Contrary to the image of the Viking funeral in a burning ship floating off into the sea, the ships, instead of being burned were buried. The most famous one is the Oseberg Ship burial in Norway #Vikings
The burial is dated to 834AD. The ship which had been buried in a mound was nearly 22 meters long. It contained an enormous number of grave goods including beds, chests, buckets but remarkably the skeleton of a peacock #Vikings
It also contained 3 full-size sleighs, a full size wagon and best of all a tapestry which allows us to have a look at what these early Vikings might have believed about the otherworld #Vikings
The skeleton of a dog, a horse and an ox which were probably ritually killed for the funeral were also on board. The tapestry seems to show a funeral scene being attended by the Norse gods being drawn in wagons #Vikings
The wagon found on board the Oseberg ship is decorated with carvings of cats, and we’ll remember that cats pulled the cart of the goddess Freya. Whoever is buried here is very important #Vikings
The burials in the ship were two women. As well as the dog, horse and ox, the skeletons of fourteen other horses, five dogs and another cow were discovered. One of the women was over 70 while her companion was 50 #Vikings
If the animals were ritually slaughtered, was one of the woman the victim of human sacrifice, perhaps killed to accompany her mistress to the otherworld. #Vikings
A 10th century traveller from Baghdad wandered across a Viking funeral somewhere in Russia and leaves an account to it. He tells how animals were slaughtered to accompany the dead warrior #Viking
Horrifyingly, he says that a slave girl was given the “Honour” to accompany her master and an old woman “the angel of death” cut the girl’s throat. She was then buried with the dead warrior and his animals #Viking
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