Birka · The Vikings’ First Town

Birka was Sweden’s first town, a trading post of the Viking Age, where merchants dealt in furs, amber and silver; Arab coins reached here from as far away as Baghdad.

Graves, hoards and the bones of a “warrior woman” have been excavated in the town. It was active for only about two hundred years and was then abandoned, for reasons that are not settled; afterwards “Birka” became a word in Old English that could simply mean “town”.

There is a site hall on the island. Nothing here has been rebuilt — only grass and signposts.

Historical Mysteries / Stockholm County · Sweden / 8th century