Here's an excerpt of an interesting article from Sputnik International on possible Viking burial
practices. (Ed.)
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House of the Dead Unearthed in Norway
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© Sputnik / Kirill Kallinikov |
Excavations of the burial ground at one of the large medieval farms at Vinjeøra in Hemne municipality in Trøndelag in connection with the construction of the E39 road have unearthed a rare find, a Viking-Age mortuary.
The building appears to have been five metres long and three and a half metres wide. According to archaeologists, they featured poles or posts in four corners, and a planked roof. Bar some bricks, the walls and the ceiling are long gone.
“This is a very rare and interesting find”, Raymond Sauvage, archaeologist at NTNU Science Museum told national broadcaster NRK.
They made the find during excavations connected with the development of the new E39 at Vinjeøra.
Vinjeøra used to be a Viking-era settlement. Its fields contain the remains of up to seven burial mounds, largely invisible to the naked eye due to years of farming. From the air, though, traces of the burial mounds are seen. One of them has the contours of a house.
“We know that people were buried in boats. Now we understand that some also got a house with them in the grave,” Sauvage said.
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