Contrary to popular impression , Scandinavian Vikings did n’t send their dead out to ocean on flare ships . When someone died , they bury the physical structure in the ground just as people have been doing across cultures for century . A late discovery sheds raw light on the Vikings ' version of the practice . AsAtlas Obscurareports , an entire Viking burial site has been unearthed by archeologist in Norway .
A resume leading up to a highway expansion divulge the site in Vinjeøra , a town located next to an ancient Viking farm . The cemetery contains several boat burials . While there ’s no evidence of Vikings ever conducting burials at sea in Scandinavia , they did sometimes load their cadavers onto boats — the boats just happened stay on demesne and act as casket rather than weak Stephanie Graf . This may have contributed to the modern Viking funeralmyth .
Among the boats , the excavation team also found the clay of 20 burial mounds , include one that was especially notable . The hillock — which had been leveled by C of farming — once get over a mortuary business firm where a physical structure was laid to rest . Archaeologists say the size and elaborate nature of the grave indicate that someone crucial , such as a tribal chief or war hero , was entomb there .
The house itself is no longer around for researchers to read , but it did leave behind a orthogonal footmark , and a few foundational stones as grounds of its existence . By study the grave hill and boat , the archaeologists hope to learn more about a radical of masses that disappeared without leaving behind any written records of their life .
Viking grave site do n’t just tell us who the Vikings revered and how they treat their dead — they can also tell us what they did for fun . Ancient sepulture boats have expose that some Vikings wereburied with board game .
[ h / tAtlas Obscura ]
