Especially worth attention are the results from the excavations in 2001 – 4. South of
the church an area has been investigated with manifold cultic or ritual manifestations.
In its centre there is a house with an exceptionally long continuation, at least from the
Roman Iron Age up to the beginning of the Viking Age. In the house a large number of
depositions have been recorded, among them more than 110 gold-foil figures, a metal
beaker with embossed figure foils in gold and a glass bowl from the Black Sea region.
Around the house there are depositions of weapons, partly destroyed and dated from the
Roman Iron Age to the Merovingian period, perhaps to the early Viking Age. Close to
the house there is a stone paving with abundant animal bones. Here a Þórr’s hammer
ring of iron has been found. The house was pulled down around ad 800 and the
depositions in the area ceased at the same time, probably indicating a fundamental
religious change (Larsson 2001 b; Uppåkrastudier vol. 10 ).
The main share of the Viking Age record comes from detector investigations. The
distribution of the finds covers the entire cultural layer. The site appears as one of the
richest Viking Age settlement sites, especially as regards ornament types. The number
of finds of various types from Uppåkra surpasses several times what previously was
known from the entire Skåne. For example, more than 100 fragments of oval brooches
have been found. More than 40 three-foil brooches, complete and fragments, and 43
equal-armed brooches have been registered so far. A category worth attention is a group
of about 40 round, cast and gilded bronze brooches and pendants with spiral or Terslev
decoration and, in one case, animal decoration in Jelling style. This type of brooch and
pendant is known mainly from places such as Birka, Hedeby and Tissø at Zealand.
Several of the ornaments are fragments and it is probable that they were intended to
be remelted and thus are to be seen as raw material for metal handicraft. Some patrices
show, together with moulds, the presence of metalwork in the Viking Age as in previous
periods. The indications for metal handicraft suggest that it was at a large scale and of
high quality (Kresten et al. 2001 ).
Over 380 weights have been found, among them several of the cubo-octahedric and
of spherical types, characteristic of the Viking Age. Also some fragments of balances
have been found. Coins dated to the Viking Age so far number 277. The dominant
group (c. 250 coins) is Arabic issues. Their composition has an early emphasis with
mainly Abbasid coins from the eighth and ninth centuries. From the tenth century there
are 40 Samanid dirhams, dating up to c. ad 950 , while from the second half of the tenth
century and the eleventh century the number of coins is considerably smaller. There are
some German, English and Danish coins but although the number of coins has
decreased, the entire late part of the Viking Age is represented (Silvegren 2002 ).
Beside the coins there are several indications of long-distance contacts in the Viking
Age as well as in previous periods: for example a collection of ornaments and mountings
of west European, mainly Carolingian, origin, enamelled mountings from the British
Isles, probably from Ireland, and an oriental mounting, perhaps from the Khazarian
region.
There are many manifestations of the uniqueness of Uppåkra in the Viking Age. A
small silver statue in the shape of a fantastic lion-like animal with two snakes was
probably made in west Europe around 800 (Figure 8. 9. 1 ). The best parallels to the
animal are to be found among the illustrations in the Book of Kells. A well-known little
statue represents a one-eyed man with horns on his head. The figure is closely associated
to horned figures with weapons, for example, on coins, stamped metal foils or patrices
–– Birgitta Hårdh ––