1 00:00:01,160 --> 00:00:04,040 Welcome to the Green Frost Podcast. 2 00:00:08,680 --> 00:00:14,160 Today's guest is Veronica Bjorkman, destination manager at 3 00:00:14,160 --> 00:00:21,720 the Birka World Heritage Site. So, Veronica, welcome to our 4 00:00:21,720 --> 00:00:23,800 longhouse. Thank you. 5 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:27,720 Great to have you here finally. Yes, yes, yes. 6 00:00:28,440 --> 00:00:35,720 So we'll just dive right into it because you live on Bjorka, the 7 00:00:35,720 --> 00:00:44,200 island where the Viking city of Birka is located, and you're the 8 00:00:44,200 --> 00:00:49,120 destination manager of the Birka World Heritage Museum and all 9 00:00:49,120 --> 00:00:53,840 that stuff. So but how, how long is the 10 00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:57,680 drive from there to here? Because, I mean, it's not that 11 00:00:57,680 --> 00:01:00,800 far as the bird flies, but it takes a little, a little while, 12 00:01:00,800 --> 00:01:02,160 does it? Yes, it does. 13 00:01:02,480 --> 00:01:08,200 It's a lot of car ferries and boat transports and yeah, yeah. 14 00:01:08,200 --> 00:01:12,680 So it's a little bit. It's not just straight driving. 15 00:01:12,960 --> 00:01:17,320 That's that's for sure. No, but yeah, it's but is it, is 16 00:01:17,320 --> 00:01:18,720 it your first time here in Carlstone? 17 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:22,240 Actually, yes, in the city centre anyways. 18 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:23,960 OK. Where have you been otherwise? 19 00:01:24,360 --> 00:01:27,080 Yeah, a little bit outside. My sister lives there. 20 00:01:27,160 --> 00:01:29,880 Oh, OK, OK. What do you, what do you think? 21 00:01:30,560 --> 00:01:35,880 It's a nice little town, Yeah. Yeah, it's feels like a big town 22 00:01:35,880 --> 00:01:40,040 in a small shell or something. Yes, yes, I have to apologise to 23 00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:42,520 all my friends here in Coast Environment for calling it a 24 00:01:42,520 --> 00:01:47,280 little town. But yes, I'm, I'm as you, I grew 25 00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:49,320 up in Stockholm. So compared to Stockholm, it is 26 00:01:49,320 --> 00:01:52,840 a little town, yeah. But it's nice and the sun will 27 00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:56,800 just shine here, so. They say they say it does, yes. 28 00:01:57,040 --> 00:01:59,520 And in a way it's true. Not today, though, 29 00:01:59,520 --> 00:02:03,000 unfortunately, But yeah, it's, it's, I didn't. 30 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:05,760 I thought it was kind of misty, at least when I drove in, but. 31 00:02:06,200 --> 00:02:08,320 Immediately when you met me, the sun was shining. 32 00:02:08,320 --> 00:02:09,800 Oh, OK. I see where you're going with 33 00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:12,600 this. All right, that's true. 34 00:02:12,760 --> 00:02:15,920 That's true, but that's not why you're here to talk about 35 00:02:15,920 --> 00:02:23,600 Colster, because a large part of your life or daily life is about 36 00:02:24,040 --> 00:02:28,800 Vikings. So how did your interest in 37 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:31,600 Vikings in the Viking Age start in the first place? 38 00:02:32,920 --> 00:02:35,200 It started when I was really young. 39 00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:42,280 I always been interested in history and then it really 40 00:02:42,280 --> 00:02:48,560 bloomed, I think in the end of the 90s when I was living in 41 00:02:48,560 --> 00:02:54,960 Strangeness Commune on an island called Siela, which have around 42 00:02:54,960 --> 00:02:57,920 26 runic stones. Oh really? 43 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:02,440 Oh. And they get the, the municipal 44 00:03:02,440 --> 00:03:07,880 did and asked us to, to do something that put this little 45 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:12,440 island on the map. And we decided to do a Viking 46 00:03:12,440 --> 00:03:20,360 market and a Viking festival. So then I start to look around 47 00:03:20,360 --> 00:03:25,520 and what we could do and talk to reenactment groups and join them 48 00:03:25,520 --> 00:03:31,560 on other markets and just fell in love with all the reenactment 49 00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:34,480 things and. So when when was this? 50 00:03:35,080 --> 00:03:43,160 It was 2001 or two, I think. So we had the first. 51 00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:46,000 Yeah, we had the first festival 2003 three. 52 00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:48,240 So that's when your interest started. 53 00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:50,520 So you weren't interested in Vikings before that or? 54 00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:52,000 You. Yeah, yeah, I always been 55 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:58,520 interested in in history and all the like, the sagas and all 56 00:03:58,520 --> 00:04:01,720 thing around that. So history has always been a big 57 00:04:01,760 --> 00:04:10,360 subject in my life, but not like work with a professional or so. 58 00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:13,120 And I wanted to be an archaeologist when I was a 59 00:04:13,160 --> 00:04:15,480 child. But then people say that, OK, 60 00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:20,880 that's not the good thing if you want to earn money, but I've. 61 00:04:20,959 --> 00:04:24,600 Heard similar similars. Yeah, yeah. 62 00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:28,440 So we started this festival. It's called Stella Holman 63 00:04:28,440 --> 00:04:35,360 Speaking a festival. And it was really, really fun 64 00:04:35,360 --> 00:04:40,400 and met a lot of new friends and started with enactment. 65 00:04:40,440 --> 00:04:47,080 And then I decided that I want to change the direction in my 66 00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:52,160 professional life. So I started to study in the 67 00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:56,640 university in Stockholm and I will study history, 68 00:04:56,640 --> 00:05:03,160 archaeologli, pedagogic things. And then I have quick work. 69 00:05:03,360 --> 00:05:05,800 So I need to have a job during the summer. 70 00:05:06,720 --> 00:05:10,920 And then I found out that they were hiring guides on beer cap. 71 00:05:11,280 --> 00:05:14,800 Oh, OK. So I start work there as a guide 72 00:05:15,240 --> 00:05:23,880 and that was 2008 I. See no see, because beer keys is 73 00:05:24,080 --> 00:05:26,600 very like amazing. We're going to talk more about 74 00:05:26,600 --> 00:05:28,360 that. But I I was actually curious 75 00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:31,440 about the the Viking Festival that at Stellar is is is it 76 00:05:31,440 --> 00:05:33,400 still around? Yeah, it is. 77 00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:38,840 So every year, the first weekend of July, they have this festival 78 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:44,400 and it's really, really nice. It's it's like a family 79 00:05:44,400 --> 00:05:49,440 festival, but there's a lot of reenactment groups with children 80 00:05:49,440 --> 00:05:54,880 coming and it's a lot of tourists that come with children 81 00:05:54,880 --> 00:05:59,160 and family and they have like big park for kid activities and 82 00:06:00,280 --> 00:06:05,680 like archery and battle shows and funny game shows and yeah, 83 00:06:05,880 --> 00:06:08,920 it's really nice. All right, that's that sounds 84 00:06:08,920 --> 00:06:12,720 amazing actually. That's like a festival that kind 85 00:06:12,720 --> 00:06:17,120 of flew under my radar for sure for a long time. 86 00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:21,440 And I, I actually, I grew up not far from stringness. 87 00:06:21,640 --> 00:06:25,560 Yeah, so, and I know Stellar Holleman, not well, but I know 88 00:06:25,560 --> 00:06:28,760 the island, obviously. So yeah, that was into. 89 00:06:28,760 --> 00:06:30,160 Maybe I have to go there sometime. 90 00:06:30,280 --> 00:06:32,920 Yes, we can meet up there. Have a beer. 91 00:06:32,920 --> 00:06:34,960 And that would be nice. That would be very nice. 92 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:40,200 But what what fascinates you so much about Vikings, SO and the 93 00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:46,840 Viking Age? I think it's that they they were 94 00:06:46,840 --> 00:06:52,840 brave and they were like sailing over the sea and they didn't 95 00:06:52,840 --> 00:06:55,720 really know what they were supposed to meet. 96 00:06:56,480 --> 00:07:01,280 And I love crafts and they were really, really good Craftsman. 97 00:07:01,400 --> 00:07:09,600 And it's, it's like something mysterious and yeah, so it's, 98 00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:15,040 it's an hour of, of interesting things. 99 00:07:16,280 --> 00:07:19,040 I think I agree with you a little bit there because, I 100 00:07:19,040 --> 00:07:25,760 mean, obviously the the adventure aspect of the Viking 101 00:07:25,760 --> 00:07:31,560 Age is absolutely insane. I mean, crossing the Atlantic in 102 00:07:31,560 --> 00:07:36,640 an open ship, yeah. It's just like, imagine doing 103 00:07:36,640 --> 00:07:42,880 that today, like being out there like no land inside for weeks 104 00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:47,480 and you're in an open ship. Like there's nothing shielding 105 00:07:47,480 --> 00:07:52,480 you from the environment that is that's, that's the right stuff. 106 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:55,320 Yeah. And they must been so brave and 107 00:07:55,320 --> 00:07:58,440 full of self confident and like, yeah. 108 00:07:58,760 --> 00:08:02,280 And I I actually patrioted a bit like, worse than going to the 109 00:08:02,280 --> 00:08:05,440 moon. Like when when they did the like 110 00:08:05,680 --> 00:08:08,720 going to the moon, at least they knew that where they were going. 111 00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:10,760 Yeah. And that they were aiming for 112 00:08:10,760 --> 00:08:12,920 something. But just going into the unknown 113 00:08:12,920 --> 00:08:14,920 like that, it's crazy. Yeah. 114 00:08:15,400 --> 00:08:20,120 So yeah, I mean, and as you said, the the arts of the the 115 00:08:20,120 --> 00:08:22,200 Viking Age is absolutely beautiful. 116 00:08:22,200 --> 00:08:29,400 It's so beautiful and the crafts and the designs is so beautiful 117 00:08:29,520 --> 00:08:35,080 and also like the, the sagas and the the, the myths and the gods 118 00:08:35,080 --> 00:08:40,000 and yeah, it's really, really fascinating. 119 00:08:41,480 --> 00:08:44,920 It is. It is so burka. 120 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:49,960 Burka obviously is known for its thousands of burial mounds, 121 00:08:50,400 --> 00:08:56,960 prominent graves, important finds, and obviously the city 122 00:08:56,960 --> 00:09:03,360 and the Garrison. But when in history did burka 123 00:09:03,360 --> 00:09:08,320 flourish? Except from during the Viking 124 00:09:08,320 --> 00:09:10,240 Age. Well, I mean, I guess it is 125 00:09:10,240 --> 00:09:12,640 during the Viking Age, that's when it started. 126 00:09:12,640 --> 00:09:16,000 But like like what time period during the Viking Age was was 127 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:20,520 like the. In in the middle of the 700 when 128 00:09:20,520 --> 00:09:23,440 they have done excavation on the black Gareth that you call the 129 00:09:23,440 --> 00:09:25,200 town area. Excuse me? 130 00:09:25,440 --> 00:09:27,880 Yeah. And they come deepest down in 131 00:09:27,880 --> 00:09:30,160 the culture layer. They find out that they are 132 00:09:30,160 --> 00:09:34,960 around 750 something. So that's like when it started? 133 00:09:35,160 --> 00:09:38,000 Yeah, in a way. So how how long is the history 134 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:41,920 of burqa? Yeah, the history of course is 135 00:09:41,920 --> 00:09:44,960 longer because we have Bronze Age graves and stuff on the 136 00:09:44,960 --> 00:09:47,400 island. But I think that like the town 137 00:09:47,400 --> 00:09:54,960 was built like 750 and the history is until today actually. 138 00:09:54,960 --> 00:10:03,000 But if you mean was the town was active it's around 900 and 79175 139 00:10:04,120 --> 00:10:10,160 when Baker was like attacked and then moved very very fast. 140 00:10:10,160 --> 00:10:14,120 Oh wow, so so how many people live there? 