Valsgärde 14

Description

Edited by Kent Andersson, John Ljungkvist and Neil Price. The excavation of boatgrave 14 in 1949 was directed by Else Nordahl (a long-time colleague and honorary doctor at our department [Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University]) and Bengt Schönbäck. For a long time, Else worked on the publication of the burial, before she passed away. At that time, she had progressed very far with the work, producing both text, illustrations and plates. The material has now been edited and published in a way that we hope are according to Else's wishes. The book forms the first of a revived series of works on the Valsgärde graves, building on the publications of Valsgärde 6, 7 and 8, all by Greta Arwidsson. Furthermore, it is the first book in the series produced within the frames of the project the Viking Phenomenon. The Valsgärde hilltop cemetery is situated three kilometres north of Gamla Uppsala in central Uppland province, Sweden. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a handful of artefacts had been collected there which appeared to be of late Iron Age date, but the site’s true character was first recognised in 1926. Preface – The Valsgärde cemetery: excavations and publications 7 Foreword 15 Description of the burial 17 The contents of the grave 23 Animals in the burial 59 The dating of the grave 61 The textiles 63 The boat 69 Catalogue of artefacts 89 Field notes on the finds 97 Bibliography 133