Just a couple of miles from Lund is this amazing, mysterious site. It doesn’t look like much, but under out feet are treasures from the past. Hopefully more funding will allow them to emerge. My detectorist’s* curiousity is piqued! Here is the description at the entrance…
We invited friends from Malmö to join us for a guided tour in English. The weather cooperated, and we caught our bus from Lund and strolled down pungent country lanes to the Uppåkra church, which marks the site entrance. This guy wins the prize for displaying his entry sticker to full effect! Yes, it looks like the skull of an ancient Mickey Mouse, but it is probably a depiction of a lion by a craftsperson who’d heard tales of the mighty beast but never seen one. IMHO the craftsperson wasn’t really into this project that someone told him he had to make.
En Route
The church is an excellent landmark when it comes to locating the archaeology center, but surprisingly, it wasn’t the building of the church that resulted in rediscovering this iron age settlement. It was the construction of the house, seen here…
The ceremonial house was 3X bigger and taller than this model. It held a sacred chalice and bowl, a figure of Odin, etc. now in the museum in Lund. The sign in the background marks its location. You can read more and see photos of the finds Here
Model of Ceremonial House, finds that came from distance lands, the mound with remains of the oldest Nordic brewery.
Our enthusiastic guide invited us back to see the treasure trove which awaits if ever the funds permit excavation of the other 98% Just imagine! With less than 2% uncovered, they’ve already found a murder site confirmed by Swedish CSI, a cache of “sacrificed” weapons, hundreds of coins and tokens, a feasting site, the oldest known brewery of beer and mead, along with the very important ceremonial center. It makes me want to join the Detectorists* If you haven’t watched this series, I highly recommend.
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