The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-12-10
dSORSENIEN STORY.
VIKINGS OF OLD INFERRED
THEIR DEAD IN SHIPS.

t8''""y lttSlcc,S t.ic tsrccion Story of Ill
krulncrnbio Achilles
Esfrom the ancient scandinavian literature
I &c learn great deal that is interesting
#tpout the customs and manner of living of
q the hardy Norsemcn Of old. There has
been thus preserved II curious story rclat-
lug to the origin of ship burial. Those
Mold vikings, being rather more ut home
OH the water than on land, were commonly
Inferred in mounds together with their YES
sells, the great scagoiny boat sometimes
serving as Il Kind of sarcophagus for con
tanning many corpses
The model of the viking ship now Oh
exhibition in the National museum is i,
restored reproduction on Il small scale of II
big vessel that WAS found some years ago
at Gokstad, in Norway. 1t was dug out of
Il mound, which had been known for
centuries as the Kings mound, because of
Il tradition to the effect that Il royal per-
sonagc had been Inferred there with all
his treasures. IL was in the expectation of
securing The latter that the mound was
first opened by robbers, who c,rricd away
Il great deal that would have been of
interest to science and the world
The story ! speak Of refers To the age of
fable, when the scandinavian north was
pcoptcd by Il race of gods whose king was
Odin. Odin and his wife, Frcya, had two
sons, Baldcrand Thor. Bladder was bcauti-
ful and gentle and was beloved by the
gods who looked To his dreams for guild
ance He had, however, one enemy, I.oki,
the evil god. One night Bladder in Il dream
heard II voice telling him that his life was
i'll danger and in the morning, he told his
mother of ii. Trcya WAS greatly worried,
and going to all things animal, mineral
and vegetable she exactcd OF them an oath
that they would not harm Bladder.
While on her mission Frcya came to one
little plant, the mistlctoc, which appeared
TO he incapable of working harm, and thus
no oath was cXactcd of it. When lrcya
had finished her task she returned home
and told Bladder and his friends what She
had done and TIL" gods in their plays often
amused themselves by shooting arrows or
throwing stones ut his invuncrabc body
TO see them swcrvc aside just before reach
ing him. LoEi, however, being determined
to do Bladder harm, went to Frcya disguised
rs an old woman, and learned from her the
only thing that might be employed in in
jnring his enemy. Then hurrying away
he found the little mistlctoc, and carving
1t into an arrow returned TO the spot where
the gods amused themselves shooting ut
Baldr. Apart from the crowd stood Holder
the blind, and approaching him Loki in
duccd him to shoot the arrow at Bladder,
who fell Shot through the heart.
Odin mournrd three days, and then he
ordered that ialdcr's body be carried TO
the seashorc and he placed upon the ship
Stringholmi, together with his urnor.
splendid clothes, and his horse. with all it's
trappings. The ship was launched, and
fire from the friction Of the rollers burned
it, together with its contents, to ashes.
And Odin ordered that all dead men should
he burned upon their ships, together with
all their property, the remains to be col
lectcd and covered with Il mound of earth.
OF crcmatories of this Kind the ship
grave ut Moilklcbyst, Norway, affords an
excellent Illustration. The mound is To-
Gated in II plain, in full view of the sea
over which the buried ship used to bound.
All around the mound is Il ditch twelve
feet wide and three feet deep, Which, OH
the south and west, is travcrScd by bridge
like dam. The interior Cf the mound pre-
sentS two laycrs-onc of bone splnters in
tcrini%ed with soil and cindcrs, and the
other consisting of cndcrs and burned re-
mains. Over this IL number of objects were
strcWn which showed that here Il ship had
been hauled ashore and Sayly decorated
with shields around its bulwarks and with
arms and other articles of war piled up,
serving thus us the funeral pyre of it's COM
manGcr.
The remains in this instance having
been consumed they were collected in /,
fiat bronze vessel, together with some per-
sonal property of the owner, consisting of
two combs, checker men, dice and arrow
heads. This receptacle holding the re-
mains Of the dead chief was placed in an
excavation ut the bottom of the mound.
Above 1t number of articles were piled.
In an Unframed goatsllin were found the
unburned remains of animal bones, posi-
bly, the portion assigned to the dead man
from the funeral feast for his long jour
ney to Walhalla. The bottom of the
mound was covered with hundreds of
nails, mountings, mast rings, anchors,
shields and other things.
In another kind of Morse burial the body
was placed in the ship without being
burned, the entire vessel being covered
with earth so rs to form II large mound
The best known example of this style of
intcrmcnt is afforded by the buried ship ut
GokStad. An excavation of this mound
conducted with great care by opening Il
paSsageway through the middle rewarded
the scientific explorers by revealing IN
entire ship eighty feet in length In the
middle of the shipwas n large grave cham
Der of wood i'll the form of Il span roof with
gable, in which the remains of the dead
were deposited. The spot for the mound
was required to have free view of the
sea-
After digging away the soil from the
place chosen the ship was drawn thither
by horses and lowered with it's stem sea
ward into the excavation, being staie on
each side with struts. The scpuluhral
chamber was then built. When it was
ready the corpse, arrayed in state attire
and grit with arms, was drawn to the
ground, introduced into the chamber
through an opening temporarily left for
that purpose and laid on n couch within.
The opening then permanently closed.
III in |,