It was a mountain hiker who made the discovery last summer when he was pitching his tent. Under a stone lay a bronze buckle, probably from the 800s or 900s. Further findings told us that it was probably things that belonged to a woman.
Anders Hansson, chief archaeologist at Jamtli, was fired up – a female Viking Age burial site up in the mountains is rare. Never before has such a thing been found in the mountains of Jämtland.
"We have found five graves before, but they are typical men's graves with arrowheads and swords," he says.
Opens for new discussion
The grave means that you can broaden the discussion and ask new questions about what life was like in the county 1,000 years ago, says Anders Hansson. In nearby Storsjö there were farms, and the Sami presence was also clear.
"We have found thousand-year-old Sami settlements not far from here. At this time, reindeer herding began in a different way than before.
"So things happened in these areas. How do these ways of living relate to each other? We have more reason to discuss this when we find things like this.
Woman with status
The woman's remains have been cremated, says Anders Hansson. Not much remains of her bones and it is not even possible to determine their DNA. In other words, it is the person's things – buckles, a ring and jewellery with pearls – that make you think it is a woman.
According to Anders Hansson, she probably had from high status, judging by the quality of her things.
"They are there to be seen, to tell you who you are. The fact that she brought them with her up on the mountain testifies that it was important to have them with her. She gets a good funeral up here.
See the "giant brutal axe" also found at the gravesite – with an edge that is still sharp – in the video above.