The
site at Uppåkra is situated on a rise in the landscape, about 2 km
north-west of Staffanstorp and 5 km south of Lund. Occupation remains
have been found within an area of approximately 1,1 x 0,6 km, which
makes Uppåkra the largest occupation site in southern Sweden. The
occupation layers are within four larger areas more than one metre
thick, and can even have a thickness of more than two metres.
Uppåkra has a unique continuity regarding its long period of
occupation. The first traces can be dated to the Pre-Roman Iron Age,
also known as the Celtic Iron Age (500 BC- the Birth of Christ). The
site was occupied throughout the first millennium AD. Metal detectors
have been a very useful complement to the excavations, and these
surveys have given more than 20 000 finds. The finds help strengthen
the definition of Uppåkra as being a central place in the county of
Scania during the Iron Age. The settlement started to grow during the
Roman Iron Age (the Birth of Christ - 400 AD), and finds from this
period onwards show a presence of both political and religious power
in Uppåkra. Most of the objects found by metal detector are dated to
the Late Iron Age, because of the limitation to the plough zone: the
Migration Period (400-550 AD), the Vendel Period (550-800 AD), and the
Viking Age (800-1050 AD). It is mainly the occupation layers from
these periods that have been damaged, and some even destroyed by
ploughing.
There have been at least four mounds, but only two are visible at the
site today. The individual dating has not been totally settled. They
might be dated to the Early Iron Age, but a possibility of mounds
being erected in Uppåkra already during the Bronze Age (1800 – 500 BC)
can not be excluded.
In
2001, the remains of a very special building were discovered. Through
its unusual structure and exceptional finds, the building is
interpreted to have had a ceremonial function for a long period of
time. It has been rebuilt several times at the same place from its
first stage in the Late Roman Iron Age, to its last stage in the early
Viking Age, more than 500 years. Among the most prominent finds are a
beaker made of bronze, silver and gold, found together with a glass
bowl which probably has its origin in the area north of the Black Sea.
Over 115 gold foil figures have been found, mainly in the wall
trenches and the postholes. Within an area close to the ceremonial
building, votive deposits mainly containing a large number of lance-
and spearheads have been found. Many of them were deliberately bent
and destroyed.
Lund
was founded at the end of the first millennium AD, with 990 as its
earliest dendrochronological dates. The foundation probably marked the
end for Uppåkra. Lund grew fast, and became a centre for the Christian
church in the Danish kingdom. The medieval village in Uppåkra was
situated north of the prehistoric site, and the settlement continued
to exist, but now in the shadow of the town Lund. Today it is the
village of Stora Uppåkra, and some settlement and buildings are now
situated on parts of the prehistoric site. Though much of the site and
the area, are mainly consisting of cultivated land.
Uppåkra is mentioned for the first time in 1085 in written sources.
This document provides information about the presence of two Uppåkra
existing, and this could probably be the result of a split in the late
Viking Age. Today Stora Uppåkra is located on the prehistoric site and
on the medieval settlement, and the village of Lilla Uppåkra lies
about 1 km south of Stora Uppåkra. |