Vikings were not the first: an older ship found in Norway

Simply put, it started sooner than thought.

Details

The discovery was made on the island of Lek - in a large mound long thought to be the tomb of a legendary ruler from the sagas.

Digging up such mounds is completely risky and expensive, so the scientists took the careful route: they made small cuts and checked the soil with metal detectors.

And with good reason. They found 29 iron rivets - exactly the kind used to fasten the planks of ancient ships. The wood had long ago rotted, but the metal remained and "gave away" the presence of the ship.

By the remnants of wood on the rivets it was possible to determine the age: about 700 AD.

This is earlier than the beginning of the Viking Age, which is usually counted from the end of the 8th century.

Why it's important

Such a find changes the usual picture.

It turns out that:
large ships were built earlier
the tradition of burying people with ships predates the Vikings
there were already elites in society capable of organising such large-scale burials

Building a huge burial mound is not just a funeral, but a demonstration of power and resources.

Background

It was previously thought that the tradition of ship burials came to Scandinavia closer to the Viking Age, possibly influenced by England.

There is now reason to believe that it originated within the region earlier as well.

Source

The study was published in the journal Antiquity (2026). Norwegian archaeologists worked on it.