Royal Viking Feasting Hall Found in Sweden

News December 8, 2014

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(Martin Rundkvist)

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN—Archaeologists wielding ground-penetrating radar have located the foundation of a Viking feasting hall in southern Sweden. The hall was discovered by a team made up of scientists from Stockholm University and Umeå University, in the Aska barrow, which had been thought to be a burial mound. The double-walled hall may have belonged to a royal family, since elite burials have been unearthed in the area. “Parallels are known from several of the era’s elite sites, such as Fornsigtuna near Stockholm and Lejre near Roskilde. The closest similarities are however seen in a recently excavated feasting hall at Old Uppsla near Stockholm. Such close correspondences suggest intensive communication between the two sites,” said Martin Rundkvist of Umeå University. To read about early evidence for Viking warfare, see "The First Vikings."

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