SAGA-BOOK - Viking Society Web Publications

262 Beowulf, Swedes and Geats
place in Swedish archaeology, because of their placement
on major trade routes, and also their agricultural richness.
One must concentrate on the heartland region of Sweden
in order to trace the development of the Geats and Swedes.
If one accepts modern Vastergotland, Ostergotland,
Dalsland (and perhaps Bohuslan) as roughly equivalent
to the former kingdom of the Gautar, and Uppland,
Sodermanland, Vastmanland and Narke as the primal
territory of the Swedes, an impression of equal prosperity
in the period from about 50 B.C. to about A.D. 550 cannot
be avoided.?" (See Figure 4.) In the Roman Iron Age
(c. 50 B.C. - A.D. 400) Roman imports are found in
approximately equal numbers in Geatish and Swedish
territory (d. Figure 5). Most of these imports date from
the third and fourth centuries, and trade apparently grew
more important later in the period.
This picture does not change significantly in the later
Iron Age (c. A.D. 400-550), the time of the great migrations
and the immediate pre-history of the events spoken about
in Beowulf. This period has been called the Golden Age
of Scandinavia, because of the plentiful supply of gold
which was available from southern sources. The greatest
hoard of gold laid down in this period was found near
Tureholmin Sodermanland in the territory of the Swedes.
But the second largest, some seven kilos of gold bullion,
came from Timboholm near Skovde in Vastergotland, as
did some of the most splendid gold collars in the
Scandinavian heritage, those from Alleberg and Mane
(see Frontispiece).
73 The extension of Geatish control before the Viking Age is very hard to
establish. The territory I list as theirs is a conservative estimate. Gwyn
Jones (op. cit., 43) describes the locale of the Geats as follows: 'Gautish origins
are to be sought in Vastergotland, but they were a strong people and spread
steadily into Ostergotland, Dalsland, Narke, Varmland and part of Smaland.'
Unfortunately, he does not cite reasons for this delimitation of Geatish
territory. S. Tunberg, in G6tarnas Rike (Vastergotland A :4, Bidrag till
landskapets kulturhistoria och naturbeskrivning, 1940), gave a much wider
extension of Geatish territory. He held that in its time of greatest prosperity,
this Geatish kingdom included all of Smaland and Oland. Bohuslan, Dalsland
and Varrnland, in addition to the original Vaster- and Ostergotland. Steuberger
says of the early Iron Age: 'Impressive cemeteries are known from many
areas, particularly the central Swedish provinces of Oster- and Vastergotland,
Oland and Gotland, but also Uppland and Varrnland' (Sweden, 1962, II9).