Burials in sledges.

Archaeologist dealing with Viking Age burial customs is well aware about the fact that different sorts of vehicles were used in graves as a containers or coffins or for the ritualistic purpose. The two most well known types of “vehicle” graves are boat graves and waggon case graves. The subject of today note are less known burials in sledges. They present however some interpretative issues, mostly due to the state of preservation – in most cases only iron rivets remain. Some examples, in spite of difficulties were identified.

A few of them is known from a burial site at Sala in Sweden. It was excavated in 1901, and O. Almgren probably encountered two graves in which deceased were buried in sledges. First, the grave number 3 was a burial of a woman. There is no information about whether it was covered with any sort of mound. Almgren found in it two long, interesting wooden parts, still in their original position in the grave. Even-though they were only partly preserved, He assumed that they originally were around two meters long. Both fragment were lying parallel to each other and probably were connected by other wooden elements (Almgren 1901, 9). Almgren’s workers insisted that it is a grave in which a woman was buried in a coffin, with a lid, but without a bottom. However, other interpretation, in the light of the next find is more possible, as it was more carefully excavated. Only the skull of the buried woman remained, however crushed to bits. Her teeth indicated that she was middle aged or older. She was equipped with two oval brooches type JP33/37 and one equal armed brooch ornamented in geometrical style (SK type I). Also four beads made from different materials and two round tin pendants were present in grave. In the place where probably the feet of the dead were a skeleton of a dog was found (Almgren 1901, 7-8). The combination of ornaments dates the burial to the period form around 800 to 860 (Skibsted Klæsøe 1997, 124 fig. 29).

The second grave at Sala, that was interpreted as a one containing a person buried in sledges, is grave number 4. It probably was a burial of a man, buried lying on his back, as it was visible from remaining skeletal material (the plan of the grave: Almgren 1901, 12 fig 16). The remains were placed in a interesting wooden structure, from which only fragments were preserved in their original position. The largest is around 1,8 m long and around 20 cm wide. It consists of a wooden plank, to which on one end a bended wooden element is attached, also some elements are inserted near it, probably to connect it with other similar element, that unfortunately have not been found, probably because it was earlier destroyed. Almgren describes the bended fragment as similar to a handle (Almgren 1901, 13 fig. 17). The dead man was equipped with an iron knife with rests of a wooden handle, two arrows, possibly in a quiver, a bone comb, a small cask, and a wooden bucket (Almgren 1901, 14-16).

Almgren putted forward the idea that both woman buried in grave 3 and a man buried in grave 4 were buried in sledges, however he restrained from stating it definitely, because both burial were damaged (Almgren 1901, 14).

Fortunately four years latter an other burial ground in Sweden was excavated, located in Ås in Rösta Parish, Jämtland. There an other grave, interpreted as containing an individual buried in sledges, was found. 

It was marked as Mansgraf IV and was located in western part of the site. The outer form of the grave was visible as a small, 75 cm h. mound, with diameter of 7 m, covered with small trees and bushes (Kjellmark 1906, 364). Under the mound, more or less in it’s central part a big block of limestone was found. It covered traces of a pit, in which parts of a man’s, dog's and horse skeletons were found. The human remains were buried with head pointing north, and horse was buried with head pointing south, on right side of the dead person (Kjellmark 1906, 365 fig. 18). On the right side of the buried individual also remains of a bucket wit iron handle were found. Other grave goods consisted of a part of a woman's ornament, a part of an Arabic silver coin dating to 943/944 (Zacharissson 2006,  20)  and a bronze scale with a weight in a wooden box, that probably was placed in a leather bag, a iron shield boss, a 33 cm long whetstone, an iron sword Petersen’s type X, with grip ornamented with a bone plate. Also a traces of wooden scabbard were found on the sword together with bronze ferrule, ornamented in Jelling style. Other weapons consisted of eight iron arrowheads, from which one was chisel formed, and one was blunt ended and made of bone. Laying on the skeleton a bone comb was found and a large number of ornamented bronze mounds, also pieces of textiles were found together with two bear claws and three small flint pieces. They were laying in a vicinity of bronze mounds  that are now identified as ornaments belonging to a leather bag (Zacharisson 2006, 19).  Near the remains of the horse a bit was found, an iron axe head of probably Petersen’s type G or F, and what is most important an ring being a piece of a hook for towing, three iron mounds and thirty seven nails were excavated (Kjellmark 1906, 365-370).

