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Historical periods

Learn more about the different ages in Sweden's history.

Nordic Stone Age

animal skin and horns lying on the ground infront of an tent entrance

Nordic Bronze Age

Man dressed in bronze age garment blowing in a instrumental horn

Nordic Iron Age

broken Roman face mask

Viking Age

Reconstruction photo of a person in rich clothing and jewelry lying in a boat.

Middle Ages

Person with medieval headdress

Early Modern Period

Ceiling painting

Find the right historical time period

In the History Hub, we want to make it as easy as possible for as many as possible to filter their choices and find the right content for them. The historical periods of Sweden are:

Nordic Stone Age (12,000–1700 BC)

The Stone Age is divided into several periods:

Nordic Bronze Age (1700–500 BC)

The Bronze Age is divided into two periods:

  • Early Bronze Age: 1700–1100 BC
  • Late Bronze Age: 1100–500 BC

Nordic Iron Age (500 BC–550 AD)

The Iron Age is divided into several periods:

  • Late Iron Age:
    • Pre-Roman Iron Age: 500 BC–AD 1
    • Roman Iron Age: AD 1–375
  • Younger Iron Age:
    • The Migration Period: AD 375–550
    • Vendel Period: AD 550–793
    • Viking Age: AD 793–1050

Viking Age (AD 793–1050)

The Viking Age is a part of the Nordic Iron Age, see above.

The museum highlights the Viking Age as its own historical period in the History Hub because it is a central focus area of the collections and exhibitions.

Middle Ages (AD 1050–1520)

Learn about the Middle Ages.

Modern Age (AD 1500–now)

Learn about the Modern Age.

Exhibition

Prehistories

Captivating stories about people and objects from prehistoric times.

Reconstruction of a man's head
Exhibition

The Gold Room

See unique gold and silver jewels and sparkling treasures.

Gold necklace/collar

How we work with knowledge at the Swedish History Museum

The Swedish History Museum is part of the government agency National Historical Museums. The agency employs experts in various fields, such as history, archaeology, conservation, and more. The texts on the website are produced in collaboration between different experts, educators, and other staff. The texts have been fact-checked and are based on established research. In some cases, written sources are lacking and the physical remains are limited and ambiguous, especially far back in time. In such cases, the material is interpreted by the experts. However, the interpretations are always based on research.

Text summaries and translations have been created with the help of AI and have been fact-checked.

If you have questions about the factual background of our texts, please contact webb@historiska.se.

History hub

Search for articles and objects in the History hub. Sort and filter by time period and theme to find what's relevant to your specific interests.

To the History hub