Björkö, Ekerö

Björkö (Swedish for "Birch Island") is an island in Lake Mälaren in eastern-central Sweden. It is mostly famous for housing the excavation site Birka populated c. 750-975 CE, together with Hovgården on Adelsö declared a World Heritage Site in 1993. Located just south of Adelsö and west of Ekerö and Munsö islands, it is one of the islands in Ekerö Municipality.

The oldest of the ancient remains on the island is a small burial ground on the elevated section on the southern part of the island. It encompasses nine stone structures, of which two are burnt mounds and one is a cairn known as Ingas grav ("Grave of Inga"). Their character and elevated location indicate they belonged to a temporary Bronze Age settlement (1800-500 BCE), by people who visited the island for seasonal hunting and fishing.

The first permanent settlement dates back to the late Germanic Iron Age (400-800 CE). A small burial ground containing some 15 graves on the north-eastern part of the island known as Ormknös is possibly the remains of a small settlement pre-dating Birka by less than a century. It is possible the burial ground belonged to the village on the island, Björkö by, together with two other burial grounds: Grindbacken, north of the village with 25 graves, and Kärrbacka, south of the village with 45 graves. The latter of these sites contains coffins and thus indicates the village coexisted with Birka, survived it, and continues to exist. There were nine farmyards in the village until around 1900, when four of them had to move, and three remain today. Most of the existing buildings are from the early 20th century, with a few individual buildings a century or so older.

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