Very similar implements, suggesting a vehicle that had to be towed, were found in Mansgraf III. located in older mound in the southeastern part of cemetery. In it’s northern part a man’s skeleton lying on its back, aligned northwest-southeast, with head pointing north was discovered. The man was equipped with bronze scales, probably also kept in some sort of container, because pieces of textiles and fur were found close to it, with a small bone plate that probably formed it’s bottom (Kjellmark 1906, 360). Probably kept together with the scales were fragments of silver coins and ornaments. The coins were identified as minted by Olof Skötkonugr (994-1022), Ethelred (978-1016) and Kunt(1016-1035) (Kjellmark 1906. 360). Also five spherical weights made of bronze and iron were found, and one cubic made of iron. But the buried man was equipped with more than just tools for trading. He probably was laid to the grave with an axe with a broad edge and a iron knife. A very interesting thing found in the grave were three small bells made of iron. They might have been a part of same horse harness, as bit made of iron, and mounds made of iron covered with silver. Also a bronze ornamented part of a yoke was present in the grave. Probably also contacted with horses were two crampons, made to facilitate moving on ice and snow. The item that might suggest that the sledges were present in also this grave is a hook for towing, very similar to the known form Mansgraf IV (Kjellmark 1906, 363).

S.A Gräslund, in her book about burial customs at Birka, discus  a peculiar grave Bj.  1131. She mentions a Saami tradition of burring people in single runner sledges called akja. Sledges like this would be very hard to distinguish in archaeological record, because they are built in almost same manor as viking age boats, and in some cases, burials in them might look as made in a half of a boat (Gräslund 1980, 25). 

Among number of such cases she mentions grave VII from Tuna in Alsike (Gräslund 1980, 25). It was excavated by H.Stolpe in 1896 (Arne 1934, 11-12). It was described by Arne as damaged boat grave, aliened east-west (Arne 1934, 34). In it a spherical iron weight was found, a small iron plate with a piece of bronze attached to it, interpreted as a part of a box, some iron rivets and pieces of iron. Skeletal remains of a dog and human were found (Arne 1934, 34). There are some clues that allow to interpret this burial as one made in akja sledges - according to it’s plan drawing, the boat, would have had been extremely narrow.

It seems that tradition of burring people in sledges was not only restricted to area of present day Sweden. F.A Stylegar points, after Gräslund, two examples of burials in something that perviously was interpreted as parts of a boat. He numbers them Ka. 313 and Ka. 314 (Stylegar 2007, 89), but before in Blindheim publication they were numbered K/XVI and K/XVIII (Blindheim, Heyerdahl-Larssen 1995, 41-42). The burial Ka.313 was partly covered with stone packing, in its southern part (Blindheim, Heyerdahl-Larssen 1995, 41). It contained little rivets and nails, and the stem was missing, even-tough burial was described as being made in a stem part of a boat (Blindheim, Heyerdahl-Larsen 1995, 42; Stylegar 2007, 42). Parts of human skeleton were found in the structure, but it is impossible to sex the burial. It contained very few items: a sickle and a part of a key (Blindheim, Heyerdahl-Larsen 1995, 42). In grave Ka. 314 also very few goods and rivets were present, and it was also interpreted as a burial in a stem part of a boat. Only fragments of iron knife ware recovered form the burial, together with wooden pieces of it’s handle (Blindheim, Heyerdahl-Larsen 1995, 42). F.A Stylegar, insist, analyzing the form of structures found in graves, that the different type of sledges than akja was used in those burials (Stylegar 2007, 88). It is hard to argue with this evaluation, due to the poor quality of plan drawings published in Blindheim’s book.