141 00:10:15,240 --> 00:10:19,320 Some smart clever person have count out that it maybe was 142 00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:23,720 around 1000 people living there all year round in the town area. 143 00:10:24,400 --> 00:10:26,240 OK. And, and who were these people? 144 00:10:26,240 --> 00:10:32,120 I mean, obviously for for the time, a rather big settlement. 145 00:10:33,280 --> 00:10:40,200 Yeah, it was. And I think I think it was craft 146 00:10:40,200 --> 00:10:45,880 man and even maybe slaves that was living there all year round. 147 00:10:47,280 --> 00:10:51,640 When they did excavate the the, the part of the town area, they 148 00:10:51,640 --> 00:10:55,320 found out that the, the town were built by plots, small 149 00:10:55,320 --> 00:10:58,920 similar plots. And they could see that the, 150 00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:03,280 the, the size of the plots, they have been like constant from the 151 00:11:03,280 --> 00:11:06,320 beginning till the end. And that showed that somebody 152 00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:11,080 had controlled of it. Somebody decided which one could 153 00:11:11,520 --> 00:11:17,160 have their their craft there or their trading or something. 154 00:11:17,160 --> 00:11:25,600 So this is my opinion, but I think that they were maybe rich 155 00:11:25,760 --> 00:11:33,720 farmers or traders around Lake Milan area that was given plots 156 00:11:33,720 --> 00:11:43,040 on the town to by the king or something and they could like do 157 00:11:43,040 --> 00:11:45,880 they their business there. But I don't think that they 158 00:11:46,400 --> 00:11:54,320 there was this rich farmers that was standing there by the by the 159 00:11:54,320 --> 00:11:59,120 fortune or something. They have people hired to do the 160 00:11:59,120 --> 00:12:01,120 craft for them, I think. So so. 161 00:12:01,240 --> 00:12:05,560 So they lived on the nice long house somewhere around. 162 00:12:06,400 --> 00:12:08,720 And then they travelled to Burka to do their business and 163 00:12:08,720 --> 00:12:10,760 they'll. So they only had like a little, 164 00:12:11,600 --> 00:12:14,960 Yeah. Like, almost like a shop, yeah. 165 00:12:15,240 --> 00:12:17,640 Yeah, I think so. It's a workshop. 166 00:12:18,200 --> 00:12:21,520 But does that mean that, I mean, obviously it it was a huge 167 00:12:21,520 --> 00:12:29,080 trading spot in like what's a, a hub basically where a lot of 168 00:12:29,080 --> 00:12:34,400 people came to to trade. That must have meant that meant 169 00:12:34,400 --> 00:12:38,560 that there were other what, What do we know about the facilities 170 00:12:38,560 --> 00:12:45,360 that were actually like, I mean, there, if so many people gather 171 00:12:45,360 --> 00:12:48,720 that are not living there, there's got to be some, I don't 172 00:12:48,720 --> 00:12:51,880 know, restaurants, Yeah. Places to stay? 173 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:54,760 Yeah. And we don't know so much 174 00:12:54,960 --> 00:12:59,400 because it's just a very, very small piece of the town area 175 00:12:59,400 --> 00:13:02,000 that is excavated. It's 3 plots that have been 176 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:09,160 excavated and then they also have had a excavation in the the 177 00:13:09,160 --> 00:13:13,560 sea bottom outside with the divers that have been excavating 178 00:13:13,600 --> 00:13:18,400 on the sea bottom. And they found that it's been 179 00:13:19,280 --> 00:13:24,000 like a big activity around the harbour and they found a lot of 180 00:13:24,400 --> 00:13:28,520 like broken spoons, plates and things. 181 00:13:28,520 --> 00:13:33,760 So yeah, one of them said to me doing the excavation that wow, 182 00:13:34,040 --> 00:13:40,560 maybe it could have been like bar or in here close and they 183 00:13:40,560 --> 00:13:46,680 have just throw everything out from from the yeah, the garbage 184 00:13:46,680 --> 00:13:48,440 into the lake. So. 185 00:13:48,760 --> 00:13:50,280 It's interesting that it survives though. 186 00:13:50,280 --> 00:13:54,240 But Lake Merlion has a very special climate for for that, 187 00:13:54,600 --> 00:13:56,760 isn't that right? Yeah, and a very special clay, 188 00:13:57,080 --> 00:14:00,760 Yes, so they have, we have the blue clay and the blue clay is 189 00:14:00,760 --> 00:14:05,680 very fat and lack of oxygen. So the things get like preserved 190 00:14:05,800 --> 00:14:10,320 in, in the clay and it's crazy. Yeah, it's totally crazy. 191 00:14:10,320 --> 00:14:14,920 I I was there once when they come up with a big like lump of 192 00:14:14,920 --> 00:14:17,720 clay and said, oh, I think I found something. 193 00:14:17,720 --> 00:14:21,080 And it start to pour water on on it and it start to smell tar. 194 00:14:21,720 --> 00:14:28,880 And they found like a big plump of linen fabric that was filled 195 00:14:28,880 --> 00:14:33,680 up tar and it was wrapped around a wooden stick and it still 196 00:14:33,680 --> 00:14:36,160 smells tar like 1000 years after. 197 00:14:36,160 --> 00:14:39,080 It's crazy. So it's something that used to 198 00:14:39,080 --> 00:14:41,640 like a tar, a boat, where there's something that just. 199 00:14:41,640 --> 00:14:44,840 Probably or maybe as a torch, I don't know. 200 00:14:44,920 --> 00:14:49,600 Or or like pull tar on the boat. I don't know what I used it for 201 00:14:49,600 --> 00:14:53,520 but. That's, that's, that's so cool 202 00:14:53,560 --> 00:14:57,200 because it's like 1000 years and it's like was thrown in 203 00:14:57,200 --> 00:14:59,560 yesterday. Yeah, and it's crazy. 204 00:14:59,560 --> 00:15:02,480 And we've seen the exhibition now in Historical Museum in 205 00:15:02,480 --> 00:15:04,080 Stockholm. So you can go and. 206 00:15:04,280 --> 00:15:06,680 Oh, I have to do that. You can smell it hard. 207 00:15:08,720 --> 00:15:11,760 Cool. So I mean, obviously Burke had a 208 00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:17,600 like a like a 200 year history. So how important was Birke 209 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:22,680 during the Viking Age and and why was it so important? 210 00:15:25,040 --> 00:15:30,520 I think that it was like a very important place because it was 211 00:15:30,520 --> 00:15:34,800 like western outpost from the Silk Road. 212 00:15:35,760 --> 00:15:40,520 So and you could, you can see that BACA grows quite fast. 213 00:15:40,520 --> 00:15:44,640 So it was of course much smaller in the in the beginning in the 214 00:15:44,640 --> 00:15:49,600 middle of the 700 and and then it grow very quickly in the 215 00:15:49,600 --> 00:15:55,480 middle of the 800. You can also see the the in the 216 00:15:55,480 --> 00:16:01,760 graves or also that they are a lot of items from the east. 217 00:16:04,120 --> 00:16:08,040 So yeah, I think it was very important. 218 00:16:08,320 --> 00:16:12,800 And also I think that it was like like you said before, like 219 00:16:12,800 --> 00:16:17,320 a hub that the people were meeting there and then they 220 00:16:17,520 --> 00:16:22,960 trade with the Sapmi people from the North and by fur from them 221 00:16:23,560 --> 00:16:27,840 that they were like preparing in beer can. 222 00:16:27,840 --> 00:16:32,680 Then they exported to the Arabic world and it was very well, very 223 00:16:32,680 --> 00:16:41,840 exclusive with that kind of furs, and they also imported 224 00:16:42,400 --> 00:16:48,360 material for making iron from the Dalana area, so. 225 00:16:48,880 --> 00:16:52,800 Yeah, because Sweden had a or what is today Sweden obviously, 226 00:16:52,800 --> 00:16:57,760 but Scandinavian general, they had some very specific like fur 227 00:16:57,760 --> 00:17:02,480 is one thing that the lot of export with fur. 228 00:17:03,040 --> 00:17:07,960 But do we know what they imported them from like that 229 00:17:07,960 --> 00:17:10,240 came the other way, the other way. 230 00:17:10,599 --> 00:17:13,440 What do they trade with? Do we know? 231 00:17:14,119 --> 00:17:23,520 Yes, silver, of course, there we found a lot of Arabic coins and 232 00:17:23,839 --> 00:17:31,920 silver things and of course like honey and herbs and that kind of 233 00:17:31,920 --> 00:17:34,600 things and silk. Oh, of course. 234 00:17:34,800 --> 00:17:39,080 Of course, so they have found traces from of silk in birka 235 00:17:39,080 --> 00:17:43,600 from China and India, so. It's really crazy. 236 00:17:43,600 --> 00:17:46,920 And also, well, this was not on Birka, obviously, but the Buddha 237 00:17:46,920 --> 00:17:49,240 statue. Yeah, that. 238 00:17:49,520 --> 00:17:51,320 Where was that? That's hell yeah. 239 00:17:51,400 --> 00:17:52,440 Hell yeah. Yes, yeah. 240 00:17:52,600 --> 00:17:54,200 That's that's where I is. Yeah. 241 00:17:54,200 --> 00:17:57,760 That's yeah. That's fantastic in a many ways. 242 00:17:58,040 --> 00:18:00,600 Yeah, that. That history is a history of 243 00:18:00,600 --> 00:18:02,520 itself. The Buddha statue, it's really 244 00:18:02,520 --> 00:18:05,440 cool, yeah. So let's talk about the, the 245 00:18:05,440 --> 00:18:09,040 city and the, the fortress and the Garrison. 246 00:18:10,240 --> 00:18:12,720 So what was the layout of of the city? 247 00:18:13,200 --> 00:18:16,440 How how would you describe it? You you said like there, there 248 00:18:16,440 --> 00:18:22,120 was like very specific size plots, but like, can you 249 00:18:22,120 --> 00:18:23,800 describe it a little bit more? Yeah. 250 00:18:24,920 --> 00:18:28,880 I think the everything started in the harbour because the 251 00:18:28,880 --> 00:18:33,120 harbour was of course a very, very important place when you're 252 00:18:33,120 --> 00:18:37,680 on an island. And then out from the the 253 00:18:37,760 --> 00:18:41,880 harbour, the town was growing in like some feather formation or 254 00:18:41,880 --> 00:18:47,840 something with straight roads that goes from the harbour over 255 00:18:47,840 --> 00:18:54,600 the town and then around it was a town Rampart built. 256 00:18:55,280 --> 00:19:03,200 And I think that the like the town rampart was not so much As 257 00:19:04,480 --> 00:19:06,520 for protection. I think it's just more like 258 00:19:09,840 --> 00:19:15,080 economical and radical fence more than for protection. 259 00:19:15,240 --> 00:19:23,400 OK, because there are like from the Vita Anskari, the the 260 00:19:23,760 --> 00:19:28,320 chronicle about the first missionary Anskari in them that 261 00:19:28,640 --> 00:19:35,720 tell about an attack on Beerka when 40 Danish Viking ships are 262 00:19:35,720 --> 00:19:40,200 laying outside and they threaten to to attack and burn the town. 263 00:19:41,280 --> 00:19:45,640 And then they say that all the 1000 people that was living in 264 00:19:45,640 --> 00:19:48,960 Burka was running up in the hill Fort and they stayed there for 265 00:19:48,960 --> 00:19:53,120 three days so. Yeah, because the, the hill 266 00:19:53,120 --> 00:19:59,040 Fort, if if you visit Burka, it's, it's a, it's a, it's 267 00:19:59,080 --> 00:20:03,680 actually, it's quite a, a big hill where you can still see 268 00:20:03,680 --> 00:20:06,640 the, the, the foundation of the wall. 269 00:20:06,680 --> 00:20:10,640 Yeah, even today. So how, how important was the 270 00:20:10,640 --> 00:20:16,000 fortress to fend off attacks? And I mean, would you, would you 271 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:21,040 say it would be equivalent to like a medieval fortress or how 272 00:20:21,040 --> 00:20:22,320 would how would you categorize it? 273 00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:25,640 No, it's not like a medieval fortress. 274 00:20:25,640 --> 00:20:34,480 It's a, a big rampart that is going like around this small 275 00:20:34,480 --> 00:20:37,360 mountain. So the mountain was going very 276 00:20:37,360 --> 00:20:40,680 deep in directly into the sea on one side. 277 00:20:40,680 --> 00:20:45,960 And then they have built like the rampart around and it was I, 278 00:20:45,960 --> 00:20:50,840 I don't remember the measurement like now, but it's quite big 279 00:20:51,560 --> 00:20:55,160 hill Fort. And on top they have like a 280 00:20:55,960 --> 00:21:00,960 wooden rampart. So and they have like 3 gates 281 00:21:01,160 --> 00:21:08,680 into the to the Fort. OK, so you said that the Danish 282 00:21:10,360 --> 00:21:14,400 lay siege. Yeah, damn Danes. 283 00:21:16,480 --> 00:21:19,840 But yeah, so they're lazy. But how how do we know anything 284 00:21:19,840 --> 00:21:23,600 else about like how common attacks were at the Because 285 00:21:23,640 --> 00:21:26,640 obviously if you know anything about Vikings is that they 286 00:21:26,640 --> 00:21:30,760 raided and they often fought wars against each other. 287 00:21:31,400 --> 00:21:36,240 And obviously Bika being a major trading spot, it would have been 288 00:21:36,240 --> 00:21:40,400 a rich place to plunder, I would assume. 