LEKA, NORWAY—Central Norway’s large Herlaugshaugen burial mound was first excavated in the late eighteenth century, but the iron rivets, bronze cauldron, animal bones, and seated skeleton with a sword said to have been found there disappeared in the early 1920s. According to a statement released by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), a new survey of the mound has determined that it contained a ship burial dated to A.D. 700, based upon the size and age of recovered ship nails. “This is called the Merovingian period and [it] precedes the Viking Age,” said Geir Grønnesby of the NTNU University Museum. “This dating is really exciting because it pushes the whole tradition of ship burials [in this region] quite far back in time,” he explained. Lars Forseth of Trøndelag County Authority added that the mound is located along a shipping route, and that whetstones from the region are known to have been traded in Europe as early as the middle of the eighth century A.D. Further research will look into a possible connection between the Herlaugshaugen burial mound and the Merovingian ship burials at Vendel and Valsgärde in Sweden, and the Sutton Hoo ship burial in England. To read about Viking ship burials, go to "Sailing the Viking Seas."