There is also a burial identified as one containing sledges in present day Russia. It was located in an oval mound located around 300 m. south from the Plakun cemetery near Staraja Ladoga. At least four burial ceremonies were conducted on the spot, because four graves are known from the mound. The three younger graves are cremation burials, dating from 8th to 10th century, there are no evidence of usage of sledges in any of them, however interesting stretchers, made maybe from wood used previously in boat building, probably used to carry the deceased to the grave, were found (Duczko 2005, 81). The burial of interest, regarding the question of rites involving possible sledge graves is the forth burial - an inhumation, probably was created in the 10th century. The buried person was male, and together with him two horses were placed in grave. He was richly equipped in grave goods - fourteen iron arrowheads, a belt with metal mounds, a yellow glass bead, an animal head carved out of bone and some unidentifiable fragments of iron implements. There is a possibility, that the list is not complete, because part of the grave was destroyed prior to excavations (Duczko 2005, 81). Duczko claims that the man was buried on a platform made out of ship planks (Duczko 2005, 81), however a different interpretation is possible. S. Sindbæk puts forward an idea, that sledges were used in this burial. He describes the metal fragments found in the grave – there were three clinker nails, some normal nails, an iron ring with a loop (probably made to attach it to something), and three iron plates with a spike (Sindbæk 2006, 186).He bases his reasoning on comparison between iron nails used to fasten planks in waggons to those used in boats. He deduces that waggons are similar to sledges, on a basics of well preserved examples from Oseberg and Gokstad. Then he compares the length of iron rivets used in burial form mound near Plakun to those known form a burial in waggon case from grave Fyrkat 20 in Denmark. They are similar in number and form, measuring mostly around 3,5 cm, what makes burial in a structure made out of boat parts less possible (Sindbæk 2006, 186). However, it does not prove that the person was buried in sledges, because in makes burial in a waggon case equally probable. There are still some smaller clues that can support the idea that this is indeed a sledge grave. Near the skeletons of horses iron hooks, made to facilitate movement of animals on ice, were found (Sindbæk 2006, 186), what can be taken as an evidence of a winter burial, in which sledges could have been preferred over waggons that might had been hard to move in a deep snow. Also the form of burial in a waggon case seems to be restricted to the area of southern Scandinavia, mainly Denmark, moreover all sexed burials in this form probably contains women.

All burial described to this point of the blog note were inhumation burials, however, with a method of measuring nails and rivets also the cremation burials in sledges probably can be distinguished. It is an idea also followed in Sindbæk’s work, as he discus the burial mounds from Plakun cemetery. It was establish that they contain rivets from cremation burials in boats or on pyres constructed from boat parts, what proves that people buried were Scandinavians (Duczko 2005, 82; Sindbæk 2006, 185). However, this interpretation seems not to fit If the length and number of nails and rivets found is considered. If the dead were indeed buried in boats, it must had been done in small, hardly seaworthy vessels (Sindbæk 2006, 185).

There is one other example of cremation burial, in which presence of sledges is highly probable. It is located in Östergötland, in Aska, Sweden. The site was a cluster of burial mounds. Under one numbered 1 a richly furnished grave of a woman was found. Unfortunately the discovery was made accidentally by a farmer in march in 1920. The mound was around 1 m high and had a diameter of 6,4 m. Underneath it a cremation burial in a layer, located more or less under the central part of the mound, was found. The grave goods included, among others: a large number of silver pendants, some in a style that suggests their Eastern European origin, and also some very unique, as for example one shaped in form of a mans head or one depicting a woman, two oval brooches type JP 52, one of a similar type JP51, a silver trefoil brooch type SK 3, four ornamented yoke mounds made of bronze, an oriental bronze jug, parts of late Celtic hanging bowl, fragments of a comb made of bone, parts of iron cauldron, a roosting grate, an item that can be either staff for sorcery or roosting spit, and parts of harnesses for four horses, also a comb for the horses was found. However, for new interpretation of the grave the least interesting finds are important. A large number of iron mounds, rivets and nails was found. Some of them probably were elements of a wooden box, because elements that formed it’s lock were present in the grave. The most interesting find are iron hooks, that might have formed a mean of attachment of sledges to harnesses of the horses. Similar hooks are known form a very rich burial (or burials) found in the area in 1885, that, judging from items ascribed to it, contained at least one man. Also, the small number, and size of rivets speak against popular interpretation that claims it was a cremation in a boat. Arne suggest sledges, or a large box, but in light of the finds of sledging hooks the first interpretation is the most probable (Arne 1936, 67-112). The grave under the mound 1 can be dated, using the combination of ornaments to the first half of 10th century (Skibsted Klæsøe 1997. fig.29).

The phenomenon of burial in sledges seems to be well spread in Scandinavia, although most of it examples seems to be from Sweden, or areas traditionally thought to be under Swedish influence in present day Russia. However this might be a false impression, because S.A Gräslund mentions burial that might have been made in akja sledges from Danmark – from Esjeberg (Gräslund 1980, 25). I was however unable to obtain necessary articles to discuss it. The same applies to burials from Fosie in Sweden and Kvarnabacken on Åland Islands. 

It seems difficult to pin point chronology of this phenomena. A burial from Sala has been dated on basis of artifacts to 9th century, and in Mansgraf III from Ås fragments of coins minted in the 11th century were found. Most of the burial however has been dated to the 10th century.