289 00:21:40,400 --> 00:21:48,360 So do we know how much this was actually a place that then where 290 00:21:48,360 --> 00:21:52,840 there were attacks and? Yeah, in excavations you can see 291 00:21:52,840 --> 00:21:58,280 that is being attacked. For example, they had excavated 292 00:21:58,360 --> 00:22:02,520 a a piece of the hill Fort rampart in the beginning of the 293 00:22:02,520 --> 00:22:08,120 2000s I think, and they could see that the the rampart have 294 00:22:08,120 --> 00:22:12,600 been burned down several times, but they have like build it up 295 00:22:12,600 --> 00:22:18,200 stronger and stronger until the last one when it was like burnt 296 00:22:18,200 --> 00:22:21,320 down and never built up again. OK. 297 00:22:21,680 --> 00:22:24,120 Yeah. So it's it, it was quite common 298 00:22:24,120 --> 00:22:26,280 that I would assume during these 200 years? 299 00:22:26,400 --> 00:22:27,920 Yeah, I think so. Yeah. 300 00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:34,960 So the Garrison obviously is was situated that was situated 301 00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:37,880 outside the the the fortress, right. 302 00:22:38,360 --> 00:22:40,200 Can you tell us about the Garrison and the guards that 303 00:22:40,200 --> 00:22:42,040 that man did? Who were they? 304 00:22:44,120 --> 00:22:48,440 I think they were hired. I think they were professional 305 00:22:49,520 --> 00:22:54,640 and from the excavations of the Garrison we know that they were 306 00:22:54,640 --> 00:23:01,720 around 4050 warriors that was working there for Protect Big 307 00:23:01,720 --> 00:23:14,600 Cap and a lot of items also show links to the east and items that 308 00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:16,920 they found during the excavation there. 309 00:23:17,840 --> 00:23:21,840 So, So what kind of items and and how, how do we know that 310 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:24,760 they are from the East? Would that mean that it's person 311 00:23:24,760 --> 00:23:27,280 who's been to the East or it's actually people from the East 312 00:23:27,280 --> 00:23:33,440 that that that? It's hard to know the things can 313 00:23:33,440 --> 00:23:35,920 have come to be a government by trading. 314 00:23:36,040 --> 00:23:39,920 It could be people that are from that area and it could also be 315 00:23:40,200 --> 00:23:46,720 people that been a part of the ruse groups so. 316 00:23:47,440 --> 00:23:53,840 Because the Ruse obviously were originally well, Vikings from 317 00:23:53,840 --> 00:23:59,880 Sweden connected to Ruse log and if if I'm not mistaken. 318 00:24:00,080 --> 00:24:03,800 Or at least they made that etymology connection, I think. 319 00:24:03,840 --> 00:24:09,520 Yeah, I think it's like in some old things that they say that 320 00:24:09,760 --> 00:24:14,360 ruse is called ruse because they come from Ruhrich came from and 321 00:24:14,360 --> 00:24:17,240 he come from Ruhs Lager. But that is not. 322 00:24:18,200 --> 00:24:20,000 It's not sure. It's not a like. 323 00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:23,960 It's a theory maybe. It's a theory more I also read 324 00:24:23,960 --> 00:24:29,240 something that rules mean rowing and that that it is meant like 325 00:24:29,360 --> 00:24:35,280 the the guy that was rowing. Makes sense because Vikings did 326 00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:37,840 a lot of rowing for sure. Yeah. 327 00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:40,240 All right, let's maybe move away from that bit. 328 00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:45,880 But like, so you would say that in many ways, in many ways, BDK 329 00:24:45,880 --> 00:24:54,040 was a multinational community. And, but, and obviously a lot of 330 00:24:54,280 --> 00:24:59,800 prominent people lived in the city or used the city or had 331 00:24:59,880 --> 00:25:05,000 their business in the city. And we found some of their, you 332 00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:13,240 found some of their graves. And, but three of them is a part 333 00:25:13,240 --> 00:25:18,680 of the museum exhibit at the at Berka. 334 00:25:19,280 --> 00:25:24,640 So can, can you tell us a little bit about those 3 characters? 335 00:25:25,040 --> 00:25:26,880 Characters, Yes. Good work. 336 00:25:27,600 --> 00:25:37,600 We was we had opportunity to to make a new exhibition and we 337 00:25:37,600 --> 00:25:42,120 wanted to show the the Viking life. 338 00:25:42,360 --> 00:25:47,760 And so we decided to reconstruct 3 graves from three different 339 00:25:47,760 --> 00:25:53,400 centuries. So we chose one grave from from 340 00:25:53,400 --> 00:25:59,400 the middle of the seven hundreds when Baker was in the baby. 341 00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:02,240 But baby start. Yeah, yeah. 342 00:26:02,440 --> 00:26:04,480 In the beginning, early days, early days. 343 00:26:05,160 --> 00:26:11,640 So we wanted to also because most graves zombie are excavated 344 00:26:11,640 --> 00:26:16,480 during the 1800s and it's very few that is excavated during 345 00:26:16,480 --> 00:26:18,760 modern times. So we wanted to have one of 346 00:26:18,760 --> 00:26:22,960 these graves. So we chose the the Moose man. 347 00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:26,440 Oh yeah, that's an interesting character. 348 00:26:26,440 --> 00:26:27,960 Can you tell us about the Moose man? 349 00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:37,600 The moose man, he was in around his 60s and he is is buried very 350 00:26:37,600 --> 00:26:39,560 normal. He's laying on his back. 351 00:26:39,560 --> 00:26:49,280 He has Spears and arrows and a shield that cover his body so 352 00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:55,080 everything is normal there, but then it's another man laying on 353 00:26:55,080 --> 00:26:59,440 top of him in a very strange position, like he was just 354 00:26:59,920 --> 00:27:06,400 falling down in the grave and he's been decapitated and his 355 00:27:06,520 --> 00:27:12,160 one of his foot is missing. Oh wow, and what does that mean? 356 00:27:12,360 --> 00:27:14,280 Yeah. What does that mean? 357 00:27:14,320 --> 00:27:19,640 We don't really know. Probably he's been sacrificed 358 00:27:20,160 --> 00:27:28,880 down in the grave and with help of DNA and they could see that 359 00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:33,240 both of them are from the Lake Milan area. 360 00:27:33,240 --> 00:27:36,120 So they are local people, both of them. 361 00:27:37,680 --> 00:27:41,960 But the younger man has been travelling around more and is 362 00:27:41,960 --> 00:27:46,240 seeded by this isotope analysis they can do on the teeth. 363 00:27:48,280 --> 00:27:53,440 And he's also very strong, especially in his upper body. 364 00:27:53,760 --> 00:27:58,400 So maybe it's he's in very early Viking. 365 00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:02,520 Oh really? Maybe he was in Sarima in. 366 00:28:06,280 --> 00:28:08,440 The yeah, maybe. The time is. 367 00:28:08,960 --> 00:28:12,560 It's strange though, if he's a younger man, like, like 368 00:28:12,560 --> 00:28:16,880 physically strong like. So what do we know about the 369 00:28:16,880 --> 00:28:19,920 sacrifices? Not much. 370 00:28:20,040 --> 00:28:27,080 No, not much. We know that sometimes that it's 371 00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:33,240 more than one person that is in the graves. 372 00:28:34,120 --> 00:28:39,960 We also know it's from the sagas and from, for example, the 373 00:28:39,960 --> 00:28:49,320 Ibfatlan texts that describe like the all the crazy things 374 00:28:49,320 --> 00:28:52,160 that happen around. Yeah, the funeral. 375 00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:55,640 Yeah, he describes the the the funeral of a Chieftain. 376 00:28:55,680 --> 00:29:01,000 Yeah. And how they sacrifice a female 377 00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:02,960 slave, I think connected to this. 378 00:29:02,960 --> 00:29:05,080 And it's, it's, it's a really gruesome story. 379 00:29:05,080 --> 00:29:07,440 Yeah, it is. It's really and there's a lot of 380 00:29:07,800 --> 00:29:10,560 strange things going on. Very strange, Yeah. 381 00:29:11,440 --> 00:29:16,600 But I was also curious to what, what what gave this particular 382 00:29:16,600 --> 00:29:20,120 character the his name? The Moose man. 383 00:29:20,240 --> 00:29:23,920 Yeah, because he's had big, big moose horn. 384 00:29:25,440 --> 00:29:27,480 OK, just goes. By his head. 385 00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:30,080 Like an antler. Yeah, yeah, Antler, yeah, of 386 00:29:30,080 --> 00:29:33,120 course, yeah. Oh wow, so just one. 387 00:29:33,400 --> 00:29:35,080 Yeah, just one. OK. 388 00:29:36,400 --> 00:29:38,720 Interesting. Yeah, that's really interesting. 389 00:29:38,720 --> 00:29:43,320 And I I think they never found anything like it before. 390 00:29:43,640 --> 00:29:46,000 But that's going to be weird though, because I mean, we have 391 00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:48,800 lots of moods and. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 392 00:29:49,440 --> 00:29:51,080 Yeah, and they're majestic animals. 393 00:29:51,080 --> 00:29:52,600 You would assume it would be well. 394 00:29:52,720 --> 00:29:55,560 Yeah. And I also think that they maybe 395 00:29:55,560 --> 00:30:02,000 because they have this religion, that they were a lot of animals 396 00:30:02,480 --> 00:30:07,480 in the religion. And maybe they also like think 397 00:30:07,520 --> 00:30:11,440 as they themselves as animal. You have the bird circus. 398 00:30:11,440 --> 00:30:16,240 They all had near so that that could be one thing. 399 00:30:16,240 --> 00:30:18,520 And the other thing can mean maybe he was a hunter. 400 00:30:19,640 --> 00:30:25,880 He had like his spear and and the the arrow was more like 401 00:30:25,880 --> 00:30:31,200 hunting tools than warrior tools, But they could of course 402 00:30:31,240 --> 00:30:33,720 use them from build. Yeah, still at the shield. 403 00:30:33,720 --> 00:30:36,840 So. Of course that's yeah, that's so 404 00:30:36,840 --> 00:30:38,640 interesting. But what about the other two 405 00:30:38,640 --> 00:30:43,840 then? So now we had decided that we 406 00:30:43,840 --> 00:30:48,440 have a a typical male grave, but not typical because it was the 407 00:30:48,520 --> 00:30:51,800 the other man in something. But then we also wanted to have 408 00:30:51,800 --> 00:30:57,880 a typical female grave. So for the 8 hundreds, we choose 409 00:30:59,560 --> 00:31:03,160 typical female grave and we chose that one because it was a 410 00:31:03,160 --> 00:31:07,440 lot of fabric left in it, so we could look more into the fabric 411 00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:14,160 and reconstruct the clothes a little bit easier. 412 00:31:17,240 --> 00:31:19,160 Yeah. And the third grave. 413 00:31:20,400 --> 00:31:23,600 Sorry, does she has? Does she have a special name? 414 00:31:24,320 --> 00:31:29,800 Like, no, we call her the the lady with the green beaker, OK? 415 00:31:29,880 --> 00:31:36,800 Because she had a very, very beautiful green big glass in her 416 00:31:36,800 --> 00:31:37,840 grave. Oh really? 417 00:31:38,040 --> 00:31:39,920 Yeah. Oh, obviously not. 418 00:31:39,920 --> 00:31:42,320 Not intact though, right? Yeah, it was intact. 419 00:31:42,320 --> 00:31:43,760 It was intact. Yeah. 420 00:31:43,760 --> 00:31:47,640 Wow. And it's very, very special. 421 00:31:47,640 --> 00:31:52,400 It's looks like something that your mother have in like a vase 422 00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:55,960 during a flowers in during the 70s or something. 423 00:31:56,600 --> 00:32:00,400 It's very green, deep green and a lot of bubbles. 424 00:32:00,880 --> 00:32:07,720 That's that's amazing actually. Glass obviously was like a very 425 00:32:07,720 --> 00:32:09,840 expensive commodity back in those days. 426 00:32:10,520 --> 00:32:13,880 So that must mean that she was a very prominent person I assume. 427 00:32:13,920 --> 00:32:16,480 Yeah, yeah, probably she was, yeah. 428 00:32:17,400 --> 00:32:20,440 Crazy. So is there anything else that's 429 00:32:20,440 --> 00:32:22,480 that really sets this grave apart? 430 00:32:22,960 --> 00:32:28,360 Apart from the beaker. Some things shows that maybe she 431 00:32:28,360 --> 00:32:37,240 was working with trading and yeah, but it's yeah, it's a nice 432 00:32:37,240 --> 00:32:44,800 grave and it's beautiful. Like Tuttle brochures and think 433 00:32:44,800 --> 00:32:46,080 so. Yeah, OK. 434 00:32:46,080 --> 00:32:50,040 It's a typical female grave. Yeah, all right. 435 00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:53,000 And then we have the third grave you're going to tell us about. 