Uppåkra
Uppåkra is one of the most salient sites in Iron Age Sweden. Just some five kilometres of Lund in southern Sweden, excavations have yielded objects that point at a major power centre spanning multiple centuries.
In 1996, after detectorists already for years had uncovered many thousands of gold and bronze objects, excavations concluded that Uppåkra had been a place of interest in history. This was later confirmed in the early 2000’s when the remains of a cultic temple were laid bare. The first of it’s kind and sparked a far wider academic interest in the site, resulting in digs going on even at the time of writing (2025). Just a stones throw from the temple remains indicated a burnt longhouse of approximately 40 meters once stood there. Uppakrå was undeniably a place of major importance.
The Temple of Uppåkra
The cultic temple at Uppåkra is one of great importance. The site yielded many insights in to what a cultic temple looked like. Written accounts of temples, like the one at Uppsala, could now be laid parallel to Uppåkra to see if archaeological evidence confirmed any historical accounts. At Uppsala a temple was never archaeologically confirmed.
Uppåkra temple was one of many different phases. Research unveiled that the temple had been rebuilt no less than 6 times and stood for 4 centuries. It was built where previously a 3rd century (Late Iron Age) longhouse stood and used parts of the same floorplan. The temple measured some 13 by 6.5 meters
Multiple reconstructions have been suggested. Both going from data by the various postholes and wood remains that had been uncovered, the reconstructions opt for a rather tall building. This is in line with stave churches and other buildings and images of buildings at the time.
Image: Illustration Loïc Lecareux. After Larsson & Lenntorp 2004.
Apart from the building itself, the discovery of the temple yielded much more information. The finds associated with the temple and the places they were found in, give interesting insights in how the temple was used. Going from the floorplan, the location of certain finds can indicate possible uses of certain objects and their place in society. One of the most mysterious of such finds is the overwhelming presence of so-called guldgubber.
Guldgubbar
Guldgubbar, translated ‘little old man of gold’, are tiny thin gold foils. They are as small as the tip of a finger but are large in their mysteriousness. They often depict a single person, often a single man though images with couples are present. The man is often a warrior with a spear or a man with a cup. When a women is depicted, she is often holding a cup. Couples are depicted with their faces to each other.
The significance of guldgubbar at Uppåkra is not so much its presence or the fact that over 200 pieces of such foils where found, but much rather the location where they were found in. The guldgubbar at Uppakrå was predominantly found in the very postholes and walls of where the temple stood. This suggests the foils were placed there with the erection of the temple, however conclusive evidence it is not. Another site, Sorte Muld at the island of Bornholm not far from Uppåkra, also yielded an overwhelming amount of guldgubber, but in different context. It is needless to point out that guldgubbar had some kind of significant meaning with possible ritual attached to the deposition of the foils. If ever another temple is located, the possible presence of guldgubbar might give more conclusive answers.
The Uppåkra beaker and other vessels
Drinking was a large part of Early Medieval culture, both ceremonial as in feasting setting. The importance of drinking and drinking vessels is also seen in archaeological context. For example, the guldgubbar which we talked about in the paragraph above shows a man holding a beaker on one of the foils. Drinking vessels came in all kinds of shapes and sizes. People often refer to drinking horns associated with the Vikings, and rightfully so. This was not uncommon in the periods before the Viking Age either, possibly even more so. In the floor of the temple at Uppåkra, near to where the central fire place was located, there were buried a glass bowl and glass drinking beakers. The main drinking vessel uncovered was however a silver beaker of approximately 20 centimetres in height and covered with gold foil in Salin style 1 decoration. This art style is dated to the 5th and 6th centuries, which falls within the lifetime of the temple itself. We have a replica of this cup at the VIKINK studio.
The Uppåkra eyebrow
