Götaland theory
Encyclopedia
The Götaland theory is a local patriotic view which challenges established history and archaeology, and which claims that the foundation of Sweden
occurred not (as traditionally assumed) in Eastern Sweden, but in the province of Westrogothia (Västergötland
). The adherents of this idea use wide ranging methods from controversial ones such as dowsing
and asking medium
s to contact the dead, to less controversial ones such as etymology
, but also claim that the established academic material consists of lies and forgeries. Although well-known in Sweden and fervently preached by its adherents, it has never been accepted by scholars.
, Richard Walther Darré and eugenicists from Hadamar in Germany. The idea that the cradle of the Germanic
culture and society was located in Västergötland, became an indisputable dogma in Nazi Germany.
Archaeologist Magnus Alkarp, who has studied classified and semi-classified documents from the post-war era, has showed that the Westrogothian School (among other regional, right-wing separatists movements in Scandinavia) was an important part of the Operation Gladio
.
was thus claimed to be the burial site of the hero Beowulf
known from the Beowulf
epic; by applying the dowsing
technique with a pendulum, they established that the barrow was indeed the burial site of this Geatish hero. Later, professional archaeologists drilled into the barrow to extract a sample for C14 dating
. The barrow was from around 700 A.D., about 150 years too late for being a candidate for Beowulf's burial site.
The locality Sätuna at the small lake Hornborgasjön in Västergötland was commonly claimed to be the true Sigtuna
, where king Olof Skötkonung had his coins made. A protrusion in the ground was pointed out by adherents of the Götaland theory as the king's mint. However, when archaeologists examined their claims the protrusion turned out to be the remains of an uncompleted barn from the 1890s.
in the old lands called Uplanden. Additionally, the theory's supporters also held the view that Västergötland and the region of Lake Vänern
was in fact the land of "Sithun", translated into modern day language as Sigtuna
, where Odin
and his Aesir companions supposedly settled when they came to Scandinavia
.
An early predecessor of the theory was Pehr Tham (1737–1820), who during the 19th century unsuccessfully tried to promote ideas such as the village Sätuna being the location of Old Sigtuna, and the ancient town of Birka
being situated somewhere around Lake Hornborgasjön. He is regarded as an ideological successor of Olof Rudbeckius, a seventeenth-century professor of medicine who claimed that Sweden was the true location of the sunken Atlantis
.
The early proponents of the Götaland theory proposed ideas about Västergötland, and the Lake Väner region in particular, being the origin not only of the Geats, but also of the Suiones
, the Danes
; and furthermore the location of various phenomena in Norse mythology
, such as Odin
's Sithun (Sigtuna
), Valhall
, and the ashtree Yggdrasil
. These ideas, created in the spirit of Romanticism
, were also a reaction to the archeological research at the time, which arguably neglected some areas of Sweden that were nevertheless rich in archeological remains. The speculations of the adherents of the Götaland theory movement are largely irrelevant to modern academic discussion, which does not pay much attention to Swedish-Geatish wars
, Yngling
kings, etc.
is one of Sweden's historical crown jewels, being a World Heritage Site
and a popular tourism attraction. Its location is on Björkö
in lake Mälaren.
According to the Västgöta theory, Birka as a name meant "merchant town", and could refer to any such town in ancient Sweden. A possible candidate is Köpingsvik
on the island Öland
in the Baltic Sea
, which has several remains from the 9th and 11th century.
(heathen) Ása-faith in ancient Scandinavia and Sweden. The ancient Upsalum was described by Adam of Bremen
in the 11th century, and by Snorri Sturluson
in the 13th century. It is generally considered to correspond to modern day Uppsala
, with its location on Uppsala's old location – Old Uppsala, in east Sweden, the habitat of the ancient tribe called Suiones
(Swedes). The Västgöta school however claim that the original site for the temple was located in West Sweden, in the habitat of the ancient Geats (Götar), the tribe which came to name Västergötland.
