Anundshög is a tumulus

Tumulus

A tumulus is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, Hügelgrab or kurgans, and can be found throughout much of the world. A tumulus composed largely or entirely of stones is usually referred to as a cairn...

 near Västerås

Västerås

Västerås is a city in central Sweden, located on the shore of Lake Mälaren in the province Västmanland, some 100 km west of Stockholm...

 in Västmanland

Västmanland

' is a historical Swedish province, or landskap, in middle Sweden. It borders Södermanland, Närke, Värmland, Dalarna and Uppland.The name comes from "West men", referring to the people west of Uppland, the core province of early Sweden.- Administration :...

, the largest in Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

. It has a diameter of 60 metres (196.9 ft) and is about 9 metres (29.5 ft) high.

Assessments of the era of the mound vary between the Bronze Age and the late Iron Age. A fireplace under it has been dated by radiocarbon dating

Radiocarbon dating

Radiocarbon dating is a radiometric dating method that uses the naturally occurring radioisotope carbon-14 to estimate the age of carbon-bearing materials up to about 58,000 to 62,000 years. Raw, i.e. uncalibrated, radiocarbon ages are usually reported in radiocarbon years "Before Present" ,...

 to sometime between AD 210 and 540.

Some historians have associated the mound with the legendary King Anund

Anund

Anund, Swedish: Bröt-Anund meaning trail-blazer Anund or Anund the Land Clearer; alternate names Brøt-Anundr or Braut-Önundr , was a legendary Swedish king of the House of Yngling who reigned in the mid-seventh century...

, while others regard this as speculative. It is purported also that the name is taken from the large runestone at the site, (Vs 13) the central stone in a row of 15 alongside the mound, re-erected in the 1960s and apparently marking out the route of the Eriksgata

Eriksgata

Eriksgata is the name of the traditional journey of the newly elected medieval Swedish kings through the important provinces to have their election confirmed by the local assemblies...

. The inscription on the runestone reads:

• fulkuiþr * raisti * staina * þasi * ala * at * sun ** sin * hiþin * bruþur * anutaR * uraiþr hik * runaR

"Folkvid raised all of these stones after his son Heden, Anund's brother. Vred carved the runes."

At the foot of the mound are 2 large stone ship

Stone ship

The Stone ship or ship setting was an early Germanic burial custom, characteristically Scandinavian but also found in Germany and the Baltic states. The grave or cremation burial is surrounded by tightly or loosely fit slabs or stones in the outline of a ship...

s placed end to end, 51 metres (167.3 ft) and 54 metres (177.2 ft) long. The site was a thing

Thing (assembly)

A thing was the governing assembly in Germanic and introduced into some Celtic societies, made up of the free people of the community and presided by lawspeakers, meeting in a place called a thingstead...

-place and the ship settings may be associated with this function.

External links

• Anundshög homepage
• Jouni Tervalampi, Anundshög, utanför Västerås, Västmanland
• Anunds mäktiga gravhög, Vikingarnas landskap, Fotevikens Museum
• Anundshögen, Runstenar i Sverige, Swedish National Heritage Board