An expansive Viking Age burial complex has been uncovered by a team of archaeologists from Sweden’s national archaeology museum near the village of Twoker in the country’s southwest. The discovery was announced by Arkeologerna, the Swedish archaeology society, as part of ongoing efforts to map Viking era burial practices in the region. Local reports of unusual earthworks prompted the investigators to begin fieldwork, and early observations describe a cemetery laid out with many mound groups that suggest a planned funerary landscape rather than isolated graves scattered across the terrain.
During the excavations, researchers have documented 139 graves, many arranged around distinct mound clusters and featuring ship-like forms created by stone and soil. So far, only a fraction of the tomb complex has been explored, with merely around six percent examined to date. The scale hints at a deliberately organized site intended to serve a community or group rather than a single burial field, a pattern seen in other Viking age cemeteries in the region as investigators compare notes with peers from Arkeologerna and national archaeology programs.
Among the artifacts recovered are human and animal bones, metal fittings and decorative items, ceramic vessels, arrowheads, and large stones that outline ship-shaped structures surrounding individual mounds. These finds shed light on the material culture of the people buried there and offer clues about social status, maritime connections, and ritual behavior during the Viking era. The arrangement of objects around the tombs underscores the importance of both daily life and funerary ceremonies in this coastal community, as noted by Arkeologerna and the Swedish archaeological community.
One burial among the complex stands out for its apparent wealth. Inside this grave, researchers found traces of a funeral pyre and bones of sacrificed animals, suggesting a elaborate rite meant to accompany the deceased into the afterlife. At the same time, many artifacts were damaged during cremation, a reminder of how the flames interacted with metal and organic materials and altered the original state of the grave goods.
Dating the cemetery concretely remains a task for the coming seasons, but scientists propose a time frame spanning the 8th to the 9th centuries AD. This assessment is supported by a fragment of a silver coin found during excavations, which provides a chronological anchor while further dating work proceeds. The researchers emphasize that additional finds and stratigraphic analysis will be essential to narrow the window and confirm the broader context of this Viking landscape.
Earlier this year, Denmark reported a Viking burial unearthed with rare artifacts, underscoring a broader regional pattern of high-profile discoveries along the North Sea coast. The Twoker site adds to a growing body of evidence about Viking burial practices and the exchange networks that connected communities across what is now Sweden, Denmark, and beyond. The ongoing work at Twoker, coordinated with national archaeology programs and the Arkeologerna network, promises more insights as field teams continue their careful excavation and analysis in the seasons ahead.