436 00:32:53,720 --> 00:32:57,600 Yeah. And then we actually didn't have 437 00:32:57,600 --> 00:33:02,120 any opportunity to choose a grave from the 9 hundreds 438 00:33:02,680 --> 00:33:08,920 because we had to take the the possible female warrior, OK, 439 00:33:10,960 --> 00:33:16,240 because we get so many questions about her and people want to 440 00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:20,000 read about it and they want to visit the grave and they want to 441 00:33:20,000 --> 00:33:24,160 like know more about. And, and it was a spectacular 442 00:33:24,160 --> 00:33:28,880 grave in so many ways, not not only because it it turned out 443 00:33:28,880 --> 00:33:34,440 that the body barrier was I belong to a female, but also 444 00:33:34,440 --> 00:33:36,160 because of what was in it. Right. 445 00:33:36,160 --> 00:33:38,320 Yeah. So can you, can you describe the 446 00:33:38,320 --> 00:33:39,680 grave and the layout of the grave? 447 00:33:39,680 --> 00:33:41,960 Because it's it's crazy in many ways. 448 00:33:42,320 --> 00:33:46,720 Yeah, it's a it's a Champ grave and it's excavated in the end of 449 00:33:46,720 --> 00:33:54,520 the 1800s by Yalma Stolpe and he excavated around 1200 graves on 450 00:33:54,520 --> 00:33:57,960 Birka. And when he come to the place, 451 00:33:57,960 --> 00:34:04,520 it was like a very big rock and it was I think 3M high or 452 00:34:04,520 --> 00:34:06,800 something. So he realized that this is 453 00:34:07,440 --> 00:34:11,520 something special I under there and it's also very special 454 00:34:11,960 --> 00:34:14,239 place. It's just like between the 455 00:34:14,239 --> 00:34:20,120 Garrison, the town and the king side on who Gordon and everybody 456 00:34:20,120 --> 00:34:28,400 that was sailing through there could see this big rock, so he 457 00:34:28,960 --> 00:34:32,159 blow it up with dynamite. As you would. 458 00:34:33,920 --> 00:34:38,639 And he start to excavate and he found the shame grave that was 459 00:34:38,639 --> 00:34:47,400 filled with weapons like 2 Spears, sword, axes, weapon, 460 00:34:47,400 --> 00:34:54,199 knife, 2 Shields. So I think they never found so 461 00:34:54,199 --> 00:34:58,280 many weapons in the grey from the Viking age before. 462 00:34:58,840 --> 00:35:02,720 That's fantastic. And then she also have like two 463 00:35:02,720 --> 00:35:09,480 horses, 1 stallion and one mare. And she have a neo flat TfL game 464 00:35:09,480 --> 00:35:10,640 pieces. Like this one. 465 00:35:10,760 --> 00:35:13,200 Like this one, Exactly like this one. 466 00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:23,920 I've seen that before. And yeah, so it became the like 467 00:35:23,960 --> 00:35:28,640 the powerful Viking warrior grave from Pirika. 468 00:35:29,160 --> 00:35:33,320 So you have this exhibit, like this exhibit at the museum, and 469 00:35:33,320 --> 00:35:36,400 I actually been there and it's, it's a, it's a very interesting 470 00:35:36,400 --> 00:35:40,400 and lovely exhibition, I think. Yeah, so all like the the real 471 00:35:40,400 --> 00:35:44,080 item from the grave is not at Pirika Museum, it's in the 472 00:35:44,080 --> 00:35:46,720 Historical Museum in Stockholm. Yes, but we have done 473 00:35:46,720 --> 00:35:52,440 reconstructions of everything by help from very very good 474 00:35:52,440 --> 00:35:55,880 craftsmans. Yeah, it's it's it's a well 475 00:35:55,880 --> 00:35:59,840 worth a visit anyways. I mean, just to see what it 476 00:35:59,840 --> 00:36:01,880 would look, would would have looked like. 477 00:36:01,880 --> 00:36:05,160 Yeah, at the time, which is I think is fascinating. 478 00:36:06,800 --> 00:36:11,440 But obviously not everyone on Burke got like a a massive grave 479 00:36:11,440 --> 00:36:12,840 like these three. No. 480 00:36:14,480 --> 00:36:19,920 And as we already mentioned, there are many grave mounds on 481 00:36:19,920 --> 00:36:23,880 the island. It's I think we talked once and 482 00:36:23,880 --> 00:36:27,840 you called it a bit of a like a necropolis, but like how many, 483 00:36:27,880 --> 00:36:33,240 how many mounds are there on Beca do we know? 484 00:36:34,600 --> 00:36:40,640 Actually, not exactly because a lot of them have been like 485 00:36:40,640 --> 00:36:45,320 plotted away during history after the Baker was abandoned, 486 00:36:46,360 --> 00:36:54,200 but I think we have like 3000 graves that are counted in some 487 00:36:54,200 --> 00:37:00,920 way and then probably maybe 1000 more so around maybe 4000 488 00:37:01,400 --> 00:37:01,840 graves. That's. 489 00:37:01,840 --> 00:37:05,760 A lot of graves, yeah. I mean, compared to the 490 00:37:05,760 --> 00:37:10,440 population, that seems like a lot of graves. 491 00:37:10,800 --> 00:37:12,000 Why? Why? 492 00:37:13,960 --> 00:37:15,560 Why would there be so many graves there? 493 00:37:15,800 --> 00:37:21,600 Yeah, it's really hard to to know exactly. 494 00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:27,520 And it's also like very much different kind of graves. 495 00:37:27,520 --> 00:37:33,240 So it's the mounds that are cremated and there are like just 496 00:37:33,240 --> 00:37:37,280 mounds. It's round shaped, 4 sided, 3 497 00:37:37,280 --> 00:37:44,200 sided boat shaped graves. There are chamber graves, there 498 00:37:44,200 --> 00:37:47,960 are chest graves, there are Christian chest graves. 499 00:37:47,960 --> 00:37:50,840 So there are flat graves. Yeah. 500 00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:54,080 It's so crazy. And and it's need more. 501 00:37:54,400 --> 00:37:57,200 We need more science to like find out. 502 00:37:58,120 --> 00:38:00,720 So how, Why? How, how, how many? 503 00:38:00,720 --> 00:38:05,560 You said that that about 1200 was excavated, grades was 504 00:38:05,560 --> 00:38:07,000 excavated. Yeah, yeah. 505 00:38:07,360 --> 00:38:10,320 So how many, how many in total have been excavated? 506 00:38:10,320 --> 00:38:12,720 Of these 3000? Roughly 3000. 507 00:38:12,720 --> 00:38:16,280 Yeah, it's the. It's the same amount, around 12. 508 00:38:16,320 --> 00:38:19,680 100, that's yeah, OK. Because Yanmar Stolpe was 509 00:38:19,680 --> 00:38:24,600 excavating most during the 1800s. 510 00:38:26,240 --> 00:38:31,720 And I, I don't know, but I, I think I only know about 3 graves 511 00:38:31,720 --> 00:38:36,520 that have been excavated in modern times and two of them 512 00:38:36,920 --> 00:38:40,680 just by accident because they were planning to excavate 513 00:38:40,680 --> 00:38:42,800 something else. And they find out that wow, this 514 00:38:42,800 --> 00:38:45,800 is a grave here too. And one of them is the Moose 515 00:38:45,800 --> 00:38:47,520 man. OK, that makes sense. 516 00:38:47,520 --> 00:38:49,520 Yeah. Because the plan there was to 517 00:38:49,520 --> 00:38:54,720 excavate the longhouse and then his grave was just under the the 518 00:38:54,720 --> 00:38:57,240 door. Under the door, Yeah. 519 00:38:57,640 --> 00:39:01,440 That's I wonder like that makes you wonder if that was 520 00:39:01,440 --> 00:39:07,440 intentional. Yeah, or maybe it was like 100 521 00:39:07,440 --> 00:39:11,480 years or something like between. Somebody forgot, but it's like 522 00:39:11,480 --> 00:39:16,120 the a door a very it's a very specific thing of the house 523 00:39:16,120 --> 00:39:16,640 isn't. It. 524 00:39:16,640 --> 00:39:18,440 Yeah, yeah. Yeah, to put that straight over 525 00:39:18,440 --> 00:39:20,240 the grave, it it seems like it might. 526 00:39:20,240 --> 00:39:22,320 Well, you know, you can only speculate I guess. 527 00:39:22,520 --> 00:39:30,240 Yeah. But OK, so which prominent 528 00:39:30,240 --> 00:39:33,040 graves besides these, the the three ones that we already 529 00:39:33,040 --> 00:39:35,520 talked about, do you find most exciting? 530 00:39:35,520 --> 00:39:39,480 Because you, you probably have an insight and, and, and well, 531 00:39:39,760 --> 00:39:42,960 any grave actually that that has been excavated that, that you 532 00:39:42,960 --> 00:39:46,640 know about which, which one do you find is the most exciting at 533 00:39:46,640 --> 00:39:50,960 Burka? They are a lot of them. 534 00:39:51,160 --> 00:39:57,240 I think the the great BG 750, it's very, very beautiful 535 00:39:57,240 --> 00:40:02,960 because it's very, very nice. Beautiful item from it. 536 00:40:03,680 --> 00:40:11,000 But it also include both female and male things. 537 00:40:11,680 --> 00:40:15,440 So that is really nice. So is it one or two or is it 538 00:40:15,440 --> 00:40:22,200 just one person buried that? Probably 2, like both a male and 539 00:40:22,200 --> 00:40:28,040 a female, but I think it's very, it's not so much bone in the 540 00:40:28,040 --> 00:40:32,760 grave, I think, but and that is also one of the graves that are 541 00:40:32,760 --> 00:40:39,000 excavated again in modern times, I think around 2014 or 542 00:40:39,000 --> 00:40:43,080 something. So Yalmer Stolpa escavated first 543 00:40:43,160 --> 00:40:47,680 and then the Historical Museum in Stockholm wanted to find out 544 00:40:47,680 --> 00:40:53,280 what he maybe have missed in when he excavated and and how 545 00:40:53,280 --> 00:40:56,640 much he excavated and so on. So they opened the grave again. 546 00:40:56,920 --> 00:41:01,000 Oh, I see, I see. So is that common that they do 547 00:41:01,000 --> 00:41:03,880 that? No, I think it's the only one I 548 00:41:03,880 --> 00:41:04,440 know. Oh. 549 00:41:04,440 --> 00:41:07,600 Really about. So is there a reason why they 550 00:41:07,880 --> 00:41:10,040 why they did that? Like, I mean, obviously they 551 00:41:10,040 --> 00:41:14,640 wanted to see, but they why were they their interest piqued? 552 00:41:15,760 --> 00:41:23,120 I think it was to to find out how how much he like left and 553 00:41:25,960 --> 00:41:31,600 yeah, more to shake like OK, how was the the science doing the 554 00:41:31,600 --> 00:41:37,600 1800s and was they just out there to find silver and fancy 555 00:41:37,600 --> 00:41:40,920 things or. So they've maybe just picked 556 00:41:40,920 --> 00:41:44,160 this because it was a good example grave to to re examine. 557 00:41:44,160 --> 00:41:47,760 OK, I understand that's that kind of makes sense. 558 00:41:49,720 --> 00:41:57,760 So I mean, there are thousands of like defining fines from 559 00:41:57,760 --> 00:42:02,280 burka everything from you mentioned, like weapons and 560 00:42:02,280 --> 00:42:06,800 jewellery, but also, as you said, like to everyday objects 561 00:42:06,800 --> 00:42:11,440 and like like wooden spoons and tools and and even fabrics you 562 00:42:11,440 --> 00:42:15,240 mentioned. But do you have any personal 563 00:42:15,240 --> 00:42:21,760 favorite find that that you've seen yourself or that that 564 00:42:21,760 --> 00:42:24,680 you've you know know of from burka? 565 00:42:26,440 --> 00:42:32,720 It's a lot of them, but I, I really like the, the, the bigger 566 00:42:32,720 --> 00:42:39,760 dragon because when Yalmer Stope was excavating in the 1800s, he 567 00:42:39,760 --> 00:42:43,840 found the mould of this dragon and it's very, very sharp. 568 00:42:43,960 --> 00:42:46,720 So you can really see the, the sign of it. 569 00:42:47,400 --> 00:42:55,440 And then when the the University of Stockholm was excavating in, 570 00:42:55,960 --> 00:43:02,280 I don't know, but in the 2012 or something like Round Eye, they 571 00:43:02,280 --> 00:43:05,480 found the the actual dragon. Oh. 572 00:43:06,360 --> 00:43:12,880 So if you think about that, OK, it's like 2, maybe 2% percent of 573 00:43:12,880 --> 00:43:16,320 Berka that is excavated. And how is this? 574 00:43:16,520 --> 00:43:19,760 Yeah. And how many more is there? 575 00:43:20,720 --> 00:43:23,560 And what is the thing with this dragon? 576 00:43:24,320 --> 00:43:27,760 Was it the symbol of the king? Was it the symbol of Beerka? 577 00:43:27,760 --> 00:43:32,400 Because if you think of the like the the Falcon from the ruse or 578 00:43:32,400 --> 00:43:36,520 things. So yeah, it's it's a very good 579 00:43:36,560 --> 00:43:44,200 thing to fantasy. Yeah, I mean, Dragons are like, 580 00:43:44,600 --> 00:43:47,840 like so special and and it's fascinating that they're so 581 00:43:47,840 --> 00:43:51,640 common in different, like mythology across the world in 582 00:43:51,640 --> 00:43:54,800 many ways. So I, I can, I can see how that 583 00:43:54,800 --> 00:43:57,040 would be a very, very, very interesting find. 584 00:43:57,160 --> 00:44:00,240 Yeah, I haven't actually seen that myself. 585 00:44:00,240 --> 00:44:03,240 I'm, I'm, I have to look that up that, that sounds so 586 00:44:03,240 --> 00:44:05,640 interesting. Yeah, it's really, really, 587 00:44:05,640 --> 00:44:07,280 really cool. Yeah. 588 00:44:07,280 --> 00:44:09,360 All right. Otherwise I think I'm mostly 589 00:44:09,360 --> 00:44:14,000 like like things that point to the person. 