swords

Archaeological excavations along the E18 motorway in Västmanland, Sweden, have revealed extraordinary Viking Age treasures and burial sites that are rewriting our understanding of Iron Age and Viking society in central Sweden. Between 2021 and 2022, Arkeologerna (The Swedish National Historical Museums' archaeological division) investigated nine locations, uncovering everything from cremation platforms visible across the landscape to rare warrior burials marked by standing swords thrust into the earth. "The sites are exciting, but the overall picture is most interesting," explains Fredrik Larsson, archaeologist and project leader at Arkeologerna. "We have a long cross-section through several districts simultaneously, which gives us the opportunity to understand how society and the landscape changed over generations." The findings, now detailed in a new book