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Around 100 BC, or shortly thereafter, gold jewellery of remarkable quality begins to appear in the Nordic region. These pieces have no clear roots in native traditions and are distinguished by their decoration: applied gold wires and granules.
During the Nordic Iron Age, people liked to adorn themselves as if they belonged to the Roman Empire. A large number of rings of various kinds found in Sweden bear witness to the influence of the Roman Empire.
In the exhibitions and storages of the Swedish History Museum there are a vast amount of pendants and beads. Here you will find a few examples from Roman Iron-age.
Today, many people assume that the Old Norse religion of the Viking Age was identical with “Ásatrú” – the worship of the Æsir gods such as Odin, Thor and Freyja.
During an archaeological excavation in Linköping, Sweden in 1990, fragments of a unique small ceramic vessel were discovered in one of the graves, a so-called Terra Sigillata pot.
Graves are rich sources of knowledge about the past. They offer clues to people’s ideas about death, how bodies were treated, how burial rituals were carried out, and how people viewed the world.
In the provinces of Östergötland and Västergötland, a small group of women’s graves dating to around AD 100 have been found containing long pins, either singly or in pairs. These pins, made of bronze, often feature a distinctively decorated “head”.
Life was harsh for children in the Viking Age. Only about half of them reached the age of ten; their greatest enemies were disease and injury. At the Swedish History Museum you can learn the fate of one child, The Birka Girl.
An unusually rich female grave from the Roman Iron Age was uncovered in a burial cairn during excavations in 1979. The items, dating from around the 2nd century AD, shed light on Iron Age society in south-eastern Västergötland.
This famous little crucifix was discovered in a wealthy woman’s grave in Birka. She had probably worn it as a pendant around her neck. Dating from the 9th century, it is the oldest crucifix known in Sweden. Its form and workmanship suggest that it was made by a Scandinavian smith who was more accustomed to working with pagan animal ornamentation.
Eating is not solely a matter of survival. For many, food is also a source of pleasure, a way to add colour to life, or an opportunity to socialise with others. There is also a long-standing connection between food and religion.
Both the Icelandic sagas and the earliest regional laws provide evidence about thralls during the Viking Age. In Old Norse, female slaves were called ambátt and male slaves þræll.
When it comes to gold finds, Timrå is the richest parish in Medelpad, Sweden. The Sundsvall region, with its rivers Indalsälven and Ljungan, was well-connected to a wealthy hinterland.
In depictions of people from the Iron Age, one is struck by how carefully the hair is rendered. Even when the body is schematic, the faces roughly drawn, or the format very small, the hair and hairstyles are shown in clear detail.
One day in 1818, a labourer named Lundström was digging gravel from a stone mound when he suddenly came across something unexpected: a bronze vase from the Roman Empire. Inside it were burnt bones and melted lumps of glass.
Gold objects from the Iron Age have come to light both through excavations and by sheer chance. In this way, archaeologists as well as ditch-diggers have contributed to the collections of the Swedish History Museum.
Objects from the Roman Empire made their way as far as Scandinavia during the Roman Iron Age. Among the finds are bronze and glass vessels, statuettes, and coins.
There are many archaeological traces of the cult and rituals of Old Norse religion. Archeologists have found remains of burial rites, sacrifices and cult houses where ceremonies to the god were held.
Learn about the Viking Age, a historical period during the Iron Age.
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Join us on a journey to the Viking Age. See 2,500 original artifacts, learn about trade, travel, and beliefs – and discover how the Vikings really lived.
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