First Female Viking Grave Discovered In Swedish Mountains

Archaeologists in Sweden have every reason to be excited after learning a mountain climber came across an extraordinary 1,200-year-old brooch.

Based on recent reports, everything indicates the first female Viking grave was located in the Swedish mountains. It is a unique and surprising find that is believed to provide scientists with much better knowledge of Vikings in the mountains regions of Sweden.

The brooch was discovered by mountain hiker Eskil Nyström who stumbled upon a rock last year. While setting up and securing his tent, Nyströn noticed something odd was sticking up from the ground.

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

Nyström took the brooch home and asked around, but no one knew what it was or where it came from. One year later, he came in contact with the museum Jamtli in the city of  Östersund and understood the archaeological and historical value of the brooch he had found.

“It’s an incredible archaeological discovery,” Anders Hansson, chief archaeologist at Jamtli, told Swedish Radio (SR).

This week, Hansson and his archaeology team travelled to Jämtland and inspected the place where the brooch was found. At the site, scientists unearthed burned bones, suggesting this was a cremation burial.

The Vikings had complex burial rituals, and every discovery offers new insight into how people sent their loved ones to the afterlife. Fire played a central role in spectacular burial rituals practised by the Vikings.

When a great Viking chieftain died, he received a ship burial. Another option was for the Vikings to be burned, and 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.

At the site in Jämtland, Hansson also found another oval brooch which is not much of a surprise because such pins are usually unearthed in pairs.

“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.

“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 a 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.

Regular excavations will only be relevant next year.

“The grave has been there for 1,200 years. It will undoubtedly survive one more year,  Hansson told P4 Jämtland.

The world of archaeology is full of surprises, and we have seen on many occasions small findings can lead to much larger treasures. This time a tiny 9th-century brooch may open a new chapter in the history of Vikings in Sweden.