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<< Our Photo Pages >> Birkas fornborg - Hillfort in Sweden in Uppland

Submitted by Ogneslav on Tuesday, 24 October 2017  Page Views: 4873

Iron Age and Later PrehistorySite Name: Birkas fornborg
Country: Sweden Landskap: Uppland Type: Hillfort
Nearest Town: Södertälje
Latitude: 59.333300N  Longitude: 17.544150E
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
2 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
4 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
4 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
4

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Birkas fornborg
Birkas fornborg submitted by dodomad : Researchers in Sweden have found Arabic characters woven into burial costumes from Viking boat graves. The discovery raises new questions about the influence of Islam in Scandinavia. One of the excavated fragments made from fine silk and silver thread discovered at the two Swedish sites, Birka and Gamla Uppsala Site in Uppland Sweden. Follow the yellow link at left for more details. (Vote or comment on this photo)
According to archaeological excavations in 1996-97 this hillfort was built in connection with the foundation of the town of Birka, around 790 AD, and was in use until the beginning of the 11th century, probably even after Birka was abandoned. The wooden palisade with parapet for guards crowned the rampart.

Around 350m in length, 2-3 m in height and 3-5 m in width semicircular rampart with three entrances from North, North-East and South surrounds the highest point of Birka where the Ansgar Cross, erected in 1834 in commemoration of a millennium of Ansgar's mission, stands now. No defense wall was needed on the South-West side as cliff drops there into Lake Mälar.

Researchers in Sweden claim to have found Arabic characters, including 'Allah' woven into burial costumes from Viking boat graves. The discovery raises new questions about the influence of Islam in Scandinavia, more details in the comment on our page

Note: New Book: The Archaeology of Touchstones, An introduction based on finds from Birka, Sweden. Free to view online, see the most recent comment on our page
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Birkas fornborg
Birkas fornborg submitted by Ogneslav : Site in Uppland The northern side of the fort with the King's Gate opening, one of the three entrances the rampart has. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Birkas fornborg
Birkas fornborg submitted by Ogneslav : Site in Uppland Sweden Birka's hillforth from Hemlanden, the biggest Björkö island cemetery, with over 1600 burial mounds. (Vote or comment on this photo)

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 547m NE 50° Hemlanden* Barrow Cemetery
 1.2km ESE 117° Kärrbacka Cairn* Cairn
 3.2km NNW 345° Skopintull* Round Barrow(s)
 6.7km ENE 65° Sånga 70:1 Cairn
 9.1km ESE 119° Nyckelby* Standing Stone (Menhir)
 12.4km N 5° Vallbyåsen* Standing Stones
 19.6km ESE 118° Slagsta Hällristning* Rock Art
 19.9km N 2° Rösaring* Carving
 20.0km NNE 12° Upplands-Bro* Carving
 20.1km E 85° Björklunds hage* Barrow Cemetery
 20.2km WNW 282° Ytterselö 147:1* Barrow Cemetery
 21.2km WNW 288° Åsa skeppssättning* Stone Circle
 21.4km ESE 109° Skärholmen Domarringen* Stone Circle
 22.0km WNW 290° Sverker Runestone* Carving
 27.9km NE 43° Smedby* Sculptured Stone
 28.4km NE 44° Zamores kulle* Barrow Cemetery
 28.6km NE 45° Hammarby 154:1* Sculptured Stone
 29.7km E 91° Medelhavsmuseet Museum Museum
 29.8km E 92° Gamla stans runsten* Carving
 30.3km NNE 32° Runsa (Upplands-Väsby)* Stone Circle
 30.5km E 91° Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities* Museum
 31.0km E 90° Historiska Museet* Museum
 31.2km ENE 59° Täby* Carving
 32.9km NNE 17° Sigtuna U 389* Sculptured Stone
 33.1km NNE 17° Sigtuna U 390* Sculptured Stone
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"Birkas fornborg" | Login/Create an Account | 5 News and Comments
  
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Archaeology of Touchstones, An introduction based on finds from Birka, Sweden by Andy B on Sunday, 04 March 2018
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Archaeology of Touchstones, An introduction based on finds from Birka, Sweden
Martin Ježek, 2017, Sidestone Press
Book options available or read online for free

Did ancient Europeans truly believe in an active after-life, as modern Europeans would like to think they did? What purpose did grave-goods actually serve? Are archaeology and the historical sciences in general able to shed, once and for all, a curse placed upon them at their inception as research disciplines in the early nineteenth century? Searching for answers to these questions is the aim of this book which has been written on the basis of widely spread, typical components of grave-goods. For the last two centuries, they have been interpreted incorrectly, because of being aligned with archaeologists’ ideas about the spiritual world of the society in question.

