We know quite a bit more now about the archaeology of Sättuna in Kaga parish, Ãstergötland, than we did before me and my homies started fieldwork there in April of 2006. My blog readers have had news of the site as it appeared, pretty much in real time. But now it's time to put up a new signpost next to Christer's barn. Today I wrote some new text for the sign and sent it to the County Archaeologist's office. Here's the tiny English bit at the end.
The field with the barrow hides a 6500 year old Stone Age camp site and an aristocratic manor site of the 5th-9th centuries AD. Bronze jewellery was cast here and gold-foil miniatures made. Very few such manor sites are known in Ãstergötland. The barrow has not been excavated but probably dates from the 9th/10th century AD. It may be the last thing the ruling family here built before they moved. Later a 12th century royal dynasty emerged from this area.
[More blog entries about archaeology, Sweden, outreach; arkeologi, östergötland, linköping, förmedling.]
- Log in to post comments
More like this
Adele and Laura joined us last night, and so we were thirteen people digging at Sättuna today plus Niklas the excavator virtuoso. We continued to strip away ploughsoil, uncovering lots and lots of dark splotches underneath, and the team sectioned and sieved about 25 such sunken features visible in…
[More about archaeology, metaldetecting; arkeologi, metallsökare, Uppsala.]
The view from my second investigation area. The great barrows were erected about AD 600.
I spent Tuesday and Wednesday metal-detecting for my buddy John Ljungkvist on some of the most storied soil in Sweden: Old Uppsala.…
Ammunition is extremely easy to find with a metal detector. Cartridges are large chunks of brass, which would make them obtrusive even if they were just spheres. But they are in fact sheet-metal cylinders closed at one end, which means that whatever orientation they have in the ground, there is…
I've just sat down in a comfy chair on the top floor of our luxurious excavation headquarters at Tolefors. Phew! I am very happy after a first day of excavations at Sättuna where every little bit has fallen into place as planned. (Hope I don't hit a frickin' elk when I go to pick up stragglers an…
Nice info Martin....