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Birka

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Location in Sweden

Birka listenⓘ , also Birca and Bierkø (today named Björkö, literally "Birch Island"), was an important trading center in the Baltic Sea region from the 8th century, which handled goods from Eastern Europe and the Orient, possibly as far as China, thus covering most of the Viking Age. Björkö is located in the Lake Mälaren, just west of Stockholm, in the municipality of Ekerö in Sweden. Birka and Hovgården is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1993.

Ownership of Björkö, is today mainly in private hands, and used for farming. The settlement site, however is an archaeological site, and a museum has been built nearby for exhibition of finds, models and reconstructions. It is a popular site to visit during the summer times.

Brief description

The Birka archaeological site, located on Björkö in Lake Mälaren and occupied in the 9th and 10th centuries, and Hovgården, on the neighbouring island of Adelsö, make up an archaeological complex which illustrates the elaborate trading networks of Viking Age Europe and their influence on the subsequent history of Scandinavia. Birka was also important as the site of the first known Christian congregation in Sweden, founded in 831 by Saint Ansgar.

Map of Björkö, late 17th century, from Suecia antiqua et hodierna. Engraving by Willem Swidde.

History

Sources are mainly archeological remains. No texts survive from this area, though the written text Vita Ansgarii, "The life of Ansgar" by Rimbert (c. 865 CE) describes the missionary work of Ansgar around 830 CE at Birca, and Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum (Deeds of Bishops of the Hamburg Church) by Adam of Bremen in 1075 CE describes the archbishop Unni, who died at Birka in 936 CE.[1] St Ansgars work was the first attempt to convert the inhabitants from heathen living to Christianity, and it was unsuccessful.

Since there are no known Norse sources mentioning the name of the settlement, the true name of Birka is unknown. The names in general use, Birca and Birka are the latinicised forms given in the sources. The exact location of Birka was also lost during the centuries, leading to speculation from Swedish historians. Still today there are those who question whether Björkö was indeed the legendrary Birka. Main reason for the controversy is that based on Adam of Bremen's Gesta, Birca seems to have still been in normal operation around 1075 CE even if the Björkö site had already been abandoned around 975 CE. Descriptions of Birca also don't mention that the city would have been on an island, which is very characteristic to the Björkö site.

In the late 19th century, Hjalmar Stolpe, an entymologist by education, arrived on Björkö to study fossilized insects found in amber on the island. Stolpe found very large amounts of amber on the island, which is unusual since amber is not normally found in lake Mälaren. Stolpe speculated that the island may have been an important trading post, prompting him to conduct a series of archeological excavations. The excavations soon indicated that a major settlement had been located on the island and eventually Stolpe spent two decades excavating the island. With Birka's location determined to be Björkö, it is now assumed that the original name of Birka was simply Bierkø (sometimes spelt Bjärkö), an earlier form of Björkö.

The function or significance as a trading center of the Baltic sea was moved to Sigtuna in the 10th century for unknown reasons. Although due to the rising of lake Mälaren, Björkö is no longer navigable from the Baltic Sea.

Archaeological site

Townsite of Birka

The archaeological remains are located in the north part of Björkö and span an area of about 7 hectares (17 acres). The remains are both burial-sites and buildings, and in the south part of this area, there is also a castle-like building called "Borgen" ("The Castle"). The construction technique of the buildings is still unknown, but the main material was wood. An adjacent island holds the remains of Hovgården, an estate which housed the King's retinue during visits.

Approximately 700 people lived at Birka when it was as largest, and about 3,000 graves have been found. Its administrative center was supposedly located outside of the settlement itself, on the nearby island of Adelsö. According to Rimbert, the settlement itself was fortified by a wooden palisade and its harbour guarded by pilings driven into the bottom of the lake, limiting the number of ships able to pass into it. However, there is as yet no archaeological evidence of this.

The island has been a focus of investigation since the 17th century, although the largest excavations were performed by Stolpe between 1871-95. The most recent large excavation was performed between 1990-95 in a certain region, the "Black earth", believed to be the site of the main settlement. Björkö is today mainly agricultural, and shipping lines carry tourists to the island, where a museum showcases a view of life during the Viking era.

Contemporary centres of Baltic trade

References

  1. ^ http://hbar.phys.msu.su/gorm/chrons/bremen.htm Adam of Bremen, Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum, online text in Latin.
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