Especially, the story of Odin and the Aesir's emigration according to the Ynglinga saga
is generally considered invalid by the official views and scholars. Other parts of the extensive work of Snorri Sturluson (and other saga writers) may however be considered valid references for finding elements of the ancient history of Scandinavia
n people and their religious customs and beliefs.
There are however no archeological findings that support the view of Västergötland being the original site of Ubsola, and therefore the views of the Västgöta theory have little or no credibility.
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
occurred not (as traditionally assumed) in Eastern Sweden, but in the province of Westrogothia (Västergötland
Västergötland
', English exonym: West Gothland, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden , situated in the southwest of Sweden. In older English literature one may also encounter the Latinized version Westrogothia....
). The adherents of this idea use wide ranging methods from controversial ones such as dowsing
Dowsing
Dowsing is a type of divination employed in attempts to locate ground water, buried metals or ores, gemstones, oil, gravesites, and many other objects and materials, as well as so-called currents of earth radiation , without the use of scientific apparatus...
and asking medium
Mediumship
Mediumship is described as a form of communication with spirits. It is a practice in religious beliefs such as Spiritualism, Spiritism, Espiritismo, Candomblé, Voodoo and Umbanda.- Concept :...
s to contact the dead, to less controversial ones such as etymology
Etymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
, but also claim that the established academic material consists of lies and forgeries. Although well-known in Sweden and fervently preached by its adherents, it has never been accepted by scholars.
The Nazi origin
The Götaland theory was the only notable result of the Nazi infiltration of Swedish archaeology during 1933–1945. Carl-Otto Fast, founder of the Westrogothian School ("Västgötaskolan"), was a notorious Nazi who collaborated with SS AhnenerbeAhnenerbe
The Ahnenerbe was a Nazi German think tank that promoted itself as a "study society for Intellectual Ancient History." Founded on July 1, 1935, by Heinrich Himmler, Herman Wirth, and Richard Walther Darré, the Ahnenerbe's goal was to research the anthropological and cultural history of the Aryan...
, Richard Walther Darré and eugenicists from Hadamar in Germany. The idea that the cradle of the Germanic
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples are an Indo-European ethno-linguistic group of Northern European origin, identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age.Originating about 1800 BCE from the Corded Ware Culture on the North...
culture and society was located in Västergötland, became an indisputable dogma in Nazi Germany.
Archaeologist Magnus Alkarp, who has studied classified and semi-classified documents from the post-war era, has showed that the Westrogothian School (among other regional, right-wing separatists movements in Scandinavia) was an important part of the Operation Gladio
Operation Gladio
Operation Gladio is the codename for a clandestine NATO "stay-behind" operation in Italy after World War II. Its purpose was to continue anti-communist actions in the event of a shift to a Communist party led government...
.
Putting the theory to the test
Several times, laymen have unsuccessfully tried to prove what they consider important aspects of the Götaland theory. The barrow at SkalundaSkalunda
Skalunda is a village in Västergötland, Sweden and the site of Skalunda Barrow , a historic burial mound. Hög, from the Old Norse word haugr, means mound or barrow...
was thus claimed to be the burial site of the hero Beowulf
Beowulf (hero)
Beowulf is a legendary Geatish hero and later turned king in the epic poem named after him, one of the oldest surviving pieces of literature in the English language.-Etymology and origins of the character:...
known from the Beowulf
Beowulf
Beowulf , but modern scholars agree in naming it after the hero whose life is its subject." of an Old English heroic epic poem consisting of 3182 alliterative long lines, set in Scandinavia, commonly cited as one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature.It survives in a single...
epic; by applying the dowsing
Dowsing
Dowsing is a type of divination employed in attempts to locate ground water, buried metals or ores, gemstones, oil, gravesites, and many other objects and materials, as well as so-called currents of earth radiation , without the use of scientific apparatus...
technique with a pendulum, they established that the barrow was indeed the burial site of this Geatish hero. Later, professional archaeologists drilled into the barrow to extract a sample for C14 dating
Radiocarbon dating
Radiocarbon dating is a radiometric dating method that uses the naturally occurring radioisotope carbon-14 to estimate the age of carbon-bearing materials up to about 58,000 to 62,000 years. Raw, i.e. uncalibrated, radiocarbon ages are usually reported in radiocarbon years "Before Present" ,...
