Anundshög (also ''Anundshögen'' and ''Anunds hög'') is a

tumulus A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or '' kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones ...

near

Västerås Västerås ( , , ) is a city in central Sweden on the shore of Lake Mälaren in the province of Västmanland, west of Stockholm. The city had a population of 127,799 at the end of 2019, out of the municipal total of 154,049. Västerås is the se ...

Västmanland Västmanland ( or ), is a historical Swedish province, or ''landskap'', in middle Sweden. It borders Södermanland, Närke, Värmland, Dalarna and Uppland. Västmanland means "(The) Land of the Western Men", where the "western men" (''väste ...

, the largest in Sweden. It has a diameter of and is about high. Assessments of the era of the mound vary between the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

and the late

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 ...

. A fireplace under it has been dated by

radiocarbon dating Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon. The method was de ...

to sometime between AD 210 and 540. Some historians have associated the mound with the legendary King Anund, while others regard this as speculative. It is purported also that the name is taken from the large

runestone A runestone is typically a raised stone with a runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscriptions on boulders and on bedrock. The tradition began in the 4th century and lasted into the 12th century, but most of the runestones da ...

at the site, (Vs 13) the central stone in a row of 15 alongside the mound, re-erected in the 1960s and apparently marking out the route of the Eriksgata. The inscription on the runestone reads: : + fulkuiþr + raisti + stainn + þasi + ala + at + sun + + sin + hiþin + bruþur + anutaʀ + uraiþr hik + runaʀ : "Folkvid raised all of these stones after his son Heden, Anund's brother. Vred carved the runes."Magnús Magnússon, ''Vikings!'', New York: Dutton, 1980,
p. 98
At the foot of the mound are 2 large stone ships placed end to end, and long. The site was a

thing Thing or The Thing may refer to: Philosophy * An object * Broadly, an entity * Thing-in-itself (or ''noumenon''), the reality that underlies perceptions, a term coined by Immanuel Kant * Thing theory, a branch of critical theory that focus ...

-place and the ship settings may be associated with this function.''Vendel Period Studies: Transactions of the Boat-Grave Symposium in Stockholm, February 2–3, 1981'', ed. Jan Peder Lamm and Hans-Åke Nordstrom, Statens Historiska Museum Studies 2, Stockholm: Statens Historiska Museum, 1983,
p. 130
File:Anundshög, Västerås1002.jpg, Stone ships File:Anundshög, Västerås1000.jpg, Anundshög runestone, Vs 13 File:Anundshög, Västerås1010.jpg, Runestone and some of the line of stones marking Eriksgata

References

External links

Anundshög homepage
*Jouni Tervalampi

Vikingarnas landskap, Fotevikens Museum
Anundshögen
Runstenar i Sverige, Swedish National Heritage Board {{DEFAULTSORT:Anundshog Archaeological sites in Sweden Västmanland Kurgans Germanic archaeological artifacts Geography of Västmanland County Buildings and structures in Västmanland County Tourist attractions in Västmanland County