In 1954, excavations commenced at Helgö (or ‘holy island’), located in Lake Mälaren, central Sweden, under Wilhelm Holmqvist, who continued as director of the project until his retirement shortly before it ended in 1977. Eighteen volumes of Excavations at Helgö have been published, the last of which appeared in 2011, consisting of ‘Conclusions and New Aspects’, but the lack of any overview has hampered those who have wished to make use of the excavated evidence for settlement, cult and manufacturing, the significance of which extends well beyond Scandinavia – not forgetting the variety of imported finds, ranging from Roman gold coins to Sri Lankan garnets and from the well-known Buddha statuette (from modern Pakistan) to a small crozier-head from Ireland.
Both Helen Clarke and Kristina Lamm, the co-authors of this most welcome ‘unofficial’ volume of synthesis (which, however, includes a series of factual appendices), have for long been associated with this project and so are particularly well suited to the task of reviewing the site’s complex archaeology in the light of recent work. On the other hand, as they readily admit, there are still many questions to be answered, with much remaining to be done, both in the field and in the research laboratory.
For a thousand years, from its beginnings in the Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age as ‘a sacred place’, there was a cult site at Helgö, although there was permanent occupation from the Late Roman Iron Age, when a farmstead was established there. Its most significant period, or ‘golden age’, lasted for ‘the hundred years from c ad 500’, during the Late Migration Period, when there existed ‘ceremonial halls’ and it ‘was a production centre for magnificent jewellery in gold and precious metals’. But, c ad 600, a ‘fundamental sociological and economic change’ took place ‘caused by a new regime in Gamla Uppsala’, when the production of prestige jewellery was replaced with iron working and beadmaking, and there were no longer any large halls.
The seventh-century ‘dip in the economy’, during the Late Vendel Period, was followed by another radical change in character as ‘agriculture took over as the most important aspect of the economy’, from c ad 700, with two farmsteads and an increasing population, four or five cemeteries being in use during the Viking Age. The site was abandoned c ad 1000 (although not Helgö itself), with its harbours rendered too shallow for use by Viking cargo vessels as a result of sea-level change and land uplift – its role as ‘a port and transport hub’ having been taken over by Birka.
This is a handsomely produced volume, of straightforward intent, with the joint authors meeting their objectives clearly and concisely. Many will thus have cause to be grateful to Helen Clarke and Kristina Lamm for having created this synthesis of Helgö’s remarkable history and significance.
