Kulturista - Cultural Experiences in West Sweden

C U LT U R E E X P E R I E N C E S I N W E S T S W E D E N 34 Echoes from the distant past can still be heard loud and clear at Varnhem. Exciting archaeological discoveries in the area have recently revealed that Västergötland Province was Christianised as early as the 10th century – several generations earlier than previous evidence suggested. Christian Vikings in Varnhem Echoes from the distant past still ring loud and clear in the beau- tiful countryside in and around Varnhem, on the western slope of the Billingen plateau. Indeed, people have lived here for thou- sands of years, making use of the fertile soils, woodlands and fish in the many local lakes to sustain them. Wherever you go in the area, you will find traces of their lives: burial mounds, cairns, old fields and dwellings. Although most of the remains here have yet to be examined and their secrets remain hidden, recent archaeo- logical excavations have unearthed traces of Viking life in Varn- hem. They reveal that before Christian monks arrived in the 12th century and built the monastery at Varnhem, an important and prosperous Viking farming estate once existed here. A L M O S T 3 , 0 0 0 G R AV E S The large Viking-era farming estate at Varnhem had its own church erected on a high hill, to ensure that it would be visible for miles around. In the grounds surrounding this private church there once lay an extensive cemetery containing almost 3,000 graves. Samples taken from the cemetery’s well-preserved skele- tons reveal that the people living here buried their dead accor- ding to Christian tradition as early as the first half of the 10th century. In other words, Christianity had come to Västergötland Province much earlier than was previously thought. The farm’s first church, built in the 10th century, was made from timber. The farm’s inhabitants soon came to view it as too small and modest for the prosperous estate in Varnhem They replaced the wooden church with a stone church in the mid-11th century. Building with stone was a completely new construction technique in the Västergötland Province at the time. The Vikings in Varnhem had good contacts in Denmark and T E X T M A R I A V R E T E M A R K