Björnberget on Onsjön

Björnberget lies on Lake Onsjön. For your travel plans, this means a connection to the water sits alongside an archaeological history of finds, including a cooking pit and a grave site. The history of the Björnberget farm adds another, much later period. These different points in time make the area interesting for travellers who want to experience landscape and history together.

Location on Onsjön

The archaeological site is on a promontory whose steep rock faces slope down towards the water. It lies about 250 m south-southwest of the buildings at Björnberget. This adds a specific point of interest to the destination’s connection with the lake: Onsjön describes Björnberget’s location, while the direction and distance place the site in relation to the buildings. The rock formation adds a distinctive landscape feature to the site.

The cooking pit and its dating

The cooking pit was 1.15 m long, 0.8 m wide and 0.18 m deep. It was filled with heated stones, charcoal and soot. Its length exceeded its width by 35 cm; it was 18 cm deep. Considering the measurements together gives a fuller picture than describing the site by its length alone.

Radiocarbon dating of samples from the cooking pit yielded the periods 240 to 390 AD and 220 to 390 AD, respectively. Both extend to the year 390; the second period begins 20 years earlier. The results therefore indicate date ranges, not a single year. This difference matters when establishing the cooking pit’s age: the two results have the same endpoint, but not the same start.

The grave site and the farm’s history

A different period applies to the Björnberget grave site. Human bones found there, which had been burned, were dated to 670 to 880 AD. This dating is several centuries later than the periods for the cooking pit. Finds from the grave site include an axe, a small sword or dagger, a knife, fittings or a fitting strip, a brooch, parts of three whetstones and burned bones. Alongside the dating, specific objects are therefore central to the history of the finds.

Another period is the establishment of the Björnberget farm: it was founded sometime around the middle of the 19th century. This farm history is much later than the dates for the cooking pit and grave site. The three points in time should therefore be kept distinct: the cooking pit’s date ranges, the grave site’s dating and the later establishment of the farm describe different periods in Björnberget’s history.

Onsjön as a fishing lake

Onsjön is also a specific point of interest for anglers. It is listed as a fishing lake for perch, pike, grayling and whitefish. The municipal fishing brochure for 2026–2027 also lists the upper section of Onsjön among the waters covered by the Malmsjön fishing area permit. The species list and permit coverage answer different questions: one names the listed fish species, while the other identifies the upper section as covered by a fishing permit. If fishing is part of your travel plans, check the information about permits that applies to your visit in advance.

Discover more destinations: Tandsbyn

See the regional travel overview: Jämtland.