60G REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1891. 



fully discus.siMl later on; they are the Tune ship and the Gokstad ship, 

 both found in Norway. 



TheYendel ( Upland) &ort/.v.'— In 1S82 Mr.Hjahnar Stolpe, of the Arch- 

 aeological Museum at Stockhohn, in excaNatiiig a number of graves at 

 Vendel, in Upland, about 40 kilometers north of IJpsala, discovered the 

 remains of several boats, of which he published a preliminary report 

 in 1883.2 The boats were found below the level of the ground, without 

 any mound having been erected over them. Of the boats nothing but 

 the rivets remained, but, as they were lying in regular rows, it was 

 possible to reconstruct the shape of the boats. They were found at 

 different depths, from 2 to C feet, one boat in each grave. They were 

 tilled up with skeletons of domestic animals, kitchen utensils, etc., in 

 the stem, and amidsliips the skeleton of a warrior surrounded by his 

 weapons was found; that is, such was origiiuilly the arrangen)ent in 

 all the graves, but, unfortunately, most of them had been i)lun(lered of 

 their valuables. Only one of the eleven graves was intact; in most 

 cases, however, the rivets were left in their places, the ])iund('ring of 

 the graves being confined only to the spot where the warrior and the 

 more valuable })ieces of his equipiix'jit were to be found. On such spots 

 the rivets were fouiul without any order, from the surface down to the 

 bottom. In all other parts of the boats the rivets were lying in ])arallel 

 rows, showing very distinctly the shape of a boat or small vessel, 

 sharp at both ends. In most cases nine or ten rows of rivets are to l)e 

 seen, indicating that the boats were constructed of at least four planks 

 on every side. The rivets are generally about 2 inches in length; only 

 in two boats three larger rivets (about 4 inches) were found close to 

 the stems; in sonue instances they were connected with pieces of iron 

 bands, but as they were found in the places destroyed by the treasure 

 hunters their use can not now be stated. They may have served in 

 connecting the keel Avith the sternpost. 



In boat 1 the stern was destroyed by laborers in 1881, when the grave 

 was discovered, and the other parts of the vessel were so covered up 

 with skeletons (three horses, one bull, one ram, two dogs, one sheei), 

 two big pigs, etc.) that it was impossible to construct a pl-an from the 

 rivets in situ. From the length of the grave it is concluded that the vessel 

 measured about 30 or 35 feet in length and perhaps 8 feet in width. 



No. 2, plundered and destroyed, to conclude from certain tacts, by the 

 laborers who built a church close by in A. D. 1300; the boat can not 

 have exceeded 24 feet in length. 



No. 3 may have been 25 feet long, l)ut the part left uninjured by the 

 grave-robbers was too much covered Avitli skeletons of animals (the rule 

 is tliree to four horses on the starboard side, the bull in the stern, and 

 the smaller animals on the p(ut side) to ])ermit the surveying of the 

 rivets; and when the skeletons were broken up the rivets were dislo 

 cated. 



' Communicated by Mr. Hjalmar Stolpe, in alerter of 24tli of May. 1892, 

 ^Autiquarisk Tidskrift, Vol, viii, X883. 



