Traces of a Wooden Monument Discovered in Old Uppsala

News October 21, 2013

(National Heritage Board)
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Sweden Uppsala Iron Age
(National Heritage Board)

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN—Two rows of wooden pillars thought to date to the fifth century have been unearthed in Old Uppsala, a center of Norse religion where three kings were buried during the Iron Age. The pillars are thought to have stood at least 23 feet tall. Bones in the postholes suggest that animals had been sacrificed as part of the construction process. “It is a completely straight line and they have dug postholes every 20 feet. They have had an idea of exactly where this line is going and where to build it. It is a fairly modern way of thinking and we don’t have many traces of these sorts of constructions from that time,” said archaeologist Lena Beronius-Jorpeland, who was excavating in preparation for the construction of a new rail line. She believes that additional colonnades may be found in the area.

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