Archaeology > Interesting places
Huskvarna Bay
The level of Lake Vättern is rising, slowly but surely. During the mid-16th century, Sanda Church had to be abandoned and dismantled, and 200 years later the site of the church was partially under water.
Today, there are no traces left and no one longer knows exactly where it was once located. But that was not the first time that buildings were drowned by the rising water level of Lake Vättern.
On the bottom of Huskvarna Bay are timber caissons from the Viking Age and a large Bronze Age grave. Erosion of the Rosenlund sand banks and material that has fallen out from a grave field that was once situated there are also signs of the rising water level. Or could it be that the swords, axes and neck rings found in the water below the banks are objects that were sacrificed straight into the water?
Sagaholm
Bronze Age graves were built like hills. Their size showed the importance of the people who constructed them. Around a dozen large grave mounds have been found in the Jönköping area, but only one of them caused a front page sensation.
This was when the already partly destroyed Sagaholm mound was investigated. It turned out that the around 3,300-year-old grave contained a circle with standing sandstone slabs with carvings of animals and hunting scenes. The size of the grave sent signals about its importance to people living nearby as well as to people travelling through the area.
But who were the rock carvings aimed at, since the figures could only be seen once you were deep down in the grave?
Around than 1,500 years after the grave was built, another four smaller graves were constructed at the foot of the mound, probably with the hope that the splendour of the old grave would be reflected in the new graves.
Visingsö
On Visingsö, time has left clear traces. The archaic landscape bears witness to life in ancient and medieval times, and in times when Sweden was a great power and onwards. Visingsborg Castle ruins and the silhouette of Brahe Church remind us of the influence of the Brahe family over the area. The old country road along the highest ridge on the island has been here since the Iron Age. Along the road are more than 800 graves, from the time when the dead were burnt on pyres.
During medieval times, the island was an important pawn in the political game. Four medieval kings died on Visingsö. The last one was Magnus Ladulås, who died in 1290 at Visingsö Castle at Näs. Since then, parts of the castle have fallen into Lake Vättern. Several medieval villages are hidden beneath the surface, waiting for future archaeological excavations.
But Visingsö is not just full of ancient monuments. Old maps, place names and the contours of the landscape tell about life on the island through the millennia. Visingsö’s cultural history contains everything from Stone Age cists to the leafy oak forests planted in the 19th century to provide timber for the Swedish naval ships.
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