Archaeologists in Sweden have uncovered what is believed to be 50 graves in an Iron Age burial site, with one grave standing out due to an unusual feature. It had been stabbed with a knife, prompting questions about the significance of this act.
Archaeologists were previously unaware of the existence of this plot of land. Historical documents from 1667 noted that Swedish priests had discovered ancient remains in the area, but no investigation was conducted to confirm this.
Archaeologists from the National Historical Museums set out to explore the area without any real certainty that they would discover much of anything. What they found surpassed their wildest expectations: a designated Iron Age burial ground that baffled them as experts on the Iron Age in Sweden.
An unusual Iron Age burial ground
As they started digging at this location, Pryssgården, Sweden, they first unearthed a human bone, the fragments of two skulls, costume buckles, and a costume pin. That meant they were on the right track. They could have indeed stumbled upon this legendary old burial ground from the Iron Age.
As a new excavation project, archaeologists suspect that some graves may predate the Iron Age, although they are still determining the site’s timeline. Some pits revealed no bones, while others contained cremated remains, reflecting the common practice of burning the dead on pyres during that period. In one grave, they found a burnt gravestone and even a small millstone, used to crush wheat or grains.
Digging through tons of soot and a thick layer of fire, they saw the most unusual sight. Someone, interestingly enough, drove an iron pocket knife straight into the grave of an Iron Age woman whose toe bone revealed that she had arthritis. Most likely used for leather preparation, whoever this knife belonged to, perhaps, took everything from the trunk, but left a sharp tool/weapon behind in a very clear position.
“It is also very well preserved and may have been on the pyre before it was staked,” Moa Gillberg stated in a press release, a lead archaeologist of the excavation.
Intriguing and unexpected though it may be, the Fiskeby burial ground exhibits similar features. The dead also seemed to have carried knives and needles with them to the other side, as this arthritic woman did, too, along with a needle, perhaps pointing to a burial rite.
A burial ground with houses and a warehouse
Full of mystery, in fact, the Iron Age site mentioned in old documents appears to have been much more than just a cemetery with fascinating attributes. Archaeologists also uncovered two houses, a storage facility, a well, and evidence of a potential superstructure that may have enclosed or marked the area.
Finally, in the middle of the ground, a big flat rock had been laid on top of other rocks without any skeletal remains. Gillberg explained that sometimes, during this period, they built monuments on the bonfire, which might suggest a central area where the burial practice had been carried out.
As the picture continues to develop, Swedish archaeologists from the National Historical Museums will continue putting the pieces together to construct a clear idea as to how this unusual site functioned.
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