Lilleberge Viking Burial
| Lilleberge Viking Burial | |
|---|---|
.JPG) Whalebone plaque from the Lilleberge grave group as displayed in the British Museum | |
| Size | Ht 23 cm, Width 20 cm |
| Created | 9th-10th Centuries AD |
| Period/culture | Viking |
| Present location | British Museum |
| Identification | 1891,1021.67 |
The Lilleberge Viking Burial or Lilleberge Ship Burial is a major hoard of Viking objects found in a barrow at Lilleberge in Namdalen, central Norway in the late nineteenth century. Since 1891, it has been an important part of the British Museum's early medieval collection.[1]
Discovery
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Lilleberge is located in Nord-Trøndelag county in the district of Namdalen. 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 in 1891.
Description
[edit]The grave group from Lilleberge represents an important assemblage of Viking jewellery 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[2] 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 brooches, necklaces made of coloured glass beads, a spindle-whorl, a gilded Celtic mount (that was only recently discovered in the British Museum's stores[3]), an iron pot stand, rivets from a Viking boat and skeletal remains from the deceased.
See also
[edit]- Scar boat burial for a similar whalebone plaque
- Port an Eilean Mhòir ship burial
- Tromsø Burial
- Tumulus burial from Villa Farm in Vestnes
References
[edit]- ^ British Museum Collection
- ^ British Museum Highlights
- ^ "Looted Viking treasure is discovered in British Museum store". The Guardian. 2014-01-05. Archived from the original on 2023-06-24.
Further reading
[edit]- 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)