THE SEPl'l.rintAl. >////' AT GOKSTAD. 



Men were sometimes buried in a ship's boat. 



'' Ingimund was laid in the boat of the ship Slig;mdi, and 

 his body prepared honourably as was the custom with high- 

 born men. Thorstein said to his brothers : It seems to me 

 right that we shall not sit in our lather's seat at home, or at 

 feasts, while his slaying is unavenged.' This they did, and 

 neither went to games nor other gatherings" (Vatnsdirla 

 Saga, 22). 



One of the most valuable discoveries, showing the burial of 

 a warrior in a ship without his body being burned, is that' of 

 the Gokstad ship. 



Very few things in the North have impressed me more than 

 the sight of this weird l mausoleum, the last resting-place of 

 a warrior, and as I gazed on its dark timber I could almost 

 imagine that I could still see the gory traces of the struggle 

 and the closing scene of burial when he was put in the 

 mortuary chamber that had been made for him on board the 

 craft he commanded. 



The warrior had been buried according to his position in 

 life ; remains at least of twelve skeletons of horses were found 

 in different parts of the mound on each side of the ship ; there 



1 Other ship-graves, such as that of 

 Tune, Borre, &c., have been found with 

 skeletons of horses. 



Among other ships found is the Gun- 

 nai>haug ship, discovered in Bergen Stift 

 in 1887. The large mound in which it 

 was found had a diameter of over 125 

 feet, and stood about 500 feet from the 

 sin in.-. 



The ship was only partly preserved 

 owing to the action of the soil. Its 

 planks were of oak, thicker and less 

 broad than those of the Gokstad ship, 

 fastened by clinch-nails. In the upper- 

 most planks, considerably thinner than 

 the rest, there are holes at distances of 

 a little over 3 feet. Its keel is about 

 the same length as that of the Gokstad 

 ship. 



It stood north to south, and has been 

 supported by six stones, each about 6 feet 

 high. Its inside has been clothed with 

 a layer of moss, evidently to hinder decay 

 by the soil, and on one side of it was a 

 heap of shavings, chips and bark, lelt by 

 the carpenters. There are reasons for 

 thinking that a wooden roof had been 



erected over the ship, and afterwards 

 broken down. 



Of the Viking's body no trace is left, 

 but the remains found indicate his place 

 in the middle of the ship; these are two 

 swords, forging-tools, five long whetting- 

 stones, a tinder-box and pieces of a wooden 

 box. Farther north: several large brad- 

 of mosaic glass and fine chesspieces of 

 amber ami coloured glass, part of a 

 waxen tablet, a bracelet of gold, &c. 



Near the weapons lay an iron kettle 

 and both the stones of a hand-mill, which 

 shows that the Vikings ground their 

 grain at sea. The stem was filled with 

 rust. 



Oars and carved tools were also found, 

 and planks of an exceedingly well-built 

 boat of oak, over which there lay a fir 

 plank, several feet long, with steps cut 

 in it, evidently a landing-board (cf. Gok- 

 stad ship). 



This is the first burial-place found in 

 Bergen Stift where the body was un- 

 Imnit, but they are common further 

 south. 



