The Swedish ghost town that was abandoned twice unearthed 400 years later

A city in Sweden has been hiding another city under it for over 400 years and was only recently discovered. Gothenburg, the second-largest city in the country, has revealed the lost Late Middle Ages city of Nya Lödöse. This ancient city started taking shape in the late 1400s and became a ghost town by 1624. According to Arkeologerna, the State Historical Museums, archaeologists found the southern part of Nya Lödöse in the excavations. The city had an earthen rampart, a moat, foundations of a house on the street and a fortified southern gate. Researchers say this city was abandoned not once but twice. In the initial days, it served as an agricultural site, around the late 1400s, while the rampart and moat were likely built around 1530. But around 17 years later, the inhabitants left the city and shifted to Alvsborg.

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However, they returned after a couple of decades to Nya Lödöse and built forts around it. They built the southern entrance again with a stone-paved gate. It acted as a crucial entry point into the city because the main street was north-south and went towards the Säveån River. Archaeologists also unearthed a building here, which might have acted as a tollhouse for the gate, while timber still lined the gate's site. The southern part of the city did not have as much population as the north. But evidence suggests that even so, the houses were nicely built within the rampart and on the main street.

Why was Nya Lödöse abandoned?

Excavations also threw light on the life of people here, with ceramics, bones, coins, glass, wooden objects, and tools offering a crucial insight. But then in 1621, Gothenburg was founded nearby and was a better prospect for trading and defence because of the location. By 1624, Nya Lödöse had reached its end. According to the Museum of Gothenburg, even though the new city was under the control of Sweden, the Danish king exercised control over some counties nearby. It had high earthen banks and a moat, which led people to move there. It only took three years for Nya Lödöse to be completely abandoned. Later, Gothenburg's industrial area was built over the lost city in the 1870s.