Viking Buried With Axe, Sword and Spear Found With Fully Intact Viking Boat Burial in UK

The UK mainland's first fully intact Viking boat burial site has been discovered by archaeologists working in the Scottish Highlands. The 5m-long grave contained the remains of a high status Viking, who was buried with an axe, a sword with a beautifully decorated hilt, a spear, shield boss and bronze ring-pin.

The Viking had been buried in a ship, whose 200 or so metal rivets were also found by the team.

The 1,000-year-old find, on the remote Ardnamurchan Peninsula, was made by the Ardnamurchan Transitions Project (ATP) which is a team led by experts from the Universities of Manchester, Leicester, CFA Archaeology Ltd and Archaeology Scotland

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Linn Duchaill: Ireland's unlikely Viking capital

A windswept barley field just south of Dundalk seems an unlikely spot for Ireland's capital. 

But if things had been different, Annagassan near Castlebellingham might have been the principal city on the island of Ireland.

Twelve hundred years ago it was the site of Linn Duchaill, one of the first Viking settlements, which rivalled Dublin in size and importance.

Folklore said it was there, but all traces of it had disappeared, until a group of archaeologists and local historians set out to prove its existence.

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Archaeology Courses at the Oxford Experience 2012

1 July to 11 August 2012

The 2012 Oxford Experience Programme is now online.

The Oxford Experience is a residential summer school held at the college of Christ Church, University of Oxford.

The programme consists of 6 weeks of courses and participants attend for one or more weeks.

It offers a choice of twelve seminars each week over a period of five weeks. Participants do not need any formal qualifications to take part, just an interest in their chosen subject and a desire to meet like-minded people.

You can also find details of the various archaeology courses offered at Oxford Experience here...

It's a new Viking invasion of Britain – but this time it's cultural

After the discovery of a Viking burial site in Scotland, Norse history and myths are the focus of a TV saga, epic novels and a major British Museum exhibition

Longboats, funeral pyres, glinting helmets and drinking horns: the discovery of a buried Viking boat in the west Highlands a few days ago has given an extra fillip to a burgeoning cultural fascination with all things Norse.

A succession of Viking literary sagas, films and television series, pieces of poetry and avant-garde art, not to mention preparations for a major British Museum show, are now all on the slipway.

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Viking boat burial site ‘could boost tourism’

THE discovery of a Viking boat burial site in the Highlands could boost tourism in the area if some of the artefacts can be retained at Ardnamurchan, it was claimed yesterday.

Local sources have confirmed that talks will be held to discuss the possibility of creating a new centre or exhibition space to house items from the burial site at Kilchoan.

Archaeologists revealed that the 16ft grave unearthed on the Ardnamurchan peninsula is the first fully-intact boat burial site to be found on the UK mainland.

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Irish ring-pin found in Viking boat burial site

A BRONZE Viking ring-pin believed to be from Ireland has been found buried with its owner in a major archaeological discovery in Scotland.

The 1,000-year-old remains of a Viking of high status in a five-metre-long boat burial site has been described as one of the most important Norse graves ever excavated in Britain.

As well as the ring-pin, which probably held his cloak, archaeologists also recovered other artefacts including an axe, a sword, a spear, what could be the tip of a bronze drinking horn and Viking pottery.

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Museums could bid for Ardnamurchan Viking finds

Museums will have the chance to bid to exhibit artefacts from the UK mainland's first fully intact Viking boat burial.

Archaeologists found the remains of a high-ranking warrior, along with a sword, axe and other items at Ardnamurchan in the Highlands.

Following analysis, the Crown is expected to eventually claim the objects on behalf of the nation.

Under treasure trove rules, museums could then apply to keep them.

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Viking secret puts Ross-shire town on map

AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL discovery in Dingwall could put the town on the international map and bring major benefits to Ross and Cromarty, experts claimed this week.

Geophysical surveys of the Cromartie car park in Dingwall town centre have revealed that it most likely is the site of the long lost meeting place of the Vikings who once ruled Ross.

The Highland Council-owned car park was closed to the public for two days last month to see if archaeologists could produce the hard evidence to back up beliefs that it was an important Viking assembly area around 1,000 years ago.

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Vikings and Scotland: 10 lesser known facts

THE discovery of the first fully intact Viking burial site in the UK - on the Ardnamurchan peninsula - has rekindled public interest in the Norse legacy on our shores.

The 16ft-long grave containing the remains of a “high-status Viking” who was buried with an axe, a sword and a spear provides a valuable insight into a period of our history which has fascinated Scots for centuries.

But the facts about the Vikings in Scotland bear little resemblence to the stereotypes of helmeted warriors pillaging the land at will. Here we delve a little deeper to examine ten lesser-known traits of our Nordic forebears.

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Found, the Viking war lord buried in his boat: 1,000-year-old tomb of Norse invader and weapons of war

Judging from the opulence of his tomb, he was a revered Viking warrior destined to take his place in Valhalla among the honoured dead.

Laid to rest in a 17ft boat with his sword, axe and bronze drinking horn, the powerful Norseman’s burial site has been discovered by archaeologists in a remote part of the Scottish Highlands.

The grave, unearthed in Ardnamurchan, is the first of its kind to be found intact on the British mainland and is thought to date from 1,000AD – the height of the ‘Second Viking Age’.

