www.thehistoryblog.com
Viking burial with spectacular casket found in Denmark
Archaeologists have discovered a Viking Era burial ground at Lisbjerg, four miles north of Aarhus, Denmark. The graves date to the 10th century and so far they are all pagan. The burials vary in size and funerary furnishings, suggesting people of diverse social status were buried there. Several of the graves feature lavish grave goods that are so extraordinary they may be evidence of a connection to Danish royalty.
“The burial site is most likely associated with the nobleman’s farm in Lisbjerg from the Viking Age, which is located less than a kilometer from the burial site. The objects we have found in the graves tell us that the buried are people of high status – it could be the extended family from the farm itself that is buried here.”
Mads Ravn
Head of local cultural heritage at Moesgaard
Thirty graves have been uncovered thus far. The ones of highest status include grave goods like coins, beads, ceramics, and most notably, an extremely rare casket. Likely buried with a woman, the casket contains a silver filigree bead, what may be a brooch, a needle, a ribbon with gold thread and a pair of scissors 14 cm (5.5 inches) long.
The casket has been removed in a soil block so it can be excavated in laboratory conditions to preserve any surviving organic material, but an X-ray has revealed the box’s structure and its contents. It is 32 cm (12.6 inches) square and is made of wood with metal fittings on the corners, sides and crossing the top. It has an elaborate locking mechanism. There is evidence the fittings are silver-plated.
The fittings of the box visible in the X-ray are very reminiscent of the Bamberg Casket, a Viking casket decorated in the Mammen style from the second half of the 9th century. The casket is a square oak box with a domed, pyramidical lid and gilded copper fittings that frame walrus ivory plates carved with intricate, stylized birds, predators and at least one human face. It has survived in extraordinary condition because for centuries it was revered as the casket of Saint Empress Cunigunde (ca. 975-1040) at her shrine in Bamberg Cathedral. It is believed to have been created in Denmark, and similar fittings for a casket were found in 2004 in Haldum, just eight miles northwest of Lisbjerg.
“The finds in Lisbjerg are part of a series of previous fine finds in the Aarhus area. Together, they paint the picture of an aristocratic environment that was linked to royal power, and which was part of the Vikings’ vast and dynamic world,” says Kasper H. Andersen, a historian at Moesgaard specializing in the Viking Age.
News Feed (Home)
Popular Posts 
Events 
Blog 
Market 
Forum 
Go LIVE!
Headline News
VidWatch
Game Zone
Top PodCasts
