The Ladby Ship

Facts

VIP Viking ship burial on land

By Maria Panum Baastrup, Mag.art. i forhistorisk arkæologi, København Universitet (17 stories)

The Ladby Ship was the site of Denmark's only known Viking ship burial on land. During the first half of the 900s, this large ship was pulled ashore at Ladby and buried. The body was put in the stern. During an excavation in the 1930s, traces of feathers were found. So the corpse may have been laid on a feather quilt. The bow was stuffed full of at least four dogs and 11 horses that accompanied the deceased to the other side. Then finally, the ship was covered with a mound. Most of the wood has long since rotted away but the ship can be seen as an impression" in the ground. "

Public place

Selected entry

Who was the corpse from Ladby?

Story written by Maria Panum Baastrup

Time / Periode 900 950

0 comments 0 recommendations

There's no doubt that the person buried in the Ladby Ship was a wealthy man. Very little of the skeleton is preserved but the grave gifts indicate the occupant was a man. And the grave gifts he had with him were very valuable. Some of them were exotic: A silver belt buckle from the European continent and a silver plate from the Anglo-Irish region. These international grave gifts were prestigious, and the person laid to rest must have been a VIP in his day. Sometime after the burial, grave robbers broke into the mound and destroyed many of the grave gifts by throwing them in a heap.