590 00:44:14,000 --> 00:44:19,840 Like for example, they are like a wooden stick that is found in 591 00:44:19,840 --> 00:44:26,520 the in the black earth and it's it's written in ruins on that 592 00:44:26,520 --> 00:44:31,160 that Tura was making this because she can work out. 593 00:44:31,160 --> 00:44:38,560 Oh wow, something that was very short person but that is so like 594 00:44:39,400 --> 00:44:44,880 touchable like this Tura was sometimes like holding this 595 00:44:44,880 --> 00:44:48,040 stick in his hand and she was carving these ruins and. 596 00:44:48,160 --> 00:44:51,120 And it's, it's sort of like a message through the generation. 597 00:44:51,120 --> 00:44:55,960 And it's, it's not something who somebody didn't write this about 598 00:44:55,960 --> 00:44:58,920 her. It's right about herself. 599 00:44:58,920 --> 00:45:03,120 That's I agree that's pretty amazing Yeah beer case 600 00:45:03,120 --> 00:45:09,920 especially in so many ways, but it's also the place where at 601 00:45:09,920 --> 00:45:15,320 least the first known missionary to what today is Sweden where he 602 00:45:15,320 --> 00:45:18,240 came Anska, you already mentioned it. 603 00:45:18,240 --> 00:45:27,520 Anska retire so he chose Beerka instead of Uppsala. 604 00:45:29,040 --> 00:45:32,120 Do we know why? Because I mean, Uppsala was 605 00:45:32,120 --> 00:45:35,040 technically where the king was situated, even though obviously 606 00:45:35,040 --> 00:45:38,520 there was who've Gordon at all to say across from Beerka. 607 00:45:38,520 --> 00:45:45,240 But Uppsala, I guess, was the the true seat of the political 608 00:45:45,240 --> 00:45:49,640 power of what was technically Sweden, I guess. 609 00:45:49,640 --> 00:45:52,760 But. Yeah, but I think that there 610 00:45:52,760 --> 00:45:56,720 were more people maybe on Beerka than in Uppsala. 611 00:45:57,640 --> 00:46:01,760 And I don't think that Anska shows Birka. 612 00:46:01,760 --> 00:46:05,280 I think he just got an order that you should go there. 613 00:46:07,280 --> 00:46:14,240 Yeah, I think the saga says or saga, but they say like that the 614 00:46:14,400 --> 00:46:24,200 King Bjorn, he was like sending a letter to to to the great king 615 00:46:24,200 --> 00:46:34,400 of the frantic empire and tell him that he wanted to have some 616 00:46:34,400 --> 00:46:38,440 Christian person on Beerka. OK, why is that? 617 00:46:39,640 --> 00:46:41,520 Probably because he want to trade with them. 618 00:46:41,920 --> 00:46:47,840 OK, I think so because was it they're trying to like make a 619 00:46:47,840 --> 00:46:53,640 little political and and and the trade like the relationship with 620 00:46:53,640 --> 00:46:55,560 the Frankish. But what do you think it was 621 00:46:55,560 --> 00:46:58,520 interesting in becoming Christian himself or just like 622 00:46:58,520 --> 00:47:02,640 a? It's nothing that say that he 623 00:47:02,880 --> 00:47:07,720 became Christian by himself and and also we also need to think 624 00:47:07,720 --> 00:47:11,920 that this is written by Rimbet and Rimbet was of course a 625 00:47:12,240 --> 00:47:18,840 Christian person. So as always, you need to read 626 00:47:18,840 --> 00:47:21,640 it with a little bit of. Pinch of salt. 627 00:47:21,920 --> 00:47:28,280 Pinch of salt. We know what they wanted to say 628 00:47:28,360 --> 00:47:34,920 with their stories, of course, but the stories say that he was 629 00:47:34,920 --> 00:47:41,200 sent here and when he arrived to break after a lot of adventures, 630 00:47:43,160 --> 00:47:48,840 he was like welcomed that the the people was it's nicest to 631 00:47:48,840 --> 00:47:55,120 him when they when he come. And maybe that depends of that 632 00:47:55,120 --> 00:47:59,040 they already had like 20-30 different cuts. 633 00:47:59,080 --> 00:48:00,920 It doesn't matter if you come one or. 634 00:48:00,920 --> 00:48:02,960 Another one, yeah. Two more. 635 00:48:03,200 --> 00:48:06,320 Another one doesn't matter, no, but is Isn't it true that he was 636 00:48:06,320 --> 00:48:09,760 robbed though? What was that on the journey to? 637 00:48:09,760 --> 00:48:14,040 Yeah, the journey to be he was like going with the trading ship 638 00:48:14,080 --> 00:48:18,160 and the ship was attacked by Vikings outside the coast, 639 00:48:18,160 --> 00:48:22,800 Oskuwana somewhere. And they took his, the Bibles 640 00:48:22,800 --> 00:48:26,880 that he bring and all the gold and silver that he was going to 641 00:48:26,880 --> 00:48:32,760 give to the king and they throw him overboard and he need to 642 00:48:32,880 --> 00:48:34,760 swim into land. Oh wow. 643 00:48:36,400 --> 00:48:44,120 Yeah, it's scary times, but it but it's but he actually came to 644 00:48:44,440 --> 00:48:49,200 to Burka twice. So what else do we know about 645 00:48:49,200 --> 00:48:57,840 his visits in Burka? Yeah, like we, this is the 646 00:48:57,920 --> 00:49:00,840 thing. Like we know most about Burka 647 00:49:01,000 --> 00:49:08,880 because he was this is the only like written eyewitness sources 648 00:49:08,880 --> 00:49:12,800 that we have and or it's not really eyewitnesses because it's 649 00:49:12,800 --> 00:49:20,680 written by Rimbath and he was like written after Anskash died 650 00:49:20,680 --> 00:49:24,880 or something. But it's the closest we have. 651 00:49:26,000 --> 00:49:33,560 And they say that he he was welcomed and he became a very 652 00:49:33,560 --> 00:49:37,760 close friend to the, to the closest man to the king. 653 00:49:38,200 --> 00:49:44,320 And his name was Hiagir. And Hiagir gave him land to 654 00:49:44,320 --> 00:49:49,040 build the first church around 830 or something. 655 00:49:51,440 --> 00:49:59,760 But after 1 1/2 year or something, it was, it became 656 00:49:59,760 --> 00:50:03,040 like a big problem because people get angry and they don't 657 00:50:03,040 --> 00:50:06,120 want to change the way he wanted. 658 00:50:07,040 --> 00:50:14,120 Because so yeah, because we had Juan driven there here 3 659 00:50:14,120 --> 00:50:19,320 episodes back and he talked about planning an an excavation 660 00:50:20,880 --> 00:50:24,120 this fall actually together with Swen. 661 00:50:25,480 --> 00:50:26,480 Calum Ring. Calum Ring. 662 00:50:26,480 --> 00:50:27,080 Yeah. Thank you. 663 00:50:27,720 --> 00:50:30,360 This last name eluded me for a second. 664 00:50:31,600 --> 00:50:36,720 And they were going to examine what is believed to be the the 665 00:50:36,720 --> 00:50:39,880 location of that church. Yeah. 666 00:50:42,320 --> 00:50:49,520 And according to T1, it was previously like a Pagan temple 667 00:50:49,520 --> 00:50:54,400 or like a, well, a Pagan ritual site. 668 00:50:54,520 --> 00:50:59,760 Yeah, so, so do you. Do you know, like I can assume 669 00:50:59,760 --> 00:51:02,760 obviously that's why people got pissed off because they built 670 00:51:02,760 --> 00:51:04,560 the church on their ritual side, baby. 671 00:51:04,560 --> 00:51:09,240 But but how do you know how the excavation has gone? 672 00:51:10,480 --> 00:51:14,040 We really don't know yet and we are like we're waiting and 673 00:51:14,040 --> 00:51:18,200 waiting because they have some things to wait to get some 674 00:51:18,200 --> 00:51:23,440 answer. And for for example, this is one 675 00:51:23,440 --> 00:51:26,840 thing that could maybe say something more about the the 676 00:51:26,840 --> 00:51:30,000 exact date of where the house was there. 677 00:51:31,200 --> 00:51:38,600 And they like open a space. So it was like over one of the 678 00:51:38,600 --> 00:51:44,440 pole holes in the house and then a bit outside the long house and 679 00:51:44,440 --> 00:51:48,680 then down to this special stone rose where they think that the 680 00:51:49,680 --> 00:51:51,960 the cult house and the church has been. 681 00:51:52,600 --> 00:51:55,240 But it was not so big excavation. 682 00:51:55,240 --> 00:51:59,960 So we really hope that it gets nice resulted so we can have 683 00:51:59,960 --> 00:52:04,560 more money so we can continue to excavate so. 684 00:52:04,640 --> 00:52:09,200 It's basically just just making a probe to see what they find 685 00:52:09,200 --> 00:52:13,680 and hopefully they can. Yeah, fund a better also prove 686 00:52:13,720 --> 00:52:20,200 their theories like yeah, so. Can can you say anything about 687 00:52:20,200 --> 00:52:22,960 the fines or do you want, do you want to wait? 688 00:52:24,520 --> 00:52:27,880 I don't think I'm allowed to. Yeah, I'm not going to say 689 00:52:28,000 --> 00:52:29,960 anything. I'm not going to press press you 690 00:52:29,960 --> 00:52:31,840 more. But it's going to be exciting 691 00:52:31,840 --> 00:52:38,120 though, to, to, to be around where actual like a place like 692 00:52:38,120 --> 00:52:42,880 this where you actually find a lot of, yeah, you know, 693 00:52:42,880 --> 00:52:48,600 historical things. And it's so much more to know. 694 00:52:49,400 --> 00:52:55,760 It's it's so little that being excavated and it's so much space 695 00:52:55,760 --> 00:53:00,360 for more things to come. Yeah, exactly. 696 00:53:00,400 --> 00:53:05,840 Because burqa is an amazing place in so many ways, but it's 697 00:53:05,840 --> 00:53:08,360 it's amazing to visit there in general, I think. 698 00:53:08,680 --> 00:53:11,960 And so I wanted to actually lead into this a little bit with 699 00:53:12,000 --> 00:53:14,560 what's happening now and all that stuff with, with 700 00:53:14,560 --> 00:53:19,520 excavations and is, is, is there anything else like that you know 701 00:53:19,520 --> 00:53:25,160 of that's being like researched on PEKKA or any major other 702 00:53:25,520 --> 00:53:28,320 other major projects that are interesting? 703 00:53:30,240 --> 00:53:36,280 It's like nothing more archaeologists things going on 704 00:53:36,280 --> 00:53:39,000 now except of the Kosham projects. 705 00:53:39,040 --> 00:53:44,240 And but we also have another thing we are planning to build a 706 00:53:44,240 --> 00:53:48,960 long house and that is a reconstruction of the Warriors 707 00:53:49,240 --> 00:53:54,920 house from the Garrison area. And that is really cool. 708 00:53:54,920 --> 00:54:00,480 And it would be even cooler if we could build this long house 709 00:54:00,520 --> 00:54:04,560 at the same time that they excavate another long house. 710 00:54:07,600 --> 00:54:10,240 That would be really, really, really amazing. 711 00:54:11,640 --> 00:54:15,200 What why would want I I think it would be can you can you explain 712 00:54:15,200 --> 00:54:17,280 that? Like why it would be so cool to 713 00:54:17,280 --> 00:54:20,280 do it like that? I think I know, but. 714 00:54:20,400 --> 00:54:22,760 Yeah, yeah. But it's, it's really cool that 715 00:54:22,760 --> 00:54:26,680 you can see when, when something is excavated, you can see like 716 00:54:26,680 --> 00:54:33,000 the, the roots of the thing and that you can like follow the 717 00:54:33,000 --> 00:54:37,480 science of when they were as open this longhouse. 718 00:54:37,960 --> 00:54:41,480 And then at the same time see the, the craft and the more 719 00:54:41,480 --> 00:54:49,080 hands on things and see like the craftsman's building a house and 720 00:54:50,320 --> 00:54:53,120 see how it looked like. Because in an excavation you 721 00:54:53,120 --> 00:54:59,480 just see like dirt and dust, and you really need to have trained 722 00:54:59,480 --> 00:55:03,360 eyes to see it. But if you also see it in real 723 00:55:03,360 --> 00:55:05,800 life, you can see it grow up and. 724 00:55:07,200 --> 00:55:09,960 That's exactly what I imagined because I was I was saying that 725 00:55:09,960 --> 00:55:16,640 like you can transfer, you can kind of make the fines the the 726 00:55:16,760 --> 00:55:20,720 the fines you do, you can implement them and and see how 727 00:55:20,720 --> 00:55:24,640 it would have looked like in a three-dimensional in a very 728 00:55:24,640 --> 00:55:29,080 physical way, which which I imagine must be like an insane 729 00:55:29,080 --> 00:55:33,360 experience, like almost like going back in time, as close to 730 00:55:34,200 --> 00:55:36,280 time travel as you can get. If you can do that. 731 00:55:36,360 --> 00:55:38,000 Yeah, that's crazy. That's that. 732 00:55:38,240 --> 00:55:40,480 I wouldn't, I would totally agree with that. 733 00:55:41,120 --> 00:55:46,000 That would be so cool. So anyways, I said BK is an 734 00:55:46,000 --> 00:55:52,280 amazing place to to visit, not only because of, you know, 735 00:55:53,320 --> 00:55:56,800 archaeological stuff, but it's a place where you can actually 736 00:55:56,800 --> 00:56:01,680 feel and history unfold and almost see it unfold before your 737 00:56:01,680 --> 00:56:06,360 eyes. So can you tell us a little bit 738 00:56:06,360 --> 00:56:11,440 about Burqa as a destination today, like for for people who 739 00:56:11,440 --> 00:56:17,480 want to come visit Burqa? Yeah, I think the coolest thing 740 00:56:17,480 --> 00:56:22,080 with the island, except as you say, the, the, the graves and 741 00:56:22,080 --> 00:56:25,000 the town area and the Garrison and everything, it's the nature. 