. The barrow was from around 700 A.D., about 150 years too late for being a candidate for Beowulf's burial site.
The locality Sätuna at the small lake Hornborgasjön in Västergötland was commonly claimed to be the true Sigtuna
Sigtuna
Sigtuna is a locality situated in Sigtuna Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 18 inhabitants in 2005. It is the namesake of the municipality even though the seat is in Märsta....
, where king Olof Skötkonung had his coins made. A protrusion in the ground was pointed out by adherents of the Götaland theory as the king's mint. However, when archaeologists examined their claims the protrusion turned out to be the remains of an uncompleted barn from the 1890s.
History
The Götaland theory originated in the early 20th century with claims that the ancient city Ubsola (Uppsala) was situated in the province of VästergötlandVästergötland
', English exonym: West Gothland, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden , situated in the southwest of Sweden. In older English literature one may also encounter the Latinized version Westrogothia....
in the old lands called Uplanden. Additionally, the theory's supporters also held the view that Västergötland and the region of Lake Vänern
Vänern
Vänern is the largest lake in Sweden, the largest lake in the EU and the third largest lake in Europe after Ladoga and Onega in Russia. It is located in the provinces of Västergötland, Dalsland, and Värmland in the southwest of the country.- History :...
was in fact the land of "Sithun", translated into modern day language as Sigtuna
Sigtuna
Sigtuna is a locality situated in Sigtuna Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 18 inhabitants in 2005. It is the namesake of the municipality even though the seat is in Märsta....
, where Odin
Odin
Odin is a major god in Norse mythology and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon "Wōden" and the Old High German "Wotan", the name is descended from Proto-Germanic "*Wodanaz" or "*Wōđanaz"....
and his Aesir companions supposedly settled when they came to Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
.
An early predecessor of the theory was Pehr Tham (1737–1820), who during the 19th century unsuccessfully tried to promote ideas such as the village Sätuna being the location of Old Sigtuna, and the ancient town of Birka
Birka
During the Viking Age, Birka , on the island of Björkö in Sweden, was an important trading center which handled goods from Scandinavia as well as Central and Eastern Europe and the Orient. Björkö is located in Lake Mälaren, 30 kilometers west of contemporary Stockholm, in the municipality of Ekerö...
being situated somewhere around Lake Hornborgasjön. He is regarded as an ideological successor of Olof Rudbeckius, a seventeenth-century professor of medicine who claimed that Sweden was the true location of the sunken Atlantis
Atlantis
Atlantis is a legendary island first mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias, written about 360 BC....
.
The early proponents of the Götaland theory proposed ideas about Västergötland, and the Lake Väner region in particular, being the origin not only of the Geats, but also of the Suiones
Suiones
The Swedes e, "one's own [tribesmen/kinsmen]"; Old English: Sweonas; , Suehans or Sueones) were an ancient North Germanic tribe in Scandinavia...
, the Danes
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
; and furthermore the location of various phenomena in Norse mythology
Norse mythology
Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...
, such as Odin
Odin
Odin is a major god in Norse mythology and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon "Wōden" and the Old High German "Wotan", the name is descended from Proto-Germanic "*Wodanaz" or "*Wōđanaz"....
's Sithun (Sigtuna
Sigtuna
Sigtuna is a locality situated in Sigtuna Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 18 inhabitants in 2005. It is the namesake of the municipality even though the seat is in Märsta....
), Valhall
Valhall
Valhall is an anglicized form of Old Norse Valhöll, an afterlife "hall of the slain" in Norse mythology, which is more commonly anglicized as Valhalla. Otherwise, Valhall may refer to:*Valhall , a Norwegian band...
, and the ashtree Yggdrasil
Yggdrasil
In Norse mythology, Yggdrasil is an immense tree that is central in Norse cosmology. It was said to be the world tree around which the nine worlds existed...
