Håga mound
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The Håga mound (''Hågahögen'') or King Björn's Mound (''Kung Björns hög'') is a large
Nordic Bronze Age The Nordic Bronze Age (also Northern Bronze Age, or Scandinavian Bronze Age) is a period of Scandinavian prehistory from c. 2000/1750–500 BC. The Nordic Bronze Age culture emerged about 1750 BC as a continuation of the Battle Axe culture (th ...
tumulus A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or '' kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones ...
in the western outskirts of
Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Located north of the ca ...
,
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...
. It is one of the most magnificent remains from the
Nordic Bronze Age The Nordic Bronze Age (also Northern Bronze Age, or Scandinavian Bronze Age) is a period of Scandinavian prehistory from c. 2000/1750–500 BC. The Nordic Bronze Age culture emerged about 1750 BC as a continuation of the Battle Axe culture (th ...
. It is Scandinavia's most gold-rich bronze age grave ever found.


Hågahögen

Hågahögen mound is approximately 7 metres high and 45 metres across. It was constructed circa 1000 B.C. by the shore of a narrow inlet of the sea. (The land has been continually rising since the
Ice Age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...
due to
post-glacial rebound Post-glacial rebound (also called isostatic rebound or crustal rebound) is the rise of land masses after the removal of the huge weight of ice sheets during the last glacial period, which had caused isostatic depression. Post-glacial rebound ...
). The mound was built of turfs that had been laid on top of a
cairn A cairn is a man-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the gd, càrn (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehi ...
. The cairn, in turn, was built on top of a wooden chamber containing a hollow oak coffin. Within the coffin are the cremated remains of a short man. During the burial there had probably been
human sacrifice Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more humans as part of a ritual, which is usually intended to please or appease gods, a human ruler, an authoritative/priestly figure or spirits of dead ancestors or as a retainer sacrifice, wherei ...
, the evidence for which is human bones from which the marrow had been removed. The coffin contained rich unburnt bronze objects such as a Bronze age sword, a
razor A razor is a bladed tool primarily used in the removal of body hair through the act of shaving. Kinds of razors include straight razors, safety razors, disposable razors, and electric razors. While the razor has been in existence since bef ...
, two
brooch A brooch (, also ) is a decorative jewelry item designed to be attached to garments, often to fasten them together. It is usually made of metal, often silver or gold or some other material. Brooches are frequently decorated with enamel or with g ...
es, a number of thickly gilded buttons, two pincers and various other bronze objects. They may all come from the same workshop in
Zealand Zealand ( da, Sjælland ) at 7,031 km2 is the largest and most populous island in Denmark proper (thus excluding Greenland and Disko Island, which are larger in size). Zealand had a population of 2,319,705 on 1 January 2020. It is the 1 ...
. The mound was excavated 1902–1903 by
Oscar Almgren Oscar Almgren (9 November 1869 – 13 May 1945) was a Swedish archaeologist specializing in prehistoric archaeology. He published a dissertation on Nordic types of brooches in 1897. He was also the father of Bertil Almgren, who followed in his fa ...
together with the future king Gustaf VI Adolf. Only minor excavations have been done in the Bronze Age settlement but the area contains several house foundations in stone. The findings from Hågahögen were stored in the
Swedish Museum of National Antiquities The Swedish History Museum ( sv, Historiska museet or Statens historiska museum) is a museum located in Stockholm, Sweden, that covers Swedish archaeology and cultural history from the Mesolithic period to present day. Founded in 1866, it operates ...
(''Historiska museet'') on Narvavägen in
Östermalm Östermalm (; "Eastern city-borough") is a 2.56 km2 large district in central Stockholm, Sweden. With 71,802 inhabitants, it is one of the most populous districts in Stockholm. It is an extremely expensive area, having the highest housing ...
in
Stockholm Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...
. In February 1986 a theft was committed in the Swedish Museum of National Antiquities. One of the Museum's art objects, the Bronze Age spectacle-shaped gilt brooch found in 1902—03 at Hågahögen, was stolen. Parts of it were found outside the Museum's main entrance some months later after snow had melted.''Hågafyndet tyvärr aktuellt igen'' (Jan Peder Lamm, Statens historiska museum. Stockholm, Sweden)
/ref>


Etymology

The place name ''Håga'' means the "tall mound". It is mentioned in the '' Hervarar saga'' as ''Haugi'' (from the Old Norse ''haugr'' meaning knoll, mound or a hill). The name ''Björn's mound'' is from the Swedish king
Björn at Haugi Björn at Haugi ("Björn at the Barrow" from the Old Norse word ''haugr'' meaning mound), Björn på Håga, Björn II or Bern was, according to '' Hervarar saga'', a Swedish king and the son of Erik Björnsson, and Björn ruled together in diarc ...
(Björn at the mound), who used to live at the royal estate (see
Uppsala öd Uppsala öd, Old Norse: ''Uppsala auðr'' or ''Uppsala øðr'' (''Uppsala domains'' or ''wealth of Uppsala'') was the name given to the collection of estates which was the property of the Swedish Crown in medieval Sweden.The article ''Uppsala öd'' ...
) of Håga, while his brother and co-king Anund Uppsale resided at Old Uppsala. The connection between the king and the mound was later reversed: the mound was named after the king, as the king had previously received his cognomen from the mound.


See also

* Bronze age sword * the King's Grave *
Kurgan A kurgan is a type of tumulus constructed over a grave, often characterized by containing a single human body along with grave vessels, weapons and horses. Originally in use on the Pontic–Caspian steppe, kurgans spread into much of Central As ...
*
Nordic Bronze Age The Nordic Bronze Age (also Northern Bronze Age, or Scandinavian Bronze Age) is a period of Scandinavian prehistory from c. 2000/1750–500 BC. The Nordic Bronze Age culture emerged about 1750 BC as a continuation of the Battle Axe culture (th ...
*
Sagaholm Sagaholm is the site of Bronze Age burial mounds (''Sagaholmshögen''). Sagaholm is located in Ljungarums parish just south of Jönköping in Småland, Sweden. Sagaholmshögen Sagaholmshögen is a cairn dating from the early Nordic Bronze Age ...


References


Other sources

*Almgren, O. (1905) ''Kung Björns hög och andra fornlämningar vid Håga'' (KVHAA Monografi nr 1. Stockholm)


External links


Finds from Hågahögen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haga Kurgan Nordic Bronze Age Germanic archaeological sites Uppsala Tumuli in Sweden Buildings and structures in Uppsala History of Uppsala