This area was settled in the bronze age, but began to flourish during the Iron age due to the mines that were located nearby. The first "king" of Sweden--Eric Segersall (the victorious) lived here from his birth in 945 until his death in 995. It is believed that one of the unexcavated Viking mounds you see today is his burial place.
In the earliest of Viking times, cairns (stone mounds) were built on top of hills where the body was placed in splendor with precious items that was torched in a huge blaze that could be seen for miles across the lower river deltas.
Later, these hills were excavated out...by hand....and full sized ships were placed in the hole. Within the ship would be the deceased in their finery along with killed slaves, horses, food,and many precious items. The Vikings took equal care with great woman as well as men. The only difference would be that the woman's burials showed more fine artistic work than the barebones approach of the mens burials.
When you pull into the parking lot at Gamle Uppsala, it appears that the progressive mounds are the humps of an immense green sea serpent twisting its way off to the horizon. There are paved walking paths that follow along.
The museum is closed in winter.(open April-Sept.) I was disappointed that I couldn't see their collection of excavated items! There's a restaurant and a few tourist shops which were also closed .
The " olde" Uppsala church is to the North was built on top of a pagan temple. If you walk past the graveyard, and look over the wall...you can see that this is perched on a Viking mound. Scattered about are some smashed rune stones with the ones sporting early Christian symbols the only ones that are still intact today.
Inside, the church is simple because of it's great age. The bricks are handmade and uneven with the walls resembling more of a defensive building than what churchs evolved into later as pieces of art. The floor is stone, cut unevenly, because it was done by hand and fitted very tightly together. The turquoise colored church pews each had their own door for entrance and each door was painted in a " tole" design using the colors of burgundy,dark blue,mustard yellow, and black. Along the back left wall is a case that holds precious items used in the church long ago. One of these items is a " wedding crown" which were lent (for a price) to brides who were married here. This tradition still occurs throughout Sweden using these rare pieces. Wouldn't it kind of neat to wear a crown on your wedding day that woman have used since the 1200's?
Behind the church to the North is a Stave-like building. These were used for meetings and church functions as well. This one had a fresh coat of bright red paint with black edging that made it very attractive.