Campus Gotland students unearth Iron Age warrior
10 September 2021

Lying on his side in a foetal position, the warrior held a sword between his arms, reaching down to his thighs.
Uppsala University archaeology students’ summer excavations on the island of Gotland turned up an exciting surprise: they found a warrior, with sword and spurs, in an Iron Age grave in Buttle Änge. Now the skeleton and grave goods will be analysed to find out more about him.
“The actual objects are exciting. They’re all so well preserved and can serve as clues to understanding Buttle Änge in particular, and Gotland in general,” says Alexander Andreeff Högfeldt, lecturer at the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History at Campus Gotland. As teacher and dig supervisor, he was on the spot when the finds came to light.
The site has long interested him. Originally, he was attracted by the two picture stones that stand here. One is almost four metres high, making it the largest extant picture stone in its natural setting in Gotland. There are also building foundations and a burial ground with several stone circles in the area. Two of the stone circles, one larger and one smaller, has now been now excavated.
Skeletons of infants

bones. Photo: Alexander Roesen Sjöstrand
Excavations of the burial ground began two years ago, with meticulous investigation of the smaller stone circle. Then it was time to discover what was hidden in the larger one. This stone circle was constructed with an outer and an inner ring, and is approximately nine metres in diameter. Previously, the skeletons of at least two infants had been found on the outer periphery of the inner ring.
“We’ve dated one of the bones, which turned out to be from about 700 CE, in the Vendel Period (roughly from 550 to 750 CE). This stone circle can be regarded as a separate, miniature burial ground. Between the outer and inner rings, we’ve also found remains of at least one cremation burial,” Andreeff Högfeldt says.
The warrior was found in a grave covered by limestone slabs, 1.5 metres underground, lying in a foetal position. Above his head, a blackware ceramic pot and a container made of organic material had been placed. Two knives and a belt buckle were also buried with him.
Sword of a horseman
The battle accoutrements – a sword of the spatha type, 80 centimetres long, and silver-embellished spurs on the heels – shows that he was a horseman. This type of sword was used in the Germanic lands, the Roman Empire and the subsequent Frankish Empire alike. Based on the grave goods, archaeologists estimate that he lived during the “Roman Iron Age” (a term denoting part of the Iron Age in Scandinavia, Northern Germany and the Netherlands, 0–400 CE).

are of bronze. Photo: Alexander Roesen Sjöstrand
But who was he? Why was he buried exactly here? These are questions that further research will now seek to answer. Archaeologists know that Buttle Änge was inhabited for nearly 2,000 years. The extant building foundations date from the fourth to the sixth centuries CE, and previous digs have shown that the buildings had a variety of functions.
“One is a house, in which we found a large fireplace. In another, which seems to have been used as a ceremonial venue, we found fine ceramics and a Roman silver coin. And in the third building, used as a storehouse, we found large amounts of shards from pots used for storage. We’ve also uncovered loom weights and a spindle whorl, which suggests that textile crafts were practised here,” Andreeff Högfeldt says.
Connection with the site
The buildings were probably erected a couple of centuries after the warrior’s death, so none of them was his home. However, being buried there means that he must have had some connection with the site.

