Helgö

Helgo is an island in Lake Malaren, Sweden, home to a major trading settlement that emerged around 200 AD -- five centuries before the famous Viking centre at Birka. Discovered in 1954, excavations revealed eight building groups, six cemeteries, and extensive workshops producing gold, silver, and bronze jewellery. The most extraordinary finds include a 6th-century Buddha statuette from North India, a Coptic bronze ladle from Egypt, and an Irish bishop's crozier, evidencing remarkably far-reaching trade networks.