To convey a lifelike and visual image of the Viking community and its inhabitants has been a major challenge. Over the years, we have tried different ways of conveying images, such as displays and demonstrations, theatre, and guided archaeological, craft, and dramatized tours.

Since 2006 the Swedish National Heritage Board has granted Strömma Turism & Sjöfart the right to use land on Björkö to reconstruct a neighbourhood that is characteristic of Viking times. This reconstruction work is to be based on results obtained from archaeological investigations of the Black Earth.

The reconstructions are being done in cooperation with Gotland University and led by experts and artisans. The planning is being supervised by a group of experts that includes Björn Ambrosiani, Lena Holmquist Olausson and Dan Carlsson, as well as the carpenter Magnus Sjöholm. The group's assignment is to ensure that the reconstruction is associated both with current research on the Viking era and the archaeological excavations that have been done on Björkö.

The reconstruction of buildings is being done with copies of tools from the Iron Age and with the use of methods and technical solutions that are believed today to be those most probably used at the time.

Efforts are being made to adapt reconstructions as much as possible to knowledge about the buildings and their appearance obtained from excavations in the Black Earth that were led by Björn Ambrosiani in the beginning of the 1990s.

This sort of experimental archaeology is kind of a detective assignment, whereby hypotheses are practically tested in full scale. In the process of the work, various solutions and possibilities are discussed, experiences are shared, and there is cooperation among various professions. Some of the practical work is also open to the public in order to give visitors some insight into archaeological work and the way problems are approached.

To find out more, see also "Contact" below.

See also:
Contact