A "Stone Ship" also called "Ship Setting" (Danish:
Skibssætning, German:
Schiffssetzung, Swedish:
Skeppssättning) was an early
Viking/Scandinavian/Germanic burial custom which was mainly followed in
Scandinavia but was also practised in Germany and the Baltic states. The
practice was prevalent from Bronze Age (1000 BC) to the Viking Era of about 1000
AD. These tumuli are called stone ship as these were outlined by large stones in
the form of a hull of a Viking ship. Archaeologists have suggested that the ship
like shape was adopted probably because the Vikings were seafarers and wanted to
give their dead a ship for their last journey. The grave(s) within ship also
contained items of daily use. The number of ships at a particular grave field
varies from just one to two/three or even more. The size of the ships varies
from few metres to 80-100 metres or more and perhaps depended on the social
status of the deceased.
In this post I have tried to locate the major stone ships
found in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Germany, as this practice was prevalent
mainly in these countries. My main sources of information and location are the
Wikipedia (English,
German and
Swedish) plus
few web sites found on the internet specially
grosssteingraeber.de (A web portal about the Megalithic tombs and
monuments). Most of
these stone ships, were not placemarked in Google Earth and have now been placemarked.
For sake of completeness, I have also duplicated a
few which were already placemarked. In case I have missed any major stone ship
then please let me know and I will include it in this collection.
The ships included in this collection are;
- Bække Stone Ship
- Gammel-Lejre Stone Circle
- Glavendrup Stone Ship
- Jelling Stone Ship
- Lindholm Høje Stone Ships
- Altes Lager Menzlin Stone Ships
- Istrehågan Grave Field (added May 2015)
- Ales Stenar (Ale's Stones) Stone Ship
- Ängakåsen Grave Field
- Anundshög Stone Ships
- Årby Stone Ship
- Askeberga Stone Ship
- Blomsholm Stone Ship
- Djupvik Stone Ship
- Gannarve Stone Ship
- Gettlinge Stone Ship
- Gnisvärd Stone Ships
- Gnisvärd Stone Ship (Replica)
- Gumhems Grave Field
- Hammarskulle Stone Ship
- Hjortahammar Stone Circles
- Hjortsberga Grave Field
- Hulterstad Stone Ship
- Karlskrona Grave Field
- Karume Alvar Stone Ship (Noah's Ark)
- Mala Stenar
- Mjösjön Stone Ship
- Nässja Stone Ship
- Rannarve Stone Ships
- Runsa Stone Ships
- Stenhed Stone Ship
- Tjelvar's Grave (Stone Ship)
- Ugglarp Stone Ship
- Vätteryd Stone Ships
Note:
Wikipedia mentions about a 20-metre ship at Kerteminde fjord, Denmark. I
couldn't find any information about it or its location. My guess is that the
user who wrote in Wikipedia was referring to Ladby Ship found near Kerteminde.
It is a wooden ship and not stone ship, hence I have not included it in
this collection.
Bække Stone Ship, Denmark
Bække Stone Ship is part of a burial mound of Viking era, known as Bække
Monument (aka Klebæk Høje), located in Ribe County, Jutland, Denmark. The ship
is 45 metres long and out of original 60 stones only 9 stones have survived. The
missing stones have been replaced with smaller stones to mark the ship's
original shape.
Image from Flickr is by alexanderdrachmann
Source of info: Norwegian Wikipedia (English Translation)
Location in Google Maps
Gammel-Lejre Stone Circle, Denmark
Gammel-Lejre is an ancient village on the island of Zealand in Denmark and has
great archaeologically significance as it has been in continuous settlement
since the Stone Age. It's 80 meters long stone ship is, reportedly, the largest
most complete ship in Denmark.
Image from Wikimedia Commons is by Jom
Source of info: German Wikipedia (English Translation)
Location in Google Street View
Glavendrup Stone Ship, Denmark
The Glavendrup Stone Ship located on the Funen Island, Denmark, dates back to
the middle of the Viking age (early 10th century). It is 60 meters (201 feet) long and has a runic stone at its Western
end, and has the longest text on a runic stone in Denmark.
The ship is surrounded with tall trees hence it is not visible in Google Earth
imagery.
Image from Wikimedia Commons is by Kåre Thor Olsen
Source of info: vikingdenmark.com
Location in Google Maps
Jelling Stone Ship, Denmark
The Stone Ship at Jelling, Denmark is the largest Stone Ship known to have existed.
However no portion of the ship is visible today, as it lies buried under the two
famous royal burial mounds and the old Danish Church at Jelling.
Initially the archaeologists had estimated that the Stone Ship was 170 metres
(560 ft) long with its one end under the north mound and the other end beyond
the southern mound. However later ground radar studies, diggings, and researches
have led to re-evaluation and it is now thought that the north mound lies at the
centre of the ship and length of the ship is estimated to be about 354 metres
(1,161 ft).
