Skalunda is a village at

Lidköping Municipality Lidköping Municipality (''Lidköpings kommun'') is a municipality in Västra Götaland County in western Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Lidköping. Lidköping sometimes refers to itself as "Lidköping by Vänern", possibly to distin ...

Västergötland Västergötland (), also known as West Gothland or the Latinized version Westrogothia in older literature, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden (''landskap'' in Swedish), situated in the southwest of Sweden. Väs ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. Skalunda was an important location dating to the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

and was one of the eight royal estates of early medieval Västergötland (cf.

Uppsala öd Uppsala öd, Old Norse: ''Uppsala auðr'' or ''Uppsala øðr'' (''Uppsala domains'' or ''wealth of Uppsala'') was the name given to the collection of estates which was the property of the Swedish Crown in medieval Sweden.The article ''Uppsala öd'' ...

). Skalunda is the site of Skalunda Church dating to the during

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

. At Skalunda there are also several ancient remains, including the site of Skalunda Barrow, a historic

burial mound Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

Skalunda Church

Skalunda Church (''Skalunda kyrka'') was built in the 12th century. The Romanesque church is commonly believed to have originated as a mission church. The towerless church was built of finely hewn sandstone blocks. Arches were built in the 15th century and at the end of the 19th century were taken down. The belfry was built in 1772 and has two church bells dating from the

; the smaller church bells from early 13th century, the larger church bell was cast in 1533.

Skalunda Barrow

To the west of Skalunda Church is Skalunda Barrow (''Skalunda hög''). It measures 65 metres across and it is 7 metres high. The burial mound has not yet been excavated, but C14 surveys from the ground have dated it to the beginning of the 6th century. Next to the barrow there is a

stone circle A stone circle is a ring of standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially in Britain, Ireland, and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being built from 3000 BC. The be ...

consisting of seven circularstones. Swedish philologist, archaeologist and historian

Birger Nerman Birger Nerman (6 October 188822 August 1971) was a Swedish archaeologist, historian and philologist who specialized in the history and culture of Iron Age Sweden. Nerman was educated at Uppsala University, where he began his career as a lecture ...

(1888-1971) director of the

Swedish Museum of National Antiquities The Swedish History Museum ( sv, Historiska museet or Statens historiska museum) is a museum located in Stockholm, Sweden, that covers Swedish archaeology and cultural history from the Mesolithic period to present day. Founded in 1866, it operates ...

, suggested Skalunda Barrow to be a likely burial site of the legendary hero

Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. The ...

, a legendary

Geatish king Geatish kings ( la, Rex Getarum/Gothorum; sv, Götakungar), ruling over the provinces of Götaland (Gautland/Geatland), appear in several sources for early Swedish history. Today, most of them are not considered historical. This list follows t ...

. Skalunda is not far from Aranæs (Old Swedish) and Aranäs (Modern Swedish), which is the same name as

Earnaness Earnanæs (Old English), Aranæs (Old Swedish) and Årnäs (Modern Swedish) is the name of at least two locations, in what is today southern Sweden, which are known from history and legend. The names are variations of the same name, and this has a ...

(Old English) where the hero died in the epic ''

''.

References

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Other sources

*Burström, Mats: (1996) ''Skalunda hög, historier kring en hög'' Mellan bronssköld och JAS-plan. Glimtar av Lidköpingsbygdens historia. pages 79–92. *Ewald, Gustaf: (1950) ''Är Skalunda hög kung Beowulfs grav?'' Västgöta-Bygden nr 1, pages 335–336. (Om *Birger Nermans och °Carl Otto Fasts idéer angående hednatima kungars gravplats.) *Flink, G.: (1986) ''Landet mellan Larva Bäsing och Skalundahögen'' Arkeologi i Sverige 1982–3. *Nerman, B.: (1956) ''När kom Västergötland under svearnas välde?'' Västergötlands fornminnesförenings tidskrift *Svärdström, Elisabeth: (1958–1970) ''Västergötlands runinskrifter'' *Thorstensson, Gunnar: (1996) ''Skalundahögen'' Västgötabygden, tidskrift för hembygdsarbete, natur- och kulturminnesvård. Västergötlands hembygdsförbund . Sid 10–11. Archaeological sites in Sweden Geats Viking Age populated places Tumuli in Sweden