Possibly Viking-Related Village Accidentally Discovered in Sweden During Construction
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More than a dozen buildings spanning from Bronze Age to the Iron Age, accompanied by objects, the oldest of which may date back to 2,300 BC, have been unearthed during the construction of a riding facility in southern Sweden.
The construction of new riding facility in Harplinge, Halland County, had to be put on hold when a sharp-eyed bulldozer driver discovered traces what appeared to be old fireplaces.
During the subsequent archaeological excavation, 16 buildings from different time periods and tools estimated to be thousands of years old have been unearthed.
The buildings can be traced back to different periods between 500 BC and 1200 AD. Mainly, though, the housing traces back to different parts of the Iron Age.
The buildings can be traced back to different periods between 500 BC and 1200 AD. Mainly, though, the housing traces back to different parts of the Iron Age.
It is also believed that the local inhabitants at least occasionally supported themselves as Vikings.
“There was likely a harbour in Haverdal, and it wouldn't be strange if the residents of Harplinge occasionally went on looting journeys,” antiquarian Johan Klange of Halland Cultural Environment told national broadcaster SVT.
Aside from the houses, archaeologists have found fireplaces, pottery, a millstone foundation and other objects.
“The oldest we have found is from between 2,300 and 1,500 years before Christ. It is an arrowhead in flint, which is of a specific type that you have during the last part of the Stone Age or just at the beginning of the Bronze Age,” Johan Klange explained to the local newspaper Hallandsposten.
According to Klange, the construction was first assessed as a “small-time job” and therefore, according to current guidelines, no archaeological investigation was carried out before it started. However, when the contractor started excavating, important finds were made and the archaeologists were alerted. The excavations were paid for by the state, as it was a previously undiscovered ancient site.
“We arrived here as if it were are fire brigade call. It turned out that there were a lot of ancient remains. These are probably the outskirts of a larger settlement,” Klange mused.
“We arrived here as if it were are fire brigade call. It turned out that there were a lot of ancient remains. These are probably the outskirts of a larger settlement,” Klange mused.
Matti Nilsson, project manager at the municipality's technology and property administration, said that the ancient finds wouldn't delay the riding facility, for which SEK 11.2 million (nearly $1.3 million) has been earmarked.
The riding school hopes it will be allowed to keep one of the historical finds in the form of a millstone that was used to grind flour at some point between the 200s and 400s AD.
