The infant prince from the east mound at Old Uppsala

Abstract

This paper deals with the finds from the East Mound at Old Uppsala. Sjøvold has been able to show that the human jaw still retaining one tooth indicates a twelve-year-old. Previously, the remains of embossed sheets from the decorated fringe of a helmet had indicated that the owner was a young person. Several fragments of gold filigree from the chape and handle of a small seax seem also to have been included among the belongings of this child. Furthermore, a fragment of a carved bird figure, probably a dove, may have come from the crest of a sceptre. It is proposed that this child was a prince of the royal family seated at Old Uppsala. The odd finds of a make-up palette of stone and a fragment of a mirror of eastem type could have belonged to the older person whose cremated remains were also found in the grave. Such grave gifts are typical for female burials, but as she is buried without her ownjewellery, she is most probably not the mother of the prince, but a servant, perhaps originally belonging to his mother's retinue.