742 00:56:25,800 --> 00:56:29,680 It's a very, very untouched landscape. 743 00:56:30,520 --> 00:56:35,840 And the only thing that's been on the the islands since the 744 00:56:35,840 --> 00:56:43,920 Viking Age is farms. So it's very beautiful nature to 745 00:56:43,920 --> 00:56:49,560 walk around and to to to explore. 746 00:56:51,240 --> 00:56:55,720 And except of that, it's a very cute museum. 747 00:56:57,240 --> 00:56:59,320 It's a lovely museum. Somebody asked me. 748 00:56:59,800 --> 00:57:04,120 It is, and yeah, we have two exhibitions. 749 00:57:04,280 --> 00:57:09,280 Because you also have the, the reconstructed village there as 750 00:57:09,280 --> 00:57:14,320 well, which I think it's is really, it's really cool because 751 00:57:14,320 --> 00:57:17,160 when you go into that, it's, it's a few houses. 752 00:57:18,360 --> 00:57:21,640 But when you go into that, it's again almost like going back in 753 00:57:21,640 --> 00:57:24,080 time. Yeah, exactly. 754 00:57:24,080 --> 00:57:30,920 And it's, I think it's 5 houses and they are all reconstructed 755 00:57:31,080 --> 00:57:35,720 from the excavation of the black cars, the town area in the 90s. 756 00:57:35,720 --> 00:57:43,080 So Ambrosiani, that was the guy of the the that was the leader 757 00:57:43,080 --> 00:57:45,120 of the excavation during the 90s. 758 00:57:45,200 --> 00:57:49,560 He excavated 3 plots and all these three plots are 759 00:57:49,560 --> 00:57:53,160 reconstructed in another place close to the museum. 760 00:57:53,400 --> 00:57:57,160 Yes. So it's like a small piece of 761 00:57:57,160 --> 00:58:02,480 the town that's been. So is is is it an actual like I 762 00:58:02,480 --> 00:58:05,240 guess would you like a block like? 763 00:58:06,240 --> 00:58:08,920 That's how it would look like. Yeah, it's the block of the 764 00:58:08,920 --> 00:58:11,440 town. It's not just like that house 765 00:58:11,440 --> 00:58:14,080 and that house over there. It's just this area. 766 00:58:14,080 --> 00:58:17,240 We rebuild this area over here. That's that's really cool. 767 00:58:17,240 --> 00:58:19,280 I didn't know that, actually. That makes it even more 768 00:58:19,280 --> 00:58:21,920 fascinating, I think. Yeah, it's really cool. 769 00:58:21,920 --> 00:58:30,560 And it's also nice how how it grows up because it was it was a 770 00:58:32,080 --> 00:58:36,720 team teamed up the, the Stroma company that runs the public 771 00:58:36,720 --> 00:58:40,800 things and and the University of Stockholm. 772 00:58:40,800 --> 00:58:45,760 And the government was like together working to make this. 773 00:58:45,760 --> 00:58:53,000 And they also make like a course in in the university. 774 00:58:53,000 --> 00:58:58,560 So it was like Viking Age building techniques. 775 00:58:59,120 --> 00:59:04,640 So the student was doing the the theoretical things, doing the 776 00:59:04,920 --> 00:59:07,440 autumn, and then during the spring they came out and they 777 00:59:07,440 --> 00:59:09,840 built Baker. That's really cool. 778 00:59:09,960 --> 00:59:12,920 That's really cool because then they get the hands on experience 779 00:59:12,920 --> 00:59:15,680 as well. Yes, that's that's going to be a 780 00:59:16,000 --> 00:59:17,960 fascinating for the students as well, I think. 781 00:59:19,440 --> 00:59:25,040 But I mean, I think personally, the boat ride alone out to Baker 782 00:59:25,040 --> 00:59:27,920 from from Stockholm is is absolutely beautiful. 783 00:59:28,320 --> 00:59:33,520 The lake Lake Maryland is beautiful and I can recommend 784 00:59:33,520 --> 00:59:36,240 that like any time of year actually, because it's it's so 785 00:59:36,240 --> 00:59:39,520 nice and you don't also have a restaurant out there, right, 786 00:59:39,560 --> 00:59:43,440 yes, So which is great to visit as well, I think. 787 00:59:45,400 --> 00:59:51,800 But like, how many people do you welcome each year to to the 788 00:59:51,800 --> 00:59:54,560 island? Yeah, I just got the numbers for 789 00:59:54,720 --> 00:59:57,960 for these years. We have two weekends left open 790 00:59:58,360 --> 01:00:02,880 before we close for the season, but I think we have had around 791 01:00:02,880 --> 01:00:07,960 35,000 visitors. This years that's really good. 792 01:00:08,240 --> 01:00:14,040 Hopefully this this podcast will make more people interested in 793 01:00:14,040 --> 01:00:16,040 going there because it is a beautiful place. 794 01:00:16,160 --> 01:00:20,360 Yeah, but and you do guided tours, like how many tour guides 795 01:00:20,920 --> 01:00:23,120 or how many guided tours do you do do a day? 796 01:00:23,560 --> 01:00:26,520 It depends a little bit when during the season, because we 797 01:00:26,520 --> 01:00:31,360 have like low season in early spring and autumn and then 798 01:00:31,680 --> 01:00:35,560 during June, July and August we have high seasons. 799 01:00:35,760 --> 01:00:40,920 And then I think we have around six guided tours every day in 800 01:00:40,920 --> 01:00:44,120 English and Swedish. I think it's a, it's an amazing 801 01:00:44,120 --> 01:00:51,480 place to go and, and to, to. I had the opportunity about, I, 802 01:00:51,480 --> 01:00:56,520 I hate to say it, but it's, it's 25 years ago to, to, to go on a 803 01:00:56,520 --> 01:00:59,960 guided tour there together with the Caledon history, who you 804 01:00:59,960 --> 01:01:02,760 also know, of course lives on all those across the street. 805 01:01:03,440 --> 01:01:05,600 And he gave us a guided tour there. 806 01:01:06,520 --> 01:01:14,560 And I, I was just just to go among the, the, the, the grave 807 01:01:14,560 --> 01:01:18,200 mounds and up to the fortress and the like over the black 808 01:01:18,200 --> 01:01:23,640 earth and all that stuff with someone who can tell you about 809 01:01:23,640 --> 01:01:27,240 this. It's, it's such a different 810 01:01:27,240 --> 01:01:31,000 thing than going to a regular museum, I think. 811 01:01:31,280 --> 01:01:34,720 So it's really well worth a visit with Burka, I think. 812 01:01:35,200 --> 01:01:40,200 And and if you're interested in Vikings, it's amazing If you're 813 01:01:40,200 --> 01:01:44,680 not just the nature experience itself is is great. 814 01:01:44,680 --> 01:01:48,400 I think so. And and you actually live on 815 01:01:48,400 --> 01:01:49,720 Burka. Yeah, I do. 816 01:01:49,880 --> 01:01:51,240 That's great. Like it. 817 01:01:51,560 --> 01:01:55,600 Well, not on Burka, but Bjorka, which we're being situated. 818 01:01:56,120 --> 01:02:00,640 So like, how is that to live, live in that environment? 819 01:02:01,280 --> 01:02:05,800 It's amazing. Actually, I live just in the 820 01:02:05,800 --> 01:02:08,840 middle of a burial ground, so I have. 821 01:02:08,840 --> 01:02:11,240 Oh really? Yeah, I have mounds in my 822 01:02:11,240 --> 01:02:13,640 garden. Do you have a Do you have a 823 01:02:13,640 --> 01:02:16,480 burial ground in your garden? Yeah, I do. 824 01:02:18,720 --> 01:02:23,120 So yeah, it's, it's crazy and it's, yeah, it's really 825 01:02:23,120 --> 01:02:27,840 beautiful. And like the seasons are so more 826 01:02:30,680 --> 01:02:38,640 exposed in, in Baker, I think because you are like so close to 827 01:02:38,640 --> 01:02:42,520 the nature. So, so every season is so much 828 01:02:42,520 --> 01:02:46,120 more when, when you are in the town, for example, you. 829 01:02:47,000 --> 01:02:49,320 So yeah, it's, it's really beautiful. 830 01:02:49,320 --> 01:02:56,080 And and I was a little bit afraid in the beginning. 831 01:02:56,080 --> 01:02:58,960 I've been working there for a really long time, but I just 832 01:02:58,960 --> 01:03:01,000 lived on the island for five years. 833 01:03:01,680 --> 01:03:04,480 And I suppose a little bit afraid in the beginning that OK, 834 01:03:04,480 --> 01:03:06,680 I will get cold feet during the winter. 835 01:03:06,680 --> 01:03:11,800 And I was feeling alone and all the friends and families are on 836 01:03:11,800 --> 01:03:16,440 the mainland and I'm alone on the island with my my husband. 837 01:03:18,640 --> 01:03:20,440 But. Cabin fever. 838 01:03:20,440 --> 01:03:26,040 Yeah, but no, no, it's the best ever. 839 01:03:27,000 --> 01:03:28,280 I totally, I totally believe you. 840 01:03:28,640 --> 01:03:32,760 I mean, obviously it's it's really not that far to 841 01:03:32,760 --> 01:03:35,640 Stockholm, but it is an island. Yeah. 842 01:03:35,640 --> 01:03:39,080 And winter time you can't like the lake can be covered in ice 843 01:03:39,080 --> 01:03:43,520 and could be tricky to to get like to the mainland. 844 01:03:43,520 --> 01:03:49,080 Yeah, and especially just the between time when the ice is not 845 01:03:49,080 --> 01:03:53,280 too, too. Yeah, thick enough to walk on, 846 01:03:53,600 --> 01:03:57,200 but it's thick enough to to don't go with the boats. 847 01:03:57,200 --> 01:04:01,520 So it's yeah, that's you got to prepare for that in some. 848 01:04:01,560 --> 01:04:06,960 Yeah, yeah, I, I hear you. So I just remembered, I forgot 849 01:04:06,960 --> 01:04:11,960 you, you mentioned that you have about two weeks to go this this 850 01:04:11,960 --> 01:04:14,520 season. What what are your opening like? 851 01:04:14,520 --> 01:04:16,720 When, when, when do you open them? 852 01:04:16,880 --> 01:04:20,920 Like when do you close? Yeah, we opened like the first 853 01:04:20,920 --> 01:04:24,960 weekend of May and we closed the last weekend of October. 854 01:04:25,640 --> 01:04:31,440 So it's it's very like short like period of time. 855 01:04:31,440 --> 01:04:34,040 You can go there, yeah. But it's the best time though. 856 01:04:34,160 --> 01:04:37,800 Yeah, it is. Going there in February is not 857 01:04:37,800 --> 01:04:41,480 very nice, I think. No, I think it's cool, but it 858 01:04:41,640 --> 01:04:44,760 can be a problem to go there and maybe you can go there but not 859 01:04:44,920 --> 01:04:47,120 go home because of the weather. So that's. 860 01:04:48,120 --> 01:04:50,760 That would make a problem. Welcome to Beerka. 861 01:04:50,760 --> 01:04:52,120 But you have to stay a week. Yeah. 862 01:04:55,200 --> 01:05:01,000 Speaking of that, I mean if you do go to Beerka during your 863 01:05:01,000 --> 01:05:05,680 opening, can you stay the night? Can you stay for a longer period 864 01:05:05,680 --> 01:05:07,680 of time just exploring the island? 865 01:05:08,400 --> 01:05:14,360 You can, we have some clamping tents that you can rent. 866 01:05:14,600 --> 01:05:18,080 Nice. So yeah, you can. 867 01:05:18,640 --> 01:05:21,080 So do you get to live like a Viking though? 868 01:05:21,080 --> 01:05:25,960 Or is it an actual clamping? No, it's an actual clamping. 869 01:05:27,320 --> 01:05:29,200 It is. Maybe you should do like stuff 870 01:05:29,200 --> 01:05:31,960 where you get to live like a Viking, sleep on dirt. 871 01:05:33,320 --> 01:05:36,240 Maybe we can do it when we have the longhouse. 872 01:05:36,240 --> 01:05:38,040 Maybe. Maybe that would be cool. 873 01:05:38,200 --> 01:05:40,480 Yeah. Because I mean, obviously 874 01:05:40,480 --> 01:05:44,840 longhouses if like during the Viking Age, you would sit in 875 01:05:44,840 --> 01:05:47,360 there and feast, and when it was time to go to bed, you just lay 876 01:05:47,360 --> 01:05:50,000 down where you were sitting, basically, and slept there. 877 01:05:52,520 --> 01:05:54,960 Well, yeah, that could work. Just feast. 878 01:05:55,200 --> 01:05:56,360 Feast all night. And then. 879 01:05:56,640 --> 01:06:00,240 All right, I'm tired. Yours roll over. 880 01:06:00,360 --> 01:06:08,320 Yeah, exactly. So now you're our destination 881 01:06:08,320 --> 01:06:13,600 manager at Bianca and you have all these things going on like 882 01:06:13,600 --> 01:06:17,800 the, the guided tours and the reconstructed village in the 883 01:06:17,800 --> 01:06:21,120 museum and the restaurant and all that stuff that we talked 884 01:06:21,120 --> 01:06:27,880 about. But you also arrange or a number 885 01:06:27,880 --> 01:06:32,760 of events each year or theme days. 886 01:06:33,680 --> 01:06:35,520 What can you tell us about those? 887 01:06:35,520 --> 01:06:42,520 Like the the like what events do you have that you feel strongly 888 01:06:42,520 --> 01:06:46,600 about? Or yeah, just feel our fun. 889 01:06:46,680 --> 01:06:50,800 Yes. Oh, it's so much fun. 890 01:06:51,360 --> 01:06:56,400 We have a lot of very nice different events. 891 01:06:56,400 --> 01:07:02,240 And I think the first one and the first big one we have every 892 01:07:02,240 --> 01:07:04,880 year is the big historical tattoo fest. 893 01:07:05,840 --> 01:07:09,920 And that is not just the festival, it's like a community. 