Department of Archaeology and Ancient History.
Photo: Daniel Olsson
“He may have belonged to a clan of free men and women who owned farms and land in the area. This man was probably a warrior, as we see from his sword and spurs, since they’re genuine cavalry equipment. We know that Scandinavians and Germans served in the Roman army as auxiliary troops – but whether this man did, we can’t tell.”
The skeleton and the items have now been taken to Campus Gotland for further scrutiny and dating. At the osteological laboratory, every bone will be investigated. The warrior’s DNA and the composition of certain isotopes in the skeleton will also be analysed. The isotopes may provide an indication of where he grew up and when he died, and also shed light on his diet. It should be possible to see, for instance, whether it consisted mainly of food from the land or sea.
News
-
The names given to the clouds, an important part of the university's history
04 januari 2023
The book “Molnspanare– en meteorologisk historia” (Cloud spotters – a meteorological history) tells of the emergence of meteorology as a scientific subject. Among other things, you can read about how the Latin names and classification of the cloud...
-
The history of Easter Island can teach us about sustainability
08 december 2022
Tourism has exploded on Easter Island over the last twenty years – something that has led to both financial gain and major encroachments on the island's environment. Researchers from Uppsala are now studying how history can teach us to build a mo...
-
Nobel Prize-winning literature often published by small publishing houses
05 december 2022
During the Christmas trade period, books written by the latest Nobel Prize laureate tend to sell at least as well as the more traditional bestsellers. It is very important for publishers to have Nobel Prize winners on their lists, according to res...
-
Conference: 30 years of EU citizenship
21 november 2022
This year marks 30 years since European Union citizenship came into being. It will be highlighted at an international, interdisciplinary conference in Uppsala on 22–23 November. Both researchers and all those interested are welcome to attend.
-
New honorary doctors in the Disciplinary Domain of Humanities and Social Sciences
03 november 2022
The faculties at Uppsala University have decided on the award of honorary doctorates for 2022. Among the new honorary doctors at faculties in the Disciplinary Domain of Humanities and Social Sciences are researchers in economic geography, family l...
-
The vulnerability of surrogate mothers in a global market
17 oktober 2022
A new dissertation on surrogacy highlights Thai women's experiences of having acted as surrogate mothers. The dissertation shows the women's vulnerability in a global surrogacy industry, but also provides a more nuanced picture of what makes women...
-
Historical discoveries as Linnaeus Garden is excavated
07 oktober 2022
Unique pots, eighteenth-century porcelain and the bones of countless fish and birds: archaeologists who have been excavating part of the Linnaeus Garden have come across a wealth of exciting objects that can tell us more about the people and anima...
-
Popular 18th-century medicine in a new form
05 september 2022
Hello to Nils-Otto Ahnfelt, PhD pharmacist and visiting researcher at the Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences. Together with the historian of science Hjalmar Fors, you have developed a reconstruction of the 300-year-old medicine Hjärnes Testa...
-
Torgny Segerstedt Medal and Geijer Prize winners announced
05 september 2022
This year’s Torgny Segerstedt Medal has been awarded to Mikael Stenmark, professor in philosophy of religion at the Department of Theology. The Geijer Prize goes to Viktor Persarvet and Astrid Wendel-Hansen.
-
Digging from the present down to antiquity
30 augusti 2022
Welcome to the Viking Age! The archaeology students, with their trowels and their scrapers, have dug past the medieval layers and made their way down to the 11th century, approximately 30 centimetres below today's ground level. During the seminar ...
-
The sheep – Gotland’s symbol of sustainability
14 juni 2022
Sheep are the strongest symbol of sustainability on Gotland, according to Gurbet Peker. Not only do real ones graze all over the island, you can even find sheep sculpted in concrete in Visby. Peker researches the day-to-day lives of lamb farmers i...
-
Can democracy solve the climate crisis?
13 juni 2022
Hello Linda Wedlin, organisor and moderator of a panel discussion during Almedalen Week with the theme ‘What knowledge and what kind of democracy is needed for a successful climate transition?’ What are you going to be discussing?
-
Mapping people of the past by means of their bones
09 maj 2022
What is the best way to find out about a human being or animal that has been dead for perhaps several centuries? “Study the bones” is what Sabine Sten, professor of osteoarchaeology, would say. They can reveal an individual's age, body length, DNA...
-
Transforming space and society in Kiruna
24 mars 2022
State and corporate ideas about nature, people and the future played a decisive role in the development of Kiruna as a mining town over a century ago. Since 2004, when 6,000 Kiruna residents were informed that they would have to move because of gr...
-
New light cast on female pelvises in University collections
04 mars 2022
Many of the University’s museums currently hold preserved specimens of embryos, fetuses, newborns, and women’s pelvises. During the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century, these formed part of embryological and obstetric collections at...
-
350 years old remains in a Stone Age site in Portugal
25 februari 2022
An African man who lived just 350 years ago was buried in a prehistoric shell midden in Amoreira in Portugal. This was very surprising because Amoreira and other midden sites in the Muge region are well known by archaeologists for the cemeteries o...
-
ERC Starting Grant for historian of ideas
31 januari 2022
The Starting Grants awarded by the European Research Council (ERC) in its 2021 call have been announced. The awardees include an Uppsala researcher: Ylva Söderfeldt, Senior Lecturer at the University’s Department of History of Science and Ideas.
-
Saying and doing are two different things
18 januari 2022
COLUMN. While more and more people say Yes and Amen when you ask them about the importance of living in a more environmentally conscious and sustainable way, few actually change their behaviour, writes Katarina Graffman, PhD in cultural anthropology.
-
Telling the story of Sweden’s Jews
11 november 2021
"There are many ways of being Swedish, and being Jewish is one of them." These words set the seal on Carl Henrik Carlsson’s history of the Jews in Sweden (Judarnas historia i Sverige). Carlsson is a researcher at Uppsala University, and his book h...
-
Campus Gotland students unearth Iron Age warrior
10 september 2021
Uppsala University archaeology students’ summer excavations on the island of Gotland turned up an exciting surprise: they found a warrior, with sword and spurs, in an Iron Age grave in Buttle Änge. Now the skeleton and grave goods will be analysed...