The Viking Age settlement and trading place Birka-Hovgården at Swedish Lake Mälaren was founded in the 8th century AD and is one of the best-preserved Scandinavian Viking Age settlements and burial places. On Björkö, Sweden’s largest assembly of Iron Age burial mounds is found in the grave field Hemlanden (‘Homeland’). The rulers of Birka are believed to have resided at Hovgården on nearby Adelsö.
