Heavy Thor Hammer, 29 x 46 x 9 mm, 925 Antique Silver plating, Two-faced design
Sweden, as well as the adjacent country Norway, has a high concentration of petroglyphs (hällristningar[2] in Swedish) throughout the country, with the highest concentration in the province of Bohuslän and around Gamleby and Västervik in northern county of Kalmar, also called "Tjust" (Petersson 2009). The earliest images can, however, be found in the province of Jämtland, dating from 5000 BC.[3] They depict wild animals such as elk, reindeer, bears and seals.[citation needed] The period 2300–500 BC was the most intensive carving period[citation needed], with carvings of agriculture, warfare, ships, domesticated animals, etc.. Also, petroglyphs with themes of sexual nature have been found in Bohuslän; these are dated from 800–500 BC.
For centuries, the Swedes were merchant sea men well known for their far-reaching trade. In the 9th century, Nordic Vikings raided and ravaged the European continent as far as the Black and Caspian Seas. During the 11th and 12th centuries, Sweden gradually became a unified Christian kingdom that later included Finland. Until 1060 the kings of Uppsala ruled most of modern Sweden except the southern and western coastal regions, which remained under Danish rule until the 17th century. After a century of civil wars a new royal family emerged, which strengthened the power of the crown at the expense of the nobility, while giving the nobles privileges such as exemption from taxation in exchange for military service. Finland was taken over. Sweden never had a fully developed feudal system, and its peasants were never reduced to serfdom.
Viking expeditions (blue): depicting the immense breadth of their voyages throughout most of Europe, North Atlantic and Mediterranean
The Vikings from Sweden mainly traveled east into Russia. The large Russian mainland and its many navigable rivers offered good prospects for merchandise and, at times, plundering. During the 9th century, extensive Scandinavian settlements began on the east side of the Baltic Sea.
About 1000, the first king known to rule over both Svealand and Götaland was Olof Skötkonung, but the further history is obscure with kings whose periods of regency and actual power is unclear. In the 12th century, Sweden was still consolidating with the dynastic struggles between the Erik and Sverker clans, which finally ended when a third clan married into the Erik clan and founded the Folkunga dynasty on the throne. This dynasty gradually consolidated a pre-Kalmar-Union Sweden to an actual nation, which essentially fell apart after the Black Death.
The conversion from Norse paganism to Christianity was a complex, gradual, and at times possibly violent (see Temple at Uppsala) process. The main early source of religious influence was England due to interactions between Scandinavians and Saxons in the Danelaw, and Irish missionary monks. German influence was less obvious in the beginning, despite an early missionary attempt by Ansgar, but gradually emerged as the dominant religious force in the area, especially after the Norman conquest of England. Despite the close relations between Swedish and Russian aristocracy (see also Rus'), there is no direct evidence of Orthodox influence, possibly because of the language barrier.
