Why Vikings Broke the Swords of Their Dead.How Diet Reveals Sacrificed Slaves in Viking Graves.How and Why Vikings Were Buried with Their Dogs.Decapitated Horses in Great Viking Burials.The Sacrificed Children of The Great Viking Army.These unfortunate servants escorted the dead into the great beyond. Slavery was a key part of Viking life, and many Viking burial mounds include ritually butchered men and women. The living had to sacrifice not only the dead’s gold, household goods, and best clothes, but frequently the deceased’s pets, horses, and favored servants during the funeral as well. Why Viking Families Dug Up “Killed” and Reburied Their DeadĬultures all over the world practiced ritual sacrifice to prepare individuals for the afterlife, and the Vikings took these preparations seriously.Viking burials on the Isle of Mann (PDF).How the Viking’s Fish Diet Confused Carbon Dating.Viking Practice of Scattering Birds in Graves.Much of what archeologists know about Vikings’ lives comes from their deaths. People we call Vikings came from several Scandinavian cultures, and there were differences in burial rites and funeral traditions.Įssentially all Vikings, however, were at least buried with the tools and wealth they would need in the next life, wherever that may be.Ĭommon burial gifts included everyday items like pottery and good clothes alongside weapons and transportation. Their ashes filled a ceremonial urn that went in their burial mound along with grave gifts and sacrifices. Ahmad Ibn Fadhlan’s Report of a Viking Ship BurialĪlthough they weren’t burned at sea, most Vikings were cremated.It gave the dead an impression of a ship, and the community didn’t have to sacrifice one of their most valuable assets. More often, Vikings had a ship-shaped burial mound.
Not many Vikings needed an entire boat, especially compared to the needs of the living, and so very few earned a seafaring vessel in their grave goods. A Viking was buried with everything they would need for the afterlife. Still, a ship-grave was about as common to Vikings as a specialized memorial chapel is to modern Christian burials. Viking Beliefs of Predestination and Deathĭid Vikings Really Burn Their Dead in Boats?Īlthough there is some evidence a few very high-ranking individuals were burned in their boats, many more were simply buried in them.Naglfar: The Dead’s Ship of Fingernails.Viking The Four Parts of Viking Souls: The Hamr, the Hugr, the Fylgja, and the Hamingja.Odin’s Ragnarok Army: The Souls in Valhalla.
There are stories of Viking Draugr, or ghosts, actually facing lawsuits by the living and showing up to face the court! Ran took dead sailors drowned at sea, and many Norse remained in their burial homes, but the qualifications for Hel and Folkvangr are a little blurrier.Īll this goes without discussing the complexities of Norse ghosts and the walking dead. While great warriors may go to Valhalla, it wasn’t the only place a good Viking may end up.Ī dead Viking may also go to Hel, Folkvangr, the realm of Ran, or simply remain in their burial mound. Viking religion was much more complicated than pop culture leads the public to believe. Is any of that true, though? The truth of Viking death and burial is much more complicated and far stranger but no less epic. A great boat loaded with gold and silver floats out into the bay, blazing in the evening gloom as a great warrior ascends to Valhalla. A Viking funeral conjures a very specific image in the popular imagination.
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