Björkö has since medieval times been known as Birka, the word Björkö means “island of birch”, which is of course descriptive of the area.

Many imperial emissaries and agents were sent to Birka during the seventh century, like for example Ansgars and Rimbert from the Frankish empire.

The merchants and the imperial emissaries ruled the Silk Road and probably any other trade route of significance, like those of iron, fur, hides and skins, hence they ruled Birka by means of an imperial prefect and their own and separate legislation and court of law, which however was converted to suit Birka’s standards as was the custom.

The northern most part of the island of Birka is an uninterrupted ruin that paints an eloquent picture of a bountiful society. What one first notices are the great mound grave fields, strongholds and the city banks.

On the west bank there is the old town of Svarta Jorden. It is a large area of black earth in which the remains of buildings reside. The name Svarta Jorden means The Black Earth. Svarta Jorden covers, today, an area of approximately seven hectares. Its nether region has a distinct terrace-like outline towards the shore.

The very first studies and digs in Birka were done during the 1600’s but it was not until 1870 that Hjalmar Stolpe put the city on the international archaeological and historical map with the help of the numerous finds he discovered and that offered such a large amount of knowledge about the Viking age.

During the 1930’s a massive excavation of Svarta Jorden took place, leading to intense care, work and restoration of the site. This in its turn made the site a huge attraction for tourists in the Mälar-area, the great inlet in which Birka is located. As a result of this, Birka was registered in the list of human heritage by UNESCO.

All the remains found in Birka (buildings, graves, pottery, etc) show that the area must be dated back to the mid 700’s but the main buildings do date back to the 770’s, such as a bronze-foundry. This particular building was used up until the mid 800’s and later remade and used for other activities.

Trade in Birka

Birka was founded along with other similar trading places in eastern and northern Europe and comprised a strategically placed port of trade, in a secluded and secure bay midway in the Baltic, but still perfectly reachable for all kinds of eastern and western ships of trade. So from the East to the West tradesmen met to exchange handicrafts.

A big import was the large loads of silk and other important merchandise that were negotiated and subsequently handed over to the buyers.

One example was the local foundry. The founder and smith of this foundry has produced many bronze pieces of jewellery such as the typical ones known from the Viking age in the Mälar-area and the very detailed stratification offers a great deal of information on the artifacts found and also on the relation between one another, for example the many burial offerings.

The material shows a strong contract with Eastern Europe, with a possibility for the people living in Birka to have originated in this area.

The ceramics of the area are mainly domestic; however both West and Eastern European imports are represented in large amounts. It has most likely been used to transport items from far away lands and they have been bartered for domestic items such as furs, horns, metals and amber. This very economic structure has also been reconstructed with the help of the items mentioned and shows a strong commercial organization in both Northern and Eastern Europe, in which Birka became an extremely important member.

The local court

The local countrymen and king probably paid tribute to the rulers of the Silk Road in exchange for privileges of trade.

While the local king had limited power over other regions he did also need permission from the Christian heads to rule in certain regards but when Christianity did not suit the running of Birka the missionaries were cast out or slaughtered. There was no intervention on their favour, neither from the local king nor the Christian officials.

The commercial attraction of Birka was however so eminent to both the local king and his followers, that they established a place and a harbour for their own private mercantile and representative reasons just across the narrow waters from Birka.

Burial in Birka

Their traditional burial mounds are still there to be seen, at a number of more then 2000. A few of the objects found in graves span from swords, to axes, arrows, bows, buckles, knifes, Arabic coins, jewellery and bronze dishes.

The traditional burials of the common people constitute most of the more than two thousand burials at Birka. A few hundreds are however exclusive chamber burials with a strong eastern Turkish style or very plain coffin burials in a continental Christian Jewish style, completely adapted to Scandinavian tradition.

It seems impossible to regard these as representing anything else, than the last resorts of some of the noble born imperial emissaries and esteemed merchants from the Khazarian and Frankish empires.

Approximately a hundred exceptionally rich chamber graves, especially those featuring the ancient Scythian-Altaic custom of offering horses, comprise an overwhelming amount of eastern and Khazaric features. For example, short hussar jackets, kaftans, fur brimmed and pointed hats, balloon trousers, probably double bent Altaic bows with quivers and arrows, buttons and other dress mountings, horse garments and mountings such as stirrups and bridles, personal weapons such as spears, axes, daggers and Frankish and other swords, occasionally featuring Togrul, the eagle, at the sheath.

Silver coins are also sporadically found in the graves, as the so called Birka coinage. They may however have been stamped on Khazarian demand by the often Jewish minters, somewhere along the Silk Road, from Frankish and Arabic models. Thus loads of faked Arabic dirhems were produced within the Khazarian Empire.

On occasion one is also able to read Hebrew characters, also very well understood by the Jewish merchants and nobles of the Khazarian empire.

Warrior burials in chamber graves, along with sacrified horses, indicate to Eastern European influence and representing several thousands of years of tradition among the Scythian, Sarmatic, Altaic and Turko-Tartaric tribes.

These noble graves then represent an exclusive momentum of the general culture of nobles among the ethnical Scandinavians, Slavs, Crimean Goths and Khazars, especially of the Khazarian, but also Varangian houses of trade and in the emerging Kievan domain.

Pictures of Birka