Viking chieftain's burial ship excavated in Scotland after 1,000 years

kiwi_2005 · 10-19-11, 01:46 AM

Viking chieftain's burial ship excavated in Scotland after 1,000 years.

Timber fragments and rivets of vessel, and deceased's sword and shield, unearthed undisturbed on Ardnamurchan peninsula

Quote:

A Viking ship, which for 1,000 years has held the body of a chieftain, with his shield on his chest and his sword and spear by his side, has been excavated on a remote Scottish peninsula – the first undisturbed Viking ship burial found on the British mainland.

The timbers of the ship found on the Ardnamurchan peninsula – the mainland's most westerly point – rotted into the soil centuries ago, like most of the bones of the man whose coffin it became.
However the outline of the classic Viking boat, with its pointed prow and stern, remained. Its form is pressed into the soil and its lines traced by hundreds of rivets, some still attached to scraps of wood.
An expert on Viking boats, Colleen Batey from the University of Glasgow, dates it to the 10th century.

At just 5m long and 1.5m wide, it would have been a perilously small vessel for crossing the stormy seas between Scandinavia, Scotland and Ireland. But the possessions buried with him suggest the Viking was a considerable traveller. They include a whetstone from Norway, a bronze ringpin from Ireland, his sword with beautifully decorated hilt, a spear and a shield which survive only as metal fittings, and pottery.

He also had a knife, an axe, and a bronze object thought to be part of a drinking horn. Dozens of iron fragments, still being analysed, were also found in the boat.

more here
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/20...?newsfeed=true

In before Vendor

Sailor Steve · 10-19-11, 11:29 AM

Cool! New finds are always awesome.

Gerald · 10-19-11, 11:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kiwi_2005

Viking chieftain's burial ship excavated in Scotland after 1,000 years.

Timber fragments and rivets of vessel, and deceased's sword and shield, unearthed undisturbed on Ardnamurchan peninsula

more here
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/20...?newsfeed=true

In before Vendor

Good one,

Egan · 10-19-11, 01:48 PM

Some cool stuff about. Further north, in the Cape Wrath area, I've heard plenty of rumours over the years of at least four of these funerary ships buried in the vicinity of a place called Sandwood Bay. I don't know whether they are really there or not but the Vikings certainly held the area in special renown and large swathes of the north west have stronger Norse influences than anything else.

In the area I grew up, in the estate just across the road from the house I grew up in, in fact, A huge battle had been fought in the 9th or 10th century between a confederacy of local clans under the leadership of a 'king' called Dunacht against Vikings who had come inland, mostly navigating along the river Spey from it's mouth on the Murray firth, and then continuing overland.

A few miles further south, in an old, old church yard on the shores of loch Laggan (which itself contains small islands upon which several Pictish kings were buried) are the graves of Christianized Norse settlers from the 11th and 12th centuries - some of them still have their original headstones as well. I don't think the church yard has public access. I only ever got to see them because my friend was commissioned to do some sketches and painting of them for a book that was being written. Certainly virtually no one else I've spoken to seems to know that they are there.

This story is very, very interesting. Cheers.

Jimbuna · 10-19-11, 02:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kiwi_2005

Viking chieftain's burial ship excavated in Scotland after 1,000 years.

Timber fragments and rivets of vessel, and deceased's sword and shield, unearthed undisturbed on Ardnamurchan peninsula

more here
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/20...?newsfeed=true

In before Vendor

Your kidding....surely?

A popular staging area for the Vikings apparently.

AVGWarhawk · 10-19-11, 02:32 PM

Finds like this always make me wonder how this person died, what was it like the day he was buried and what did he do in his life.

Jimbuna · 10-19-11, 02:42 PM

Most likely his hobbies included killing, raping and pillaging

Diopos · 10-19-11, 02:57 PM

Boy, that ferry to Trondheim was really late, after all ...

.

papa_smurf · 10-19-11, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jimbuna

Most likely his hobbies included killing, raping and pillaging

Like this well know "Viking"

Jimbuna · 10-19-11, 03:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by papa_smurf

Like this well know "Viking"

That be him

AVGWarhawk · 10-19-11, 06:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jimbuna

Most likely his hobbies included killing, raping and pillaging

Crush your enemy. See him driven before you....you get the picture.

Gerald · 10-19-11, 03:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jimbuna

Your kidding....surely?

A popular staging area for the Vikings apparently.

10-19-11, 11:29 AM	#2
Sailor Steve Eternal Patrol Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: High in the mountains of Utah Posts: 50,369 Downloads: 745 Uploads: 249	Cool! New finds are always awesome. __________________ “Never do anything you can't take back.” —Rocky Russo

10-19-11, 02:32 PM	#6
AVGWarhawk Lucky Jack Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: In a 1954 Buick. Posts: 28,253 Downloads: 90 Uploads: 0	Finds like this always make me wonder how this person died, what was it like the day he was buried and what did he do in his life. __________________ “You're painfully alive in a drugged and dying culture.” ― Richard Yates, Revolutionary Road

10-19-11, 02:42 PM	#7
Jimbuna Chief of the Boat Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: 250 metres below the surface Posts: 190,473 Downloads: 63 Uploads: 13	Most likely his hobbies included killing, raping and pillaging __________________ Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something. Oh my God, not again!!

10-19-11, 02:57 PM	#8
Diopos Ace of the Deep Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Athens, the original one. Posts: 1,226 Downloads: 9 Uploads: 0	Boy, that ferry to Trondheim was really late, after all ... . __________________ - Oh God! They're all over the place! CRASH DIVE!!! - Ehm... we can't honey. We're in the car right now. - What?... er right... Doesn't matter! We'll give it a try anyway!

10-19-11, 01:48 PM	#4
Egan Admiral Join Date: Sep 2001 Posts: 2,020 Downloads: 15 Uploads: 0	Some cool stuff about. Further north, in the Cape Wrath area, I've heard plenty of rumours over the years of at least four of these funerary ships buried in the vicinity of a place called Sandwood Bay. I don't know whether they are really there or not but the Vikings certainly held the area in special renown and large swathes of the north west have stronger Norse influences than anything else. In the area I grew up, in the estate just across the road from the house I grew up in, in fact, A huge battle had been fought in the 9th or 10th century between a confederacy of local clans under the leadership of a 'king' called Dunacht against Vikings who had come inland, mostly navigating along the river Spey from it's mouth on the Murray firth, and then continuing overland. A few miles further south, in an old, old church yard on the shores of loch Laggan (which itself contains small islands upon which several Pictish kings were buried) are the graves of Christianized Norse settlers from the 11th and 12th centuries - some of them still have their original headstones as well. I don't think the church yard has public access. I only ever got to see them because my friend was commissioned to do some sketches and painting of them for a book that was being written. Certainly virtually no one else I've spoken to seems to know that they are there. This story is very, very interesting. Cheers.