As always, the most fun question for archaeologist is the one that can’t be answered – Who were the people buried in this strange fashion? There are some evidence that can connect this practice to the Saami, as they had buried they dead this way for centuries (Gräslund 1980, 25; DuBois 1998, 71). Also some Saami artifacts were found in Mansgraf IV - the bag with bronze mounds is identified as a form used by these people even today in traditional male dress (Zacharisson 2006, 19-28). Also a sword found in the same grave, even-though western European in form has his grip adorned with an pattern known from wooden sides of south Saami shamanic drums (Zacharison 1997, 210). Also other part of weaponry found in this grave points towards interpreting it as a Saami burial – one of the arrowheads is chisel formed, what also is a diagnostic form, and other arrowhead is especially peculiar, because it is made out of bone, and it is blunt ended. It is a specially made to hunt small animals with out damaging their precious pelts, and is also an artifact known form Saami context (Zacharisson 1997, 214). There are other evidence, that also speaks in favour for Saami interpretation of sledge graves. Recently isotopic and DNA analyses of graves form Tuna i Alsike had been conducted, that shown probable Saami ancestry of individuals buried there (Price 2008, 265). Zacharisson analysis of burial customs at Ås has proved that this cemetery was used by the Saami population (Zacharisson 2006, 24).

However Saami interpretation doesn’t go well with the reinterpretation of graves found near Staraja Ladoga. This area probably was quite far from the Saami influence. Sindbæks theory about rivets found in the mounds also makes their attribution as Norse burials questionable, because the idea that ship and boat graves are Scandinavian was the only assumption that lead to this conclusion (Duczko 2005, 82). Also burials from Aska and grave 3 from Sala are full with artifacts, for example oval brooches, traditionally linked  to Norse population. Stylegar also claims that two graves from Kaupang are not necessarily Saami, as other people could also use boat shaped sledges (Stylegar 2007, 89). It couldn’t be considered as a real argument, because it isn’t important who uses sledges on a daily basics. The important problem is who used them for burials. His claim, however rises problems combined with graves form Plakun and Aska. 

It seems that the problem of sledge graves need still a lot of research. New graves must be identified among the large number of cremations containing rivets, that usually were thought to be boat graves. Birka burials, in which items, that probably are sledge hooks, were found must be reinterpreted (Zacharisson 2006, 23). Probably on a basic of material obtained this way, work towards division in different types of sledges must be made, as it is clearly seen, even on so few examples, that there probably was a difference of social status between people buried in described graves. There might be connection between type of sledges used in burial and social position, or equipment found in the grave. It seems that the matter of sledge graves, and sledges as a mean transport is a problem highly neglected in Viking studies. Probably it is so, because they lack the appeal of boat and boat graves, that are the symbol of the Viking age.

Literature:

Almgren O.

1901 Vikingatidsgrafar i Sagån ved Sala, Fornvännen (1907) (it is possible to download the article at fornvannen.se)

Kjellmark K.

1906 Ett graffält från den yngre järnåldern i Ås i Jämtland, Ymer Tidskrift utgifven af Svenska Sällskapet för Antropologi och Geografi, Häft 4

Gräslund S.A

1980 Birka IV. The burial customs

Arne T.J

1934 Das bootgräberfelt von Tuna in Alsike, Uppland

1932 Ein Bemerkenswert fund in Östergötland, Acta archaeologica 3, 67-172

Stylegar F.A

2007 The Kaupang Cementeries Revisited, in: Kaupang in Skiringssal ed: D.Skre

Blindheim Ch., Heyerdahl-Larsen

1995 Kaupang-funnene bind II. Gravplassene i Bikjholbergene/Lamøya. Undersøkelsene 1950-1957

Sindbæk S.M

2003 Varægiske vinterruter, Fornvännen 98 (2006) (it is possible to download the article at fornvannen.se)

Duczko W.

2005 Ruś wikingów (Viking rus. Studies on the Presence of Scandinavians in Eastern Europe).

DuBois T.

1998 Nordic religions in the Viking age

Zacharisson I.

1997 Varför Samiskt? w: Möten i gränsland. Samer och germaner i Mellanskandinavien ed: Zacharisson I. et all.

2006 Väskan från Röstahammaren i Ås och gravfältets etniska tillhörighet,  Fornvännen 101 (2006) (it is possible     to download the article at fornvännen.se)

Skibsted Klæsø

1997 Vikingetidens kronologi - en nybearbejdning af det arkæologiske materiale,  Aarbøger for Nordisk Oldkyndighed og historie 1997, s 89-142