A Boat Within a Boat? A New Viking Age Burial Has Archeologists Scratching Their Heads

Archeologists discovered the woman’s burial had actually been placed within an older, pre-existing burial. Think Russian dolls, but with Viking ships.

Archeologists from the Norwegian Institute of Arts and Sciences have discovered a curious Viking Age burial containing two ships interred more than one hundred years apart. According to the team working at the site of the discovery, it appears a woman of high social status died on a farm between the years 850 and 900. Today, the farm is known as 'Skeiet' in Vinjeøra, located southwest of the Trøndelag region in Norway. The woman's clothes matched what one would expect from a high-ranking woman, with gold-plated bronze brooches and a decorated harness buckle likely made in Ireland. At first glance, the burial appeared perfectly ordinary when compared with other Viking Age burials. The woman received offerings to accompany her on her journey to the afterlife, including a pearl necklace, scissors, a spinning wheel, and even a cow's head. But what was discovered next turned the entire project on its head. Archeologists found the woman's burial nestled within an older, pre-existing grave. …