A 1,200-year-old Viking cemetery with burials on "stone ships" was found in Sweden. Photo

Archaeologists in southern Sweden have discovered a Viking cemetery with boat-shaped burial contours. The find included more than 100 graves and several mounds.

According to Live Science, this happened when researchers were excavating to find an ancient settlement. However, the settlement associated with the cemetery has not yet been found.

The excavations began in 2017. Initially, the cemetery was found in the village of  Tvååker in southwestern Sweden before the planned construction of a road. The name is mentioned in historical sagas, but the above-ground remains of this particular cemetery have been lost to time.

"The problem is that the land was plowed and leveled to create pastures, so all the above-ground remains and burials were plowed to pieces. When the excavations began, we realized that there was a large Viking burial site that we should focus on," said project leader Petra Nordin, an archaeologist at the National Historical Museum of Sweden.

The archaeologists found the remains of 139 graves, many of which included human and animal bones, metal accessories, and ceramic vessels, as well as large stones that were strategically placed around several boat-shaped graves. According to Nordin, one burial was particularly well appointed: "The grave contained 17 vessels, human and animal bones, as well as wicker weights and iron arrowheads," she said.

In this common burial ritual from the Viking Age (793-1066 AD), the body was burned on a funeral pyre. Animals such as cows and pigs were then placed on top as food offerings, and the grave was closed. A ring of large stones in the shape of the outline of a ship could also be built around the grave, the so-called stone ship.

The archaeologists also discovered a fragment of a silver coin from Arabia, which they dated to between 795 and 806, giving an overall time frame for the burial site. A full report on the cemetery excavations completed to date was published in 2023. However, the settlement associated with the cemetery has not yet been found.

"Is the village located at the mouth of the Tvååker River, or near the burial site? We don't know. But it is very interesting to see what else we will find in the future," the archaeologist said.

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