Two Bronze Age neck rings have been discovered in a grave in Marby outside Norrköping. The find was made during an archaeological investigation ahead of new housing construction.
The two neck rings, around 2,500 years old, are known as wendelringar and are made of cast bronze. They were found together in a stone setting with burials, which the archaeologists describe as unusual or perhaps unique.
Alf Ericsson at Arkeologerna, part of the Swedish History Museums, says the team had not expected such a find. The rings are believed to have been placed as votive offerings and were a status symbol most often worn by women.
The investigation of the area east of Norrköping, which also includes rock carvings and settlement remains from the late Bronze Age, is underway because new housing is to be built there. Cremated human bones were also found in one of the graves, both in an urn and in smaller pits in the ground.