894 01:07:09,920 --> 01:07:17,120 It's yeah, it's yeah, it's so nice vibes and a lot of nice, 895 01:07:17,120 --> 01:07:21,200 cool, very good people coming and. 896 01:07:21,760 --> 01:07:24,600 So what goes on during the tattoo fest and. 897 01:07:24,920 --> 01:07:32,200 We have Viking markets, we have bands that's playing, we have a 898 01:07:32,200 --> 01:07:39,360 lot of workshops everyday where you can learn to do different 899 01:07:39,360 --> 01:07:45,320 crafts, but also more like spiritual things, so like drum 900 01:07:45,320 --> 01:07:54,080 travelling or it's a mix of a lot of different workshops. 901 01:07:54,080 --> 01:08:00,920 We have lectures and we have around 40 tattoo artists coming, 902 01:08:02,560 --> 01:08:06,840 so there's also like a tattoo convention mixed in all this 903 01:08:06,920 --> 01:08:09,160 other thing. Are they all hand poke? 904 01:08:09,880 --> 01:08:15,160 Mostly hand poke some is working with machine also, but all of 905 01:08:15,160 --> 01:08:21,040 them are specialized in historical ornament things. 906 01:08:21,160 --> 01:08:24,160 OK. And it's not just Old N, it's 907 01:08:24,160 --> 01:08:31,240 also like Celtic, Slavic, Indonesian, a lot of different 908 01:08:31,240 --> 01:08:36,080 so and they are really, really hand picked artist that is like 909 01:08:36,439 --> 01:08:38,840 the best in the world. So how how many years have you 910 01:08:38,840 --> 01:08:43,680 done this? It will be the 4th edition 2026 911 01:08:43,680 --> 01:08:49,920 OK and it's gross and it's so cool because I found out it like 912 01:08:49,920 --> 01:08:53,040 the second year or something had it when I was standing and 913 01:08:53,040 --> 01:08:55,520 looking at all things. I have an Atlantic. 914 01:08:55,920 --> 01:09:00,080 Wow. We have 250 people staying on 915 01:09:00,080 --> 01:09:05,200 this island for four days and I think it's must been the first 916 01:09:05,200 --> 01:09:08,840 time since the Viking Age that there's been so many people 917 01:09:08,840 --> 01:09:12,120 gathering and staying over at big at the same time. 918 01:09:12,200 --> 01:09:18,200 That is that that's that's a very strange thought. 919 01:09:18,200 --> 01:09:19,600 I actually had a little bit of a goosebumps. 920 01:09:19,880 --> 01:09:23,240 Yeah, and it's so cool also because there are common people 921 01:09:23,439 --> 01:09:27,200 from all over the world. I get goosebumped when a guy 922 01:09:27,200 --> 01:09:32,160 from like Hawaii was emailing and say hi, I want to join you. 923 01:09:32,160 --> 01:09:36,080 How do I do like Hawaii? Yeah, I've never been to Europe 924 01:09:36,080 --> 01:09:38,920 before. Like God. 925 01:09:39,560 --> 01:09:41,040 So you want to go to Beerka, all right? 926 01:09:41,120 --> 01:09:43,160 Yeah. So yeah. 927 01:09:43,240 --> 01:09:48,640 And yeah, it's so much fun and so much nice people. 928 01:09:49,200 --> 01:09:53,479 Hawaii, I mean island island. Then again, Lake Maryland is 929 01:09:53,479 --> 01:09:55,680 slightly smaller than the Pacific Ocean. 930 01:09:57,920 --> 01:09:58,960 A little bit. Smaller. 931 01:09:59,240 --> 01:10:03,000 A little bit smaller, yes, yes. But yeah, that's, that sounds 932 01:10:03,000 --> 01:10:05,800 really, really interesting. I knew about this tattoo 933 01:10:05,800 --> 01:10:08,280 festival. It's it's weird though, because 934 01:10:08,560 --> 01:10:12,560 always, like in May is always my busiest time, but I actually 935 01:10:12,560 --> 01:10:15,080 wanted to go there, yeah, a couple of times. 936 01:10:15,080 --> 01:10:19,440 So hopefully next year I will be able to, but we'll see, yeah. 937 01:10:19,720 --> 01:10:22,480 You are always welcome. There's always something common 938 01:10:22,480 --> 01:10:25,320 in the way, getting the way from from doing fun stuff like that. 939 01:10:25,440 --> 01:10:28,520 You know, maybe I should make time. 940 01:10:28,720 --> 01:10:30,440 Yes. If you can't find the time, make 941 01:10:30,440 --> 01:10:32,000 the time Good. Yeah. 942 01:10:32,400 --> 01:10:36,120 So are there any other other events that you really enjoy a 943 01:10:36,120 --> 01:10:39,840 lot? Of them we try to find something 944 01:10:39,840 --> 01:10:48,320 new every year and also something that fits different 945 01:10:48,320 --> 01:10:54,160 groups of visitors. So we have of course like 946 01:10:54,160 --> 01:11:00,080 children activities. This year we have a dog event 947 01:11:00,640 --> 01:11:06,640 for the first time and it was the dog, the best friend of the 948 01:11:06,640 --> 01:11:12,880 Viking. So it was Icelandic Sheepdogs 949 01:11:12,880 --> 01:11:19,000 Association that was on the island and they show their dogs 950 01:11:19,000 --> 01:11:25,720 and this dog breed is like the same as Icelandic horses that 951 01:11:25,720 --> 01:11:29,280 they came with the Vikings to Iceland and then they have like 952 01:11:29,480 --> 01:11:33,800 stayed there and. But do they have the same rules 953 01:11:33,800 --> 01:11:37,600 for the dogs that are like, I know for the horses, if a horse 954 01:11:37,600 --> 01:11:40,760 goes yeah, away from Iceland, they can't come back. 955 01:11:40,760 --> 01:11:42,200 I think it's the same with the dogs. 956 01:11:42,440 --> 01:11:44,800 OK, so so they didn't bring their own dogs? 957 01:11:45,920 --> 01:11:49,720 Yeah, we there are of course people that breed them outside 958 01:11:49,760 --> 01:11:53,120 Iceland too, of course. Yes, some like there was a sort. 959 01:11:53,280 --> 01:11:57,640 So we there was like, I don't know, kennel in Swedish. 960 01:11:57,840 --> 01:12:00,520 Yeah, yeah. Camel. 961 01:12:00,960 --> 01:12:05,320 Camel, yeah. That was coming. 962 01:12:05,320 --> 01:12:09,760 So they have a lot of cute dogs that you could pet and they have 963 01:12:09,760 --> 01:12:16,040 like dog parade and they was having a small theater show 964 01:12:16,960 --> 01:12:24,240 about these dogs and but we also have serious lectures about dogs 965 01:12:24,240 --> 01:12:28,160 in graves and dogs during biking age. 966 01:12:28,160 --> 01:12:30,520 Yeah, because there is a number of dogs that have been found in 967 01:12:30,560 --> 01:12:33,400 biking age graves. Yes, a lot of them, and also a 968 01:12:33,400 --> 01:12:38,000 lot of different sizes. And also like what did the dog 969 01:12:38,000 --> 01:12:40,480 have? What what was the rule for the 970 01:12:40,480 --> 01:12:42,960 dog? Was it just hunting dogs or the 971 01:12:43,240 --> 01:12:45,360 pets or what? Yeah. 972 01:12:46,040 --> 01:12:51,200 So, yeah, that was really, very, really cool. 973 01:12:51,200 --> 01:12:54,160 So I think we will continue to have it even next year. 974 01:12:56,880 --> 01:13:05,400 Then we have, for example, now the last weekend we will have 975 01:13:05,400 --> 01:13:08,040 the Alva Blute, the Viking Halloween. 976 01:13:08,240 --> 01:13:13,360 Yes, of course. Where the visitors can meet a 977 01:13:13,360 --> 01:13:19,280 lot of different gods and black elves and white elves. 978 01:13:19,840 --> 01:13:24,840 Oh wow. And visit the real Blute, the 979 01:13:24,880 --> 01:13:28,280 sacrifice. So the Alva Alva Blute, I think 980 01:13:28,280 --> 01:13:30,920 is I think we should really talk about this because obviously, as 981 01:13:30,920 --> 01:13:33,600 you say it, it, it is the, the Viking Halloween. 982 01:13:33,920 --> 01:13:37,360 And So what, what can you tell us about the Alva Blute? 983 01:13:37,360 --> 01:13:44,280 Because I think it's a, a really interesting part of like how 984 01:13:44,280 --> 01:13:47,800 this relates to other cultures as well, because like on 985 01:13:47,800 --> 01:13:52,200 Ireland, you have so on and, and like the, the hallow, which 986 01:13:52,200 --> 01:13:54,320 became the Halloween that we know. 987 01:13:54,960 --> 01:14:01,160 But then obviously, like in South America, Dia de Muertos 988 01:14:01,160 --> 01:14:04,920 and, and, and those things that, and it all kind of correlates. 989 01:14:05,520 --> 01:14:07,440 So what can you tell us about Alva Blut? 990 01:14:07,520 --> 01:14:10,720 What, what, What do we know about this festival? 991 01:14:12,120 --> 01:14:17,720 Yeah, the the Alva Blut was to to celebrate the forefathers and 992 01:14:17,720 --> 01:14:22,560 the the ones that have died exactly as Halloween. 993 01:14:23,120 --> 01:14:30,320 And so it's like, OK, what was the hen and what was the egg? 994 01:14:30,360 --> 01:14:33,760 Where did it start? And it's interesting with this 995 01:14:33,760 --> 01:14:38,560 kind of phenomenon that is in a lot of different religions in a 996 01:14:38,560 --> 01:14:43,440 lot of different parts of the world that seems to appear at 997 01:14:43,440 --> 01:14:49,160 the same time in maybe it was the Vikings that bring it to the 998 01:14:49,160 --> 01:14:52,880 north part of UK from the beginning. 999 01:14:53,400 --> 01:14:55,920 Maybe. And then they they have the 1000 01:14:56,000 --> 01:14:58,640 Celtic thing or yeah, I don't know. 1001 01:14:59,440 --> 01:15:05,440 But it it is to to like celebrate that the the dark is 1002 01:15:05,440 --> 01:15:12,480 coming and for the forefathers. Yeah, yeah, I, I think it's a, 1003 01:15:12,840 --> 01:15:16,960 it's, it's a lovely tradition anyways, and to remember those 1004 01:15:16,960 --> 01:15:20,440 who who went before you. So, yeah, that sounds really 1005 01:15:20,440 --> 01:15:22,400 nice. And and that's actually how you 1006 01:15:22,920 --> 01:15:25,400 close the year, is that correct? Yeah, Yeah. 1007 01:15:25,760 --> 01:15:29,560 So that's the end of Beerka, and then you had to get the hell out 1008 01:15:29,560 --> 01:15:32,360 of there. At least unless you live there. 1009 01:15:32,960 --> 01:15:35,480 Yeah, I need to stay there. Yeah, exactly. 1010 01:15:38,640 --> 01:15:40,320 Yeah, that sounds, that sounds amazing. 1011 01:15:40,360 --> 01:15:44,760 You know, unfortunately this year I am occupied. 1012 01:15:44,760 --> 01:15:47,000 Otherwise I would go there for sure. 1013 01:15:47,000 --> 01:15:50,400 It's maybe next year. That could be something. 1014 01:15:52,080 --> 01:15:57,000 So now we talked a lot about stuff and we already mentioned 1015 01:15:57,200 --> 01:16:00,080 the the possible or the long house that you're planning to 1016 01:16:00,080 --> 01:16:03,800 build. What other future plans do you 1017 01:16:03,800 --> 01:16:10,360 have for Beerka as a like as a destination? 1018 01:16:11,320 --> 01:16:21,960 Yeah, yes, we need to gain visitors because we just live on 1019 01:16:21,960 --> 01:16:26,040 the entree things. The The thing is that is the, 1020 01:16:27,080 --> 01:16:35,120 the head of the, the island is the national property board, but 1021 01:16:35,120 --> 01:16:36,840 they don't work with the public things. 1022 01:16:36,840 --> 01:16:42,160 So they rent out the public area with the museum and the 1023 01:16:42,160 --> 01:16:45,920 restaurant and everything to, to a private company. 1024 01:16:46,960 --> 01:16:52,000 And we don't have any like support from from the 1025 01:16:52,040 --> 01:16:55,960 municipality or the, the government with money. 1026 01:16:56,520 --> 01:17:04,880 So we need to earn everything. So if, if we want to like expand 1027 01:17:05,200 --> 01:17:11,400 the, the activities and the and the the area, we also need to 1028 01:17:11,400 --> 01:17:13,960 gain more money. And to gain more money, we need 1029 01:17:13,960 --> 01:17:15,720 to have more visitors. Of course. 1030 01:17:16,280 --> 01:17:22,760 So we are like planning to to do a lot of things. 1031 01:17:23,280 --> 01:17:34,560 We need to go more out and, and show ourselves and to make 1032 01:17:34,560 --> 01:17:39,000 people to understand that it's it's worth to go there. 1033 01:17:40,760 --> 01:17:47,840 Of course we also want to have like we have some animals there 1034 01:17:47,840 --> 01:17:54,760 now we have goats and hens, but it it's also been nice to to 1035 01:17:54,760 --> 01:18:01,120 have more animals, more Viking life, working together with more 1036 01:18:01,120 --> 01:18:09,400 inactive groups, have a big programme with events. 1037 01:18:10,000 --> 01:18:16,960 We want to, we are planning actually to have a Kiwi and Ruse 1038 01:18:16,960 --> 01:18:21,400 festival and I think it's never been done before. 1039 01:18:22,840 --> 01:18:25,600 Can you explain that like a Kiwi and ruse? 1040 01:18:25,600 --> 01:18:30,320 Is that what I think it is like a Maori not? 1041 01:18:30,320 --> 01:18:33,720 Maori. I was like Kiwi, like that name. 1042 01:18:33,880 --> 01:18:38,600 Kiwi like. Kiwi and oh, I see like like in 1043 01:18:38,600 --> 01:18:40,000 Kiev. In Kiev. 1044 01:18:40,120 --> 01:18:42,320 Yeah, I was like. Kiwi, did you do that? 1045 01:18:42,320 --> 01:18:43,680 That sounds. Very strange. 