Monumental burial mounds have been found across Northern Europe, and some contain ship burials, such as the iconic English site of Sutton Hoo.
Herlaugshaugen, located on the island of Leka, is one of Norway’s largest burial mounds. Thought to be the burial place of semi-mythical Norwegian king Herlaug, until now it had never been confirmed whether the mound contained a ship.
Now, excavation at the mound has uncovered wooden remains and iron rivets. Not just any rivets, they are likely clinker nails, used in shipbuilding to connect the planks of the hull. This confirms the presence of a ship in Herlaugshaugen.
The researchers were able to radiocarbon date the wooden ship remains, placing the burial around AD 700. This makes it one of the earliest ship burials in Scandinavia, dating around 100 years earlier than other examples.
This provides a chronological bridge between earlier ship burials in England, such as Sutton Hoo, which dates between AD 600 and 625, and later Viking Age ship burials in Scandinavia, dating from AD 800 onwards.
Herlaugshaugen also stands out for its location, far north of most well-known ship burials. Leka was likely a node in a much wider regional trade network, connecting northern and southern Scandinavia.
This indicates not only that monumental ship burials were taking place in Scandinavia much earlier than previously thought, but also that cultural traditions were shared across the North Sea prior to the Viking Age.