Archaeologists engaged on Björkö island in Sweden’s Lake Mälaren found the stays of a Viking … [+]
In what has been described by archaeologists because the “first of its type”, stays of a shipyard from the Viking Age have been found on a Swedish island identified for its sturdy Norse historical past.
“A web site like this has by no means been discovered earlier than,” mentioned archeological science professor Sven Isaksson in a press launch from Stockholm University. “It’s the primary of its type, however the finds convincingly present that it was a shipyard.”
A Viking middle of energy
Birka is positioned on relaxed Björkö island within the Lake Mälaren simply west of Stockholm, Sweden. Nicknamed Vikingastaden (the Viking City) in Swedish, Birka was some of the essential Viking Age buying and selling websites that we all know of in the present day.
Such is the significance of Birka, UNESCO awarded it World Heritage Site status in 1993, saying it “bears exceptionally nicely preserved testimony to the wide-ranging commerce community established by the Vikings in the course of the two centuries of their phenomenal financial and political growth.”
Sweden’s Björkö island is a well-liked vacationer attraction for these within the Viking Age. … [+]
A press release on the official Birka website studying “there are plenty of historic monuments – and nonetheless a lot to find” proved prescient because the stays of jetties, boat launches and associated instruments have now been found in a single space of the shoreline.
A workshop for seafaring Vikings
Archaeologists found a stone-lined hole within the shoreline with a picket boat slipway, a considerable amount of boat rivets, slate whetstones and numerous woodworking instruments.
The investigations had been carried out by Stockholm College based mostly on surveys utilizing GNSS receivers and drones, geochemical mapping, and the excavation of 4 trenches.
Given Birka’s island location and significance as a buying and selling submit, it’s not a shock that boats had been constructed on the island. Vikings made it so far as Greenland and North America, after all.
However to search out the stays of a shipyard continues to be an thrilling discovery that sheds additional mild on how Birka labored and the shipbuilding strategies utilized by the Norse individuals.
“By systematic stock, mapping and drone surveys, we will now present that Birka, along with the city surroundings, additionally has a really wealthy maritime cultural panorama with stays of the whole lot from jetties to boat launches and shipyards,” mentioned Isaksson.
Viking Age tourism at Birka
Whereas investigations proceed in different elements of Birka and Björkö island, the location stays open as a vacationer attraction. Day journeys by boat from Stockholm that embody a guided tour of Birka are well-liked.
Sights embody a museum profiling the doable tales of 4 totally different individuals present in graves at Birka and a Viking village full with reconstructed homes, arts and crafts, and actors taking part in roles of the Norse.
