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A Viking funeral could be a considerable expense, but the barrow and the grave goods were not considered to have been wasted. In addition to being a homage to the deceased, the barrow remained as a monument to the social position of the descendants. Especially powerful Norse clans could demonstrate their position through monumental grave fields.
After the funeral, the individual could go to a range of afterlives including Valhalla (a hall ruled by Odin for the warrior elite who die in battle), Fólkvangr (ruled over by Freyja), Hel (a realm for those who die of natural causes), and living on physically in the landscape. These afterlives show blurred boundaries and exist alongside a ...
A traditional Viking ship prepared for burial contained the body of whomever owned the ship, which would then be set on fire and laid in the water, eventually taken by the winds and tides on a journey to a new life. In Norse mythology, boats were a symbol of safe passage to the afterlife, similar to the role they played in the Vikings' lives. [13]
50 Viking Corpses Crack History Books Wide Open. ssuni - Getty Images. Archaeologists recently discovered the remains of more than 50 Vikings, as well as the artifacts they were buried with, in a ...
Until recently, the history of the Viking Age was largely based on Icelandic sagas, the history of the Danes written by Saxo Grammaticus, the Primary Chronicle, and Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib. Few scholars still accept these texts as reliable sources, as historians now rely more on archaeology and numismatics , disciplines that have made valuable ...
Many tumuli in Scandinavia shows a continuation of use from Stone Age to Viking Age. In the Viking Age (and perhaps in earlier times as well) burning the deceased, was believed to transfer the person to Valhalla by the consuming force of fire. Archaeological finds testifies that the cremation fire could reach temperatures of up to 1500 °C.
Dark and dramatic depiction of the funeral of a Viking, his body being set to sea on a burning pyre. Standing on the shore, to the right of the composition, are a crowd of Viking men and soldiers with arms and weapons raised as the burning ship carrying the body is pushed out.
From amputating fingertips to making a stew of the deceased’s ashes, here are 16 fascinating funeral traditions from around the world.