The Lilleberge Viking Burial or ''Lilleberge Ship Burial'' is a major hoard of
Viking
Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9â ...
objects found in a barrow at Lilleberge in
Namdalen
Namdalen () is a Districts of Norway, traditional district in the central part of Norway, consisting of the municipalities of Namsos Municipality, Namsos, Grong Municipality, Grong, Overhalla Municipality, Overhalla, Røyrvik Municipality, Røyr ...
, central
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
in the late nineteenth century. Since 1891, it has been an important part of the British Museum's early medieval collection.
Discovery
Lilleberge is located in
Nord-Trøndelag
Nord-Trøndelag (; "North Trøndelag") was a counties of Norway, county constituting the northern part of the present-day Trøndelag county in Norway. It bordered the old Sør-Trøndelag ("South Trøndelag") county as well as the county of Nordl ...
county in the district of
Namdalen
Namdalen () is a Districts of Norway, traditional district in the central part of Norway, consisting of the municipalities of Namsos Municipality, Namsos, Grong Municipality, Grong, Overhalla Municipality, Overhalla, Røyrvik Municipality, Røyr ...
. A large ship
barrow in the vicinity of Lilleberge was excavated in the 1886 by the British archaeologist, Alfred Heneage Cocks. The barrow was over 40 metres in length and contained a ship that was 10 metres long. Cocks later took all the finds to England and sold them to the
British Museum
The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
in 1891.
Description
The grave group from Lilleberge represents an important assemblage of
Viking
Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9â ...
jewellery
Jewellery (or jewelry in American English) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment such as brooches, ring (jewellery), rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the ...
and other artefacts that belonged to a prominent female dignitary from the local tribe. Probably the most significant object from the burial is the almost intact
whalebone plaque which may have served as a cutting board for food or as a surface to smooth items of clothing.
Other objects from Lilleberge include a pair of copper alloy oval
brooch
A brooch (, ) is a decorative jewellery item designed to be attached to garments, often to fasten them together. It is usually made of metal, often silver or gold or some other material. Brooches are frequently decorated with enamel or with gem ...
es, necklaces made of coloured glass beads, a
spindle-whorl
A spindle whorl is a weighted object fitted to a Spindle (textiles), spindle to help maintain the spindle's speed of rotation while Spinning (textiles), spinning yarn. History
A spindle whorl may be a disk or spherical object. It is typically pos ...
, a gilded Celtic mount (that was only recently discovered in the British Museum's stores
), an iron pot stand, rivets from a Viking boat and skeletal remains from the deceased.
See also
*
Scar boat burial
The Scar boat burial is a Viking Ship burial, boat burial near the village of Scar, Orkney, Scar, on Sanday, Orkney, Sanday, in Orkney, Scotland. The burial, which dates to between 875 and 950 AD, contained the remains of a man, an elderly woman ...
for a similar whalebone plaque
*
Port an Eilean Mhòir ship burial
*
Tromsø Burial
The Tromsø Burial or ''Tromsø Grave Group'' is a significant hoard of Viking objects found near Tromsø, in the far north of Norway, in the late nineteenth century. Since 1900, the group has been part of the British Museum's early medieval col ...
*
Tumulus
A tumulus (: tumuli) is a mound of Soil, earth and Rock (geology), stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, mounds, howes, or in Siberia and Central Asia as ''kurgans'', and may be found through ...
burial from Villa Farm in
Vestnes Vestnes may refer to:
Places
*Vestnes (village), a village within Vestnes Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway
*Vestnes Municipality, a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway
*Vestnes Church, a church in Vestnes Municipality in ...
References
{{Reflist
Further reading
*Marzinzik S, "Masterpieces: Early Medieval Art", (London, British Museum Press, 2013)
*
Graham-Campbell J, ''Viking Artefacts: A Select Catalogue'', (London, British Museum Press, 1980)
*Graham-Campbell J, ''Viking Art'', Thames & Hudson, 2013
*Williams, G., Pentz, P. and Wemhoff, M. (eds), ''Vikings: Life and Legend'', (London, British Museum Press, 2014)
Medieval European objects in the British Museum
Viking ship burials
1886 archaeological discoveries
Archaeological discoveries in Norway
9th-century artifacts