Image Source: Google Maps
Source of info and more info:
Wikipedia /
Fortidens Jelling (In Danish) (English
Translation). The latter contains few illustrative sketches also.
Lindholm Høje is a major Iron age, Viking Burial Site on the outskirt of
Aalborg, Denmark and contains several ship/oval shaped burials. Currently there
are about 700 graves belonging to the period from 400 AD to 1000 AD. The graves
for men are shaped like a ship with pointed ends, while those of women are oval
shaped (rounded ends).
Image from Flickr is by pe_ma
Source of info: Viking Denmark
Location in Google Maps
Altes Lager Menzlin Stone Ships, Germany
The Viking Age burial site at Altes Lager Menzlin, near Anklam, Western
Pomerania, Germany has a total of eight ships in grave field besides 11 stone
circles. The ships, however are in the wooded area hence not visible in GE
imagery. The village was an important Viking trade post and reportedly the stone
ships here are the only stone ships in the southern Baltic region.
Image from Panoramio is by karl-georg
Source of info: grosssteingraeber.de (in German) (English Translation)
Location in Google Maps
Istrehågan Grave Field, Norway
This grave field from the Roman period contains 3 Stone Circle and two
stone ships belonging from the 5th and 7th century AD. The smaller ship measures
approximately 10 x 2 meters and is made up of seven, one metre high stones. The
second and larger ship measures about 25 x 9 meters. These ships contained
cremated remains and grave goods.
Image from Wikimedia Commons is by Arnstein Rønning
Source of info and more info: German Wikipedia (English Translation) / grosssteingraeber.de (In German) (English Translation)
Location in Google Maps
Ales Stenar (Ale's Stones) Stone Ship, Sweden
The Stone Ship located on the coast of Kåseberga, Skåne, Sweden and popularly
known as Ales Stenar (Ale's Stones) is Sweden's largest preserved stone ship.
The 67 metres long and 19 metres wide ship consists of 59 stones weighing
between 500 and 1800 kilos and was created sometimes in late Bronze Age / early
Iron Age.
Ales Stenar also known as Stonehenge of the North has been a subject of many
myths. No one knows as to why it is called Ales Stenar. Unlike other stone
ships, no grave has been excavated in this region, which has led to speculation
that it is not a burial site. Moreover the stones are so aligned that the sun
sets over the northwest tip of the monument during the Summer Solstice and rises
at the opposite tip at Winter Solstice. Many believe that it is some kind of
astronomical calendar.
Image from Wikimedia Commons is by Jorchr
Source of info and location: Wikipedia
Location in Google Street View
Ängakåsen Grave Field, Sweden
Ängakåsen Grave Field in Kivik, Sweden dates back to later Bronze Age (1000 - 500 BC). Besides a stone ship there are about 130 small and a large stone setting.
The stone ship measures 60x8.5 metres and consists of 30 standing stones.
Image from Wikimedia Commons is by Jorchr
Source of info and more info: Swedish National Heritage Board / grosssteingraeber.de (In German) (English Translation)
Google Street View
Anundshög Stone Ships, Sweden
Anundshög Stone Ships are located near Sweden's largest and Northernmost Tumulus
- Anundshög. Reportedly there are five stone ships, however only 4 ships are
visible in the GE imagery. Out these four, 2 large stone ships having length of
51 metres (167 ft) and 54 metres (177 ft) respectively, are placed end to end.
Image from Flickr is by YlvaS
Source of info and more info: megalithic.co.uk / Wikipedia
Location in Google Maps
Årby Stone Ship, Sweden
Årby Stone Ship is part of burial mound located about 3 km northeast of Kolbäck,
Sweden and dates back to late Iron Age. No further details about it are
available, however as per GE measurements it is about 18.5 metres long and 6
metres wide.
Image copied from Kolbäcks hembygdsförening is used here after due permission.
Location in Google Maps
Askeberga Stone Ship, Sweden
Askeberga Stone Ship aka Rane Stenar (stones) is located in Askeberga, Vads
parish, Västergötland Sweden. The ship is 55 meters long and 18 meters wide and
consists of 24 boulders, up to 2 meters high and weighing each up to 15 tons. An
unusual feature is that the ship has no bow and stern stones. The dating is
unknown but is probably in the late Iron Age.
Image from Wikimedia Commons is by Harri Blomberg.
Source of info: Swedish Wikipedia (English Translation)
Location in Google Maps
Blomsholm Stone Ship, Sweden
The stone ship in Blomsholm near the Strömstad Municipality, Västra Götaland
County, Sweden is one of the largest stone ship in Sweden. The 40 meters long
ship consists of 49 stones and was built sometimes towards the late Iron Age.
Inside the ships are graves/memorial stones of officers of Charles XII, under
the command of General Rank Sven, who had established a field hospital in the
nearby mansion during the Great Northern War (1700–21).
