Archaeological excavations along the E18 highway in Västmanland between Köping and Västerås (2021–2022) uncovered Viking Age graves, standing swords, ornate horse equipment, cremation pyres, and layered burial monuments. A reshaped mountain at Rallsta produced two large pyres visible from afar, likely used for high-status cremations such as a chieftain. At Viby/Norrtuna, stone settings were built into an older Vendel-period mound, forming a rare multi-period monument containing weapons and high-status goods. The assemblage indicates an elite or armed social group, possible kinship or dynasty connections, and provides a long cross-section for understanding societal and landscape change across generations.
""The locations are exciting, but the whole is the most interesting thing," says Larsson. "We have a long cross-section through several villages at the same time, which gives us the opportunity to understand how society and the landscape have changed over generations.""
""It is probably a special armed group in society that was buried here," explains Larsson. "It could also be about kinship-that we are seeing part of a dynasty. There are only a handful of places like this in Sweden, so it is very unusual.""
Read at Medievalists.net
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