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Viking boat burial find is UK mainland first

The UK mainland’s first fully intact Viking boat burial site has been discovered by archaeologists working in the Scottish Highlands.

The 5m-long grave contained the remains of a high status Viking, who was buried with an axe, a sword with a beautifully decorated hilt, a spear, shield boss and bronze ring-pin.

The Viking had been buried in a ship, whose 200 or so metal rivets were also found by the team.

The 1,000-year-old find, on the remote Ardnamurchan Peninsula, was made by the Ardnamurchan Transitions Project (ATP) which is a team led by experts from the Universities of Manchester, Leicester, CFA Archaeology Ltd and Archaeology Scotland

Funded this season by The University of Manchester, Newcastle University and The Leverhulme Trust, the project brings together students and academics at what may be one of Britain’s most significant Viking sites. 


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A Viking treasure

A boat burial on the peninsula of Ardnamurchan, in Scotland, reveals just how noble the Vikings were.


Bad weather can have its comforts. “Bitter is the wind tonight, / It tosses the sea’s white tresses,” wrote an Irish monk more than 1,000 years ago, “I do not fear the fierce warriors of Norway, / Who only travel the quiet seas.”

A warrior of the sort he feared found his last resting place on the peninsula of Ardnamurchan, north of Mull and south of Skye. His newly discovered grave has astonished archaeologists, for it is the first Viking boat burial found on mainland Britain. There he lies with axe, sword and spear. He must have been a leader among Norsemen to gain this noble grave.

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Viking burial boat surfaces after 1,000 years

IT’S the sort of find most archaeologists spend their careers looking for, a discovery unseen by human eyes for more than a thousand years.

The first fully intact Viking boat burial site ever uncovered on the UK mainland has been found on the Ardnamurchan peninsula in Lochaber.

The 16ft-long grave contained the remains of a “high-status Viking” who was buried with an axe, a sword and a spear.

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Viking artefacts show 'high-status' burial

Archaeologists have discovered a Viking boat burial site in the Scottish Highlands.

The grave contained the remains of a high-ranking warrior with his axe, his sword, and his spear.

The find at Ardnamurchan is thought to be more than 1,000 years old.

Dr Oliver Harris from the University of Leicester said the burial artefacts belonged to a high-status individual.

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Britain’s first intact Viking boat burial site unearthed

A VIKING boat burial site, believed to be more than 1000 years old, has been discovered by archaeologists.

The 16-and-a-half foot long grave contained the remains of a high-status Viking who was buried with an axe, sword and spear.

The incredible discovery on the remote Ardnamurchan Peninsula in the Highlands is the first intact boat burial site to be uncovered on the UK mainland.

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Ardnamurchan Viking boat burial discovery 'a first'

The UK mainland's first fully intact Viking boat burial site has been uncovered in the north-west Highlands, archaeologists have said.

The site, at Ardnamurchan, is thought to be more than 1,000 years old.

Artefacts buried alongside the Viking in his boat suggest he was a high-ranking warrior.

Archaeologist Dr Hannah Cobb said the "artefacts and preservation make this one of the most important Norse graves ever excavated in Britain".

Dr Cobb, from the University of Manchester, a co-director of the project, said: "This is a very exciting find."


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Viking chieftain's burial ship excavated in Scotland after 1,000 years

Timber fragments and rivets of vessel, and deceased's sword and shield, unearthed undisturbed on Ardnamurchan peninsula

A Viking ship, which for 1,000 years has held the body of a chieftain, with his shield on his chest and his sword and spear by his side, has been excavated on a remote Scottish peninsula – the first undisturbed Viking ship burial found on the British mainland.

The timbers of the ship found on the Ardnamurchan peninsula – the mainland's most westerly point – rotted into the soil centuries ago, like most of the bones of the man whose coffin it became.

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Viking axe excavated after 1,000 years – video

Oliver Harris of the University of Manchester lifts the axe in a soil block from a 1,000-year-old boat burial of a Viking chief. The boat burial is the only undisturbed one ever found on the British mainland

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Modern Viking

Andrew Saur combines art and heritage to create special Nordic-inspired art.

Art was a part of Andrew Saur’s life since he was a child – he still has a sketch of a Viking ship he did as an eight-year-old. He grew up in on the shores of Lake Superior in Two Harbors, Minn., where many Nordic immigrants settled over a century ago. Saur discovered graphic design in college, and realized it was a perfect fit for his interest in computers and fine art.

Today Saur and his wife Angel Sarkela-Saur have traveled to the Nordic countries several times, engaging in the culture and seeing where their ancestors came from (both have different combinations of Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish heritage). The young couple is based in Duluth, Minn., and together they create one-of-a-kind art with Nordic inspiration.

“From church to bazaars, the heritage is everywhere,” said Sarkela-Saur.

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Converting the Isles

On Friday and Saturday 23 - 24 September 2011, the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic (University of Cambridge) hosted a two-day interdisciplinary conference on conversion to Christianity in North West Europe. It featured papers by an international group of historians, archaeologists and philologists, who were given a unique forum in which to explore conversion comparatively by focusing on different parts of Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia and Iceland in the early and central middle ages. The combination of places chosen for the discussion reflects our wish to establish a wide comparative framework, covering areas that are of significance to the study of conversion in both the pre-Viking and the Viking era. The talks were recorded and audio podcasts will be posted online soon.


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