Viking Burial Sites Give Clues to Ritual, Religion

The average person tends to view the civilizations of the Vikings as being chock-full of pillaging, plundering barbarians. However, anyone who's studied their culture knows there is a bit more to them than meets the eye; Viking settlements have yielded evidence of music, home life, pottery, and more. Neil Price, Chair of Archaeology at the University of Aberdeen, says his findings go even further, thanks to a study of thousands of excavated Viking graves. Price says that evidence indicates that graveside rituals were performed at burials, in which stories about the deceased's life -- and his death -- were presented as an elaborate theatrical performance. This presentation was designed as a way to escort the dead into the next world.

Analysis of the burial sites revealed all kinds of things being sent along with the dead into the spirit world. Everyday household items such as pots and cups have been found, along with entire wagons, ships, animals, and even the occasional human sacrifice. Price says, "“Close analysis of Viking burials not only gives us an insight into the workings of their minds, but most importantly how slim they perceived the boundaries to be between life and death, and between humans and animals.”

Price also reminds readers that the Viking world was an extremely different world from our own. However, these early Norse cultures were an "immensely sophisticated people, with a complex set of beliefs, and a strong interest in poetry." Chances are good that these early funeral theatrics were the predecessors to the Norse eddas and epic mytholgies. Price says, "They were aggressively pagan, and strongly anti-Christian, perhaps as a reaction to the Christian missionaries. But there is great richness in this non-Christian world.”