. These ideas, created in the spirit of Romanticism
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
, were also a reaction to the archeological research at the time, which arguably neglected some areas of Sweden that were nevertheless rich in archeological remains. The speculations of the adherents of the Götaland theory movement are largely irrelevant to modern academic discussion, which does not pay much attention to Swedish-Geatish wars
Swedish-Geatish wars
The Swedish-Geatish wars refer to semi-legendary 6th century battles between Swedes and Geats that are described in the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf...
, Yngling
Yngling
The Ynglings were the oldest known Scandinavian dynasty. It can refer to the clans of the Scylfings , the semi-legendary royal Swedish clan during the Age of Migrations, with kings such as Eadgils, Onela and Ohthere...
kings, etc.
Birka speculations
BirkaBirka
During the Viking Age, Birka , on the island of Björkö in Sweden, was an important trading center which handled goods from Scandinavia as well as Central and Eastern Europe and the Orient. Björkö is located in Lake Mälaren, 30 kilometers west of contemporary Stockholm, in the municipality of Ekerö...
is one of Sweden's historical crown jewels, being a World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
and a popular tourism attraction. Its location is on Björkö
Björkö
Björkö can signify:# In Sweden:## Björkö, a Lake Mälaren island in Ekerö Municipality, Stockholm County, the location for the excavation and World Heritage Site Birka....
in lake Mälaren.
According to the Västgöta theory, Birka as a name meant "merchant town", and could refer to any such town in ancient Sweden. A possible candidate is Köpingsvik
Köpingsvik
Köpingsvik is a locality situated in Borgholm Municipality, Kalmar County, Sweden with 609 inhabitants in 2005. It is located about 4 km east of the city of Borgholm on the island Öland....
on the island Öland
Öland
' is the second largest Swedish island and the smallest of the traditional provinces of Sweden. Öland has an area of 1,342 km² and is located in the Baltic Sea just off the coast of Småland. The island has 25,000 inhabitants, but during Swedish Midsummer it is visited by up to 500,000 people...
in the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
, which has several remains from the 9th and 11th century.
Ubsola speculations
Upsalum, or Ubsola, was the main cult center of paganPaganism
Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....
(heathen) Ása-faith in ancient Scandinavia and Sweden. The ancient Upsalum was described by Adam of Bremen
Adam of Bremen
Adam of Bremen was a German medieval chronicler. He lived and worked in the second half of the eleventh century. He is most famous for his chronicle Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum .-Background:Little is known of his life other than hints from his own chronicles...
in the 11th century, and by Snorri Sturluson
Snorri Sturluson
Snorri Sturluson was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was twice elected lawspeaker at the Icelandic parliament, the Althing...
in the 13th century. It is generally considered to correspond to modern day Uppsala
Uppsala
- Economy :Today Uppsala is well established in medical research and recognized for its leading position in biotechnology.*Abbott Medical Optics *GE Healthcare*Pfizer *Phadia, an offshoot of Pharmacia*Fresenius*Q-Med...
, with its location on Uppsala's old location – Old Uppsala, in east Sweden, the habitat of the ancient tribe called Suiones
Suiones
The Swedes e, "one's own [tribesmen/kinsmen]"; Old English: Sweonas; , Suehans or Sueones) were an ancient North Germanic tribe in Scandinavia...
(Swedes). The Västgöta school however claim that the original site for the temple was located in West Sweden, in the habitat of the ancient Geats (Götar), the tribe which came to name Västergötland.
Especially, the story of Odin and the Aesir's emigration according to the Ynglinga saga
Ynglinga saga
Ynglinga saga is a legendary saga, originally written in Old Norse by the Icelandic poet Snorri Sturluson about 1225. It was first translated into English and published in 1844....
is generally considered invalid by the official views and scholars. Other parts of the extensive work of Snorri Sturluson (and other saga writers) may however be considered valid references for finding elements of the ancient history of Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
n people and their religious customs and beliefs.
There are however no archeological findings that support the view of Västergötland being the original site of Ubsola, and therefore the views of the Västgöta theory have little or no credibility.