The book introduces a recently discovered phenomenon that accompanied mankind from his discovery of the uses of metal all the way through to the Middle Ages – that is the importance of touchstones, tools used to determine the nature and test the value of non-ferrous metals. Of the hundreds of thousands of such finds, which have most often been regarded as ‘whetstones’, the author has made a selection of specimens that cast light on the role of touchstones in the culture of ancient societies, especially in the burial ritual.

Forming a key part of the book are the results of chemical microanalyses of metal streaks on the touchstones, a hitherto unused source of information for the skills of ancient metallurgists. Streaks of precious metal are not as important today as the common streaks of lead, tin, brass, etc.; streaks of metals composed of zinc, nickel, mercury, etc., raise new questions. Viking Age Birka serves as a fine example. It has yielded the largest known assemblage of touchstones and also boasts the largest number of such finds to have been analysed in the scanning electron microscope. However, this site has counterparts in Mesopotamia and the Near East, in the ancient Mediterranean region, in the Cimmerian and Scythian environments, in Europe of the Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman and Migration periods, and, in particular, in the northern part of Europe during the Early Middle Ages – anywhere trade was not dominated by coins minted by local authorities. The four-millennium continuity of the essentially unified spiritual life shared by a large part of the Old World came to an end with the onset of Christianity in Europe.

This book is intended for archaeologists, anthropologists, historians, ethnologists, archaeometallurgists, and for everybody who wishes to marvel at the consistent symbolic behaviour of ancient societies of the Old World from between, at the least, Mesopotamia, the Altai Mountains and Iceland, despite their cultural, ethnic and religious differences.

https://www.sidestone.com/books/archaeology-of-touchstones
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Why did Vikings have ''Allah'' embroidered into funeral clothes? by Anonymous on Sunday, 05 November 2017
The Vikings had contact with the Islamic world in Spain, Africa and the Caspian regions. Embroidered robes are the sort of things you''d expect to find in pillaged items. Even if the finds are correctly interpreted it doesn''t seem the basis for much speculation. Cf the Chinese silk found in Scythian graves.
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Why did Vikings have 'Allah' embroidered into funeral clothes? by drolaf on Wednesday, 25 October 2017
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But it seems like not everyone thinks so. Wrong date and made up pattern?

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/oct/13/viking-burial-clothes-woven-with-allah-unveiled-by-swedish-university
[ Reply to This ]
    Re: Why did Vikings have 'Allah' embroidered into funeral clothes? by Martin_L on Wednesday, 25 October 2017
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    Thank you very much for this link DrOlaf. I now dare to think there is very little hard evidence for the claim being made in the headline ' 'Allah' embroidered into funeral clothes' . I get the impression a lot of wishful thinking has been involved. Or a big hammer.
    [ Reply to This ]

Why did Vikings have 'Allah' embroidered into funeral clothes? by Andy B on Thursday, 19 October 2017
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Researchers in Sweden have found Arabic characters woven into burial costumes from Viking boat graves. The discovery raises new questions about the influence of Islam in Scandinavia, writes journalist Tharik Hussain.

They were kept in storage for more than 100 years, dismissed as typical examples of Viking Age funeral clothes.

But a new investigation into the garments - found in 9th and 10th Century graves - has thrown up groundbreaking insights into contact between the Viking and Muslim worlds.

Patterns woven with silk and silver thread have been found to spell the words "Allah" and "Ali".

The breakthrough was made by textile archaeologist Annika Larsson of Uppsala University while re-examining the remnants of burial costumes from male and female boat and chamber graves originally excavated in Birka and Gamla Uppsala in Sweden in the late 19th and mid-20th centuries.

She became interested in the forgotten fragments after realising the material had come from central Asia, Persia and China.

Larsson says the tiny geometric designs - no more than 1.5cm (0.6in) high - resembled nothing she had come across in Scandinavia before.

More at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41567391
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