1046 01:18:44,400 --> 01:18:47,120 OK, so sorry. I didn't make the connection 1047 01:18:47,360 --> 01:18:48,320 Festival. I see. 1048 01:18:48,400 --> 01:18:49,040 I see. OK. 1049 01:18:49,040 --> 01:18:51,120 So that is something we're looking at now. 1050 01:18:51,240 --> 01:18:54,880 Yeah. And yeah, I think we will manage 1051 01:18:54,880 --> 01:18:57,440 to have it and it was be really, really nice. 1052 01:18:58,160 --> 01:19:00,280 That sounds, that sounds great. Yeah. 1053 01:19:00,680 --> 01:19:04,200 So that that would be an annual thing then, hopefully. 1054 01:19:04,240 --> 01:19:09,160 Yeah, yeah. So like a like a bring in like 1055 01:19:09,360 --> 01:19:12,520 reenactors and and. Yes. 1056 01:19:12,560 --> 01:19:16,600 And like work to together with the reenactment groups maybe 1057 01:19:16,600 --> 01:19:20,040 from Ukraine. And that was really, really 1058 01:19:20,040 --> 01:19:21,800 nice. That would be super, yeah. 1059 01:19:22,280 --> 01:19:24,800 Fantastic. I would go to that, sure. 1060 01:19:25,040 --> 01:19:29,720 And it's, yeah, the the working name is the Eastern Wind from 1061 01:19:29,720 --> 01:19:32,960 Pyrgang. Good one. 1062 01:19:33,360 --> 01:19:39,040 Yes, and then also looking into maybe to have a food festival. 1063 01:19:39,680 --> 01:19:42,480 Yes, you have the restaurant already so. 1064 01:19:42,480 --> 01:19:47,560 Yes, and I would like also to invite a lot of different chefs 1065 01:19:47,560 --> 01:19:54,880 that is like good in in Viking each food and maybe you can go 1066 01:19:54,880 --> 01:19:58,920 around and try taste in different places and also of 1067 01:19:58,920 --> 01:20:01,800 course have lectures about Viking food and. 1068 01:20:02,480 --> 01:20:09,960 And the herbs and Peggies and what they eat and how they take 1069 01:20:09,960 --> 01:20:11,520 care of the food. I like food. 1070 01:20:11,760 --> 01:20:13,040 I'll I'll be there. Yeah. 1071 01:20:15,200 --> 01:20:18,440 No, but seriously, I, I think I think these are great ideas and 1072 01:20:18,440 --> 01:20:21,520 I think that you will definitely attract a lot more people with 1073 01:20:21,520 --> 01:20:24,320 this. So I'm really looking forward to 1074 01:20:24,360 --> 01:20:27,400 to see how this works out. And, and, and I, as I said, I 1075 01:20:27,400 --> 01:20:31,880 think Bieka is it's well worth a visit whether you're interested 1076 01:20:31,880 --> 01:20:35,560 in Vikings or not. But obviously it makes it a 1077 01:20:35,560 --> 01:20:40,680 little more, especially if you are all right. 1078 01:20:41,360 --> 01:20:47,280 Well, it's been lovely talking to you and we're closing to the 1079 01:20:47,280 --> 01:20:49,040 end. Yeah. 1080 01:20:49,400 --> 01:20:55,800 But we always leave with a couple of questions that we have 1081 01:20:55,800 --> 01:21:03,360 for all our guests. So the first question is if you 1082 01:21:03,360 --> 01:21:08,200 could be a family on the wall anywhere during the Viking Age, 1083 01:21:08,200 --> 01:21:12,960 but I guess in your case specifically in at Beerka, and 1084 01:21:13,680 --> 01:21:16,600 to just go back in time as a family on the wall and 1085 01:21:16,720 --> 01:21:24,080 experience something that happened during like the Viking 1086 01:21:24,080 --> 01:21:28,040 Age at Beerka, what would that be? 1087 01:21:29,320 --> 01:21:34,520 It would be when Pika disappeared. 1088 01:21:35,120 --> 01:21:37,040 Why? What happened? 1089 01:21:37,920 --> 01:21:43,680 I want to be fly on the wall somewhere close to the Garrison 1090 01:21:43,680 --> 01:21:48,840 to the warrior's house when the IT was attacked. 1091 01:21:48,880 --> 01:21:53,440 I want to know why? And from SO, how much do we 1092 01:21:53,440 --> 01:21:55,760 know? Like exactly when it disappeared 1093 01:21:55,760 --> 01:21:59,600 or or. Yeah, they from the excavations 1094 01:21:59,600 --> 01:22:04,560 they say like around 900, the 900-7900 and 75. 1095 01:22:04,960 --> 01:22:09,120 OK, so but they don't know why at all or. 1096 01:22:09,560 --> 01:22:12,600 It's a lot of the different theories, of course. 1097 01:22:13,680 --> 01:22:16,680 I have one OK. What's your theory? 1098 01:22:16,920 --> 01:22:19,440 I think it was the king himself that attacked Beerka. 1099 01:22:20,120 --> 01:22:25,400 OK. Because I think that they have 1100 01:22:25,400 --> 01:22:31,400 tried to convert bigger for over 100 years back and forward. 1101 01:22:32,240 --> 01:22:38,840 And I think also it could be like early king noble conflict. 1102 01:22:39,120 --> 01:22:44,400 I think that maybe the king is have start to lose the control 1103 01:22:44,600 --> 01:22:49,800 of the trade. Maybe the the the the traders 1104 01:22:49,800 --> 01:22:55,040 and the the people that was living on Bika have became very 1105 01:22:55,040 --> 01:22:59,680 rich and very powerful and they have friends all over the then 1106 01:22:59,680 --> 01:23:04,720 known world. And so I think that he hired 1107 01:23:04,720 --> 01:23:07,920 soldiers to attack. OK. 1108 01:23:08,200 --> 01:23:11,280 Bika and then he moved the town to Sikkuna. 1109 01:23:13,120 --> 01:23:17,360 Because that's what happened. I know that so they OK. 1110 01:23:17,680 --> 01:23:21,760 Because otherwise I cannot understand that this like 1111 01:23:21,760 --> 01:23:26,400 professional warriors didn't even have time to pick up their 1112 01:23:26,400 --> 01:23:29,920 weapons. They couldn't protect the town 1113 01:23:29,920 --> 01:23:33,080 this time when they have done it so many times before. 1114 01:23:34,040 --> 01:23:39,120 So it must be something more than just a regular attack. 1115 01:23:39,320 --> 01:23:43,640 OK, that is, that is an interesting theory. 1116 01:23:44,120 --> 01:23:46,640 Do you know any other theories that around or? 1117 01:23:47,000 --> 01:23:52,200 Yes, they have been talking about that the the the water 1118 01:23:52,200 --> 01:23:57,760 level in the lake were changing so much so they couldn't go 1119 01:23:57,760 --> 01:24:02,520 there by big boats anymore. And they've been talking about 1120 01:24:02,520 --> 01:24:07,680 that everything burned down and thicknesses. 1121 01:24:07,680 --> 01:24:12,840 And yeah, so it's a lot of different theories. 1122 01:24:13,120 --> 01:24:20,280 Yeah, I think most people agree that it is economical and and I 1123 01:24:20,280 --> 01:24:22,640 think religions, political things. 1124 01:24:22,680 --> 01:24:24,440 I think your theory is sounds more exciting. 1125 01:24:25,000 --> 01:24:27,240 Yeah, and it would make a good movie. 1126 01:24:27,720 --> 01:24:30,200 It would it would definitely make a good movie. 1127 01:24:30,240 --> 01:24:35,040 Yeah, I'm I'm sure about that. All right, so here's here's the 1128 01:24:36,280 --> 01:24:42,640 the mother of all questions. Would you have wanted to live 1129 01:24:43,320 --> 01:24:49,040 during the Viking Age knowing what you know today, especially? 1130 01:24:49,040 --> 01:24:52,680 But I don't think so. OK. 1131 01:24:53,120 --> 01:24:58,160 Why not? Because it was probably very 1132 01:24:58,160 --> 01:25:03,600 cold and I would have been dead a lot of times because I have 1133 01:25:03,600 --> 01:25:10,040 not eaten a lot of pencillin and went to surgeries and stuff. 1134 01:25:10,040 --> 01:25:11,840 And I mean. Yes, you could die from a 1135 01:25:11,840 --> 01:25:15,200 splinter for sure. Yeah, Yeah, that is that 1136 01:25:15,200 --> 01:25:18,240 question. But what do you think? 1137 01:25:19,080 --> 01:25:22,400 Like I was, I've always kind of been curious and we never really 1138 01:25:23,040 --> 01:25:26,080 dug into this with other guests. But what do you think about 1139 01:25:26,080 --> 01:25:31,120 like, like adopting to that kind of society? 1140 01:25:31,120 --> 01:25:33,600 Because we don't really know a lot about what the Viking 1141 01:25:33,600 --> 01:25:39,720 society was, but I would, I would assume that it actually 1142 01:25:39,720 --> 01:25:43,160 would be quite different from the society we live in right 1143 01:25:43,160 --> 01:25:45,280 now. Yes, obviously. 1144 01:25:45,320 --> 01:25:50,480 Obviously very different, yeah. So it would be would be really 1145 01:25:50,480 --> 01:25:51,920 difficult to adapt, don't you think? 1146 01:25:52,080 --> 01:26:00,600 Yeah, but but I also think that they have like they have a a big 1147 01:26:00,600 --> 01:26:05,280 feeling of belonging. I think it was very important to 1148 01:26:05,280 --> 01:26:11,840 have like your family, your kin. I think a lot of things maybe 1149 01:26:11,840 --> 01:26:18,280 was easier because you didn't need to know what was happening 1150 01:26:18,280 --> 01:26:24,000 in Gaza or in like. It was just where you are right 1151 01:26:24,000 --> 01:26:25,880 now. Yeah, they were there and they 1152 01:26:25,880 --> 01:26:28,400 they were in their group of people. 1153 01:26:28,400 --> 01:26:33,440 And so of course it was really, really tough and it was probably 1154 01:26:33,440 --> 01:26:38,440 cold and smoky in the houses. And so, but I also think they 1155 01:26:38,440 --> 01:26:43,560 have a feeling of belonging that a lot of people is lacking 1156 01:26:43,560 --> 01:26:46,360 today. I think you're right. 1157 01:26:47,160 --> 01:26:51,400 I think you're right, especially since it was also like an, an, 1158 01:26:51,640 --> 01:26:55,240 an oral community, Like there were no books really. 1159 01:26:55,240 --> 01:27:00,360 So all the stories were from mouth to mouth and all that 1160 01:27:00,360 --> 01:27:02,640 stuff. So like, it was, it was a 1161 01:27:02,640 --> 01:27:06,040 different time in like human connections. 1162 01:27:06,040 --> 01:27:09,640 I would, I would, I would assume, having not really 1163 01:27:09,640 --> 01:27:11,680 experienced it, but yeah, I would assume that. 1164 01:27:13,280 --> 01:27:16,000 It's interesting though, because I think there's only two people 1165 01:27:16,000 --> 01:27:19,280 who have said that they would want to live during the Viking 1166 01:27:19,280 --> 01:27:21,560 Age. Can you guess at least one of 1167 01:27:21,560 --> 01:27:28,120 them? I'll, I'll, I'll give you a 1168 01:27:28,120 --> 01:27:29,200 hint. You know him. 1169 01:27:29,560 --> 01:27:37,000 I know him, far of it of. Course, yeah, far of it said 1170 01:27:37,000 --> 01:27:38,880 without a doubt he would want to live them. 1171 01:27:39,160 --> 01:27:41,600 Yeah, I was actually surprised, but that was fun. 1172 01:27:42,720 --> 01:27:45,840 Personally, I don't think like knowing what I know today, I 1173 01:27:45,840 --> 01:27:48,880 don't think I could could live during the Viking Age. 1174 01:27:48,880 --> 01:27:54,960 I think it's a, it's a very harsh community, a very 1175 01:27:54,960 --> 01:28:01,520 different morality in in ethics than what we're used to. 1176 01:28:01,520 --> 01:28:05,680 I think modern people would, no matter who you are, would have a 1177 01:28:05,680 --> 01:28:09,040 really hard time adapting to that mentality. 1178 01:28:10,960 --> 01:28:15,280 However, obviously if you were born during that YEAH time, you 1179 01:28:15,280 --> 01:28:16,360 wouldn't know anything different. 1180 01:28:16,360 --> 01:28:19,400 But no, no. But come they've been dropped 1181 01:28:19,400 --> 01:28:24,560 down from 2025 down to. And I also. 1182 01:28:24,640 --> 01:28:26,600 Think that and. I also think that you're 1183 01:28:26,600 --> 01:28:31,320 absolutely right, because obviously family ties and and 1184 01:28:31,320 --> 01:28:33,920 stuff like that was so important during the Viking Age. 1185 01:28:33,920 --> 01:28:38,920 So if you're dropped down into that world without any 1186 01:28:39,440 --> 01:28:42,440 connections, you're really, really vulnerable. 1187 01:28:42,520 --> 01:28:45,800 Yeah, really. Yeah, so that that will be 1188 01:28:45,800 --> 01:28:47,160 really tough, I think. Yes. 1189 01:28:47,680 --> 01:28:49,920 Yeah. Well, thank you so much for 1190 01:28:49,920 --> 01:28:54,800 being here to Dave, Veronica and and hopefully we'll see you at 1191 01:28:54,800 --> 01:28:57,200 Berka very soon. I would love to go back there 1192 01:28:57,200 --> 01:29:01,600 soon. And yeah, good luck with Oliver 1193 01:29:01,600 --> 01:29:04,440 Blut and all the new things that's coming in Berka. 1194 01:29:04,440 --> 01:29:08,360 And for all of you guys listening and watching, whenever 1195 01:29:08,360 --> 01:29:10,640 you come to Sweden, you have to visit Berka. 1196 01:29:10,640 --> 01:29:15,200 It's it's a wonderful place. It's a magical place and it's as 1197 01:29:15,240 --> 01:29:17,720 as I said before, it's a place where you can actually feel 1198 01:29:17,720 --> 01:29:21,000 history unfold before your very eyes. 1199 01:29:21,120 --> 01:29:23,400 I think you can cannot come closer. 1200 01:29:23,600 --> 01:29:25,480 Not much. Thank you very much. 1201 01:29:29,040 --> 01:29:33,840 Hey guys, if you enjoyed this episode, check out our other 1202 01:29:33,840 --> 01:29:37,600 episodes on our YouTube channel, Spotify and other podcast 1203 01:29:37,600 --> 01:29:43,160 streaming services and also subscribe to support our work. 1204 01:29:43,640 --> 01:29:44,440 Thanks for listening.