actually a quality brooch , dating from the Viking period, and more precisely from the 8th century AD. So she had been waiting in the earth for more than 1200 years. Museum archaeologists, led by Anders Hansson, traveled to the site and began to study it. In no time, they discovered a second loop. The director explains to us: “ We just opened a square decimeter. We found this extra loop, soot, charcoal and burnt bones .” These are mainly remains of funeral pyres, the tombs not being accompanied by visible markers allowing them to be identified or to know their exact position.
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Second Viking brooch found at the site, 8th century CE, 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 pushed archaeologists to put forward initial hypotheses about the burial, which will later be confirmed. The tomb resembles in a few details what we find at the same time in classic burials: “ Burial by cremation and tombs are similar. The only difference is that there are no burial mounds or headstones. 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 location is kept secret, Jämtland Mountains, Sweden © Jamtli
The main problem is then to understand why this burial was made in the mountains, surely far from the region of origin of the deceased. “ The fact that she was close to a known trail through the mountains indicates that she died while traveling ,” reveals Hansson. “ There are no mounds either. They are normally important close to where you live but if you died far from home, building a funerary monument of this type was not self-evident .”
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 Lapps, which is however a derogatory term from the Swedish language meaning "wearer of rags". “ It’s in the middle of Sami land and there are known historical settlements not that far away. It could therefore be a Sami grave given the location .”
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Second Viking brooch found at the site, 8th century CE, 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 discover there: “ The second loop must have been part of a pair, so we can expect to find one more. It is likely that beads and a comb, possibly a knife, were also found . With a little luck, we will also come across bones sufficiently intact for an analysis of stable isotopes, preferably strontium (chemical elements which, when stable, allow us to know the diet and geographical origin of a being. living, Editor's note) , in order to study the person's mobility patterns, for example, where they lived or where they were born




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