references for finding elements of the ancient history of Scandinavian people and their religious customs and beliefs. Birka speculations The town Birka is also known from the Vita Ansgari, in which Ansgar founds a mission in the town. It is commonly referred to being on Björkö island in the lake Mälaren. This location is a World Heritage Site and a popular tourism attraction. According to the Västgöta theory, Birka as a name meant "merchant town", and could refer to any such town in ancient Sweden. Ubsola speculations Upsalir, or Ubsola, was the main cult center of pagan (heathen) Ása-faith in ancient Scandinavia and Sweden. The ancient Upsalir was described by Adam of Bremen in the 11th century, and by Snorri Sturluson in the 13th century. It is generally considered to correspond to modern-day Uppsala, with its location on Uppsala's old location – Old Uppsala, in east Sweden, the habitat of the ancient tribe called Suiones (Swedes). The Västgöta school however claims that the original site for the temple was located in West Sweden, in the habitat of the ancient Geats (Götar), the tribe which came to name Västergötland. There are however no archeological findings that support the view of Västergötland being the original site of Ubsola, and therefore the views of the Västgöta theory have little or no actual credibility. The theory's Nazi origin The Götaland theory was the only notable result of the Nazi infiltration of Swedish archaeology during 1933–1945. Carl-Otto Fast, founder of the Westrogothian School ("Västgötaskolan"), was a known Nazi who some claim collaborated with SS Ahnenerbe, Richard Walther Darré and eugenicists from Hadamar in Germany. Archaeologist Magnus Alkarp, who has studied classified and semi-classified documents from the post-war era, has showed that the Westrogothian School was, among some regional, right-wing separatists movements in Scandinavia, an important part of the Operation Gladio. Testing the theory Amateurs have unsuccessfully tried to prove what they consider important aspects of the Götaland theory several times,. The barrow at Skalunda was claimed to be the burial site of the hero Beowulf known from the Beowulf epic; by applying the dowsing technique with a pendulum, they established that the barrow was indeed the burial site of this Geatish hero. Later, professional archaeologists Later drilled into the barrow to extract a sample for C14 dating. The barrow was from around 700 A.D., about 150 years too late for being a candidate for Beowulf's