Location in Google Maps
Djupvik Stone Ship
This stone ship on the Gotland Island, Sweden is from Bronze age and measures 13.5x4 metre.
Image from Swedish National Heritage Board is by Bengt A Lundberg
Source of info: Swedish National Heritage Board
Location in Google Maps
Gannarve Stone Ship, Sweden
The Gannarve stone ship Fröjel parish south of Klintehamn, Gotland, Sweden, is
from the late Bronze Age. Most of the stone ship which measured 29 x 5 metres was destroyed
with passage of time and few bow and stern blocks had survived. It was however
reconstructed in 1959 after an archaeological study of the surrounding
area/stones and what is seen today is a completely reconstructed ship.
Reportedly there was another ship here but no trace of same remains today.
Image from Flickr is by access.denied
Source of info: Swedish Wikipedia (English Translation)
Location in Google Maps
Gettlinge Stone Ships, Sweden
Gettlinge Stone Ships are part of a big, nearly 2 kilometres long gravefield in
the village of Gettlinge, in the southwest portion of the island of Öland,
Sweden.
The largest ship is 30 metre long and consists of 23 granite blocks. Besides
this there is another smaller one. In addition there are more than 200 stone
circles, though in the past there were many more and several of these have
vanished due to quarrying of the stones. Most of the stone circles are from the
late Bronze Age / Iron Age.
Image from Flickr is by Lars Lundqvist
Google Street View
Source of info: Swedish Wikipedia (English Translation)
Gnisvärd Stone Ships, Sweden
There are three ships in the Gnisvärd fishing village, Gotland, Sweden. The
largest of these is 47 meters long and 7 meters wide. Other two are 50 metres
and 150 metres South respectively from the largest one, and lie in the same
orientation. Being a wooded area, only the largest ship can be hardly seen in
the Google Earth imagery but is visible in Google Street View.
About one kilometre to the west lies a modern day replica ship which was
constructed by a local landowner from the ancient stones found on his farm. This
ship can be clearly seen in GE.
Image from Flickr is by Daniel Langhammer
Image from Flickr is by JsonLind
Image from Flickr is by JsonLind
Source of info: guteinfo.com (In Swedish) (English Translation)
Google Street View
Gnisvärd Stone Ship (Replica), Sweden
This stone ship at the Gnisvärd fishing village, Gotland, Sweden is modern day
construction and lies about one kilometre to the west of the three ancient
Gnisvärd Stone Ships. The replica, locally known as Gnisvärd Private Stone Ship,
was built by local landowner from the ancient stones found on his farm.
Image copied from grosssteingraeber.de is used here after due permission.
Edit Note: May 28, 2015
In my original post I had mistakenly used the wrong image of replica Gnisvärd Stone Ship. I have corrected the mistake now. I am thankful to Reinhard Möws for informing about the mistake and also allowing me to use the correct image from his website grosssteingraeber.de.
Source of info: tvtrip.com
Google Street View
Gumhems Grave Field, Sweden
Gumhems is a Viking grave
field in
Kinda Municipality, Östergötland, Sweden and dates from the late Iron Age
(500-1050 CE). One of the biggest stone ship in Östergötland can be seen here. The stone ship consists of 22 standing stones that form a "ship"
in a south-easterly direction with a length of 17.5 meters and a maximum width of
five meters.
Image from Wikimedia Commons is by Holger.Ellgaard
Source of info: Swedish Wikipedia (English Translation)
Location in Google Maps
Note regarding location: I had originally placemarked it at 57° 55′ 38″ N, 15° 51′ 14″ E, which was based on the Swedish Wikipedia referred above. However the web page of Swedish National Heritage Board gives its location at 57° 57' 40.73" N, 5° 51' 0.00" E. I have therefore relocated the placemarker to the later location. The ship however cannot be visualised at this location though a circular grave can be seen nearby.
I am thankful to Reinhard Möws (grosssteingraeber.de) for informing about this discrepancy.
Hammarskulle Stone Ship
A stone ship at Hammarskulle grave field, Ronneby, Blekinge,
Sweden. The graves are from the late Bronze Age to the Viking period. As per
Google Earth measurements the stone ship is about 25 x 9 metres.
Hjortahammar Stone Circles, Sweden
Hjortahammar is a grave field in Förkärla parish Ronneby, Sweden and contains
70 round stones, eight square stone circles, four tridents, five burial mounds,
10 stone ships, five stone rows and standing stones 8. The largest stone ship is
40 meters long, 12 meters wide and consists of 9 standing stones of which the
highest is 1.8 meters high.
Image from Wikimedia Commons is by Bjoertvedt
Source of info: Swedish Wikipedia (English Translation)
Google Street View
Hjortsberga Grave Field
Hjortsberga grave field in Ronneby, Blekinge, Sweden is one of the the best
preserved graveyards in the region and dates back from the early Iron Age to the
Viking Age. There area about 