Iron Age farms around Västerås

In the Badelunda area there is a very large number of known prehistoric remains from the Iron Age, 500 BC – 1050 AD.  Just on the ridge between the church and the E18 there are around 500 visible graves.  In addition there are all those graves which are hidden under the ground.  There must be at least 2,000 graves along this short stretch of the ridge.  There has been lots of activity along the ridge.  The farms must have been near to each other. Crops were cultivated on small fields, cows and sheep grazed on pastureland, pigs and hens wandered freely around the farm-steads, children ran around and played while the adults did the daily work of the farm.

The settlements lay on what is today arable land.  The small fields lay at the edge of the ridge and the pastureland lay further away from the ridge. In Badelunda there are also settlements from the Bronze Age, 1500 – 500 BC.  They also lie out in the open countryside and show that people were farmers here early.