Uppåkra - Archaeological & historical heritage

   

ABSTRACT

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.


Chapter 1
Uppåkra - an introduction to the site and the region

Chapter 2
Uppåkra - Development and central functions

Chapter 3
Uppåkra - The ceremonial building

Pupils´ works

References