A 'ship burial' or 'boat grave' is a
burial in which a
ship or
boat is used either as a container for the dead and the grave goods, or as a part of the grave goods itself. If the ship is very small, it is called a boat grave. This style of burial was used in the
Vendel era and by the
Anglo Saxons, the
Merovingians, the
Vikings and occasionally the
Ancient Egyptians. This burial was seen as a way for the dead to sail to
Valhalla, ship burial was a high honour.
Examples of ship burials
★
Khufu ship,
Giza pyramid complex (
Fourth Dynasty)
★
Gokstad, Norway
★
Ladby, Denmark
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Oseberg, Norway
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Snape, East Anglia, England
★
Sutton Hoo, East Anglia, England
★ Balladoole and Knock-e-Dooney Viking ship burials on the
Isle of Man
★
Tune, Norway
★
Valsgärde, Sweden
★
Vendel, Sweden
★
Rurikovo gorodishche near
Novgorod
★
Sarskoye Gorodishche near
Rostov
★
Timerevo near
Yaroslavl
★
Black Grave near
Chernigov
★
Ibn Fadlan gives an eye-witness account of a
10th century ship burial.
See also
★
Stone ship
★
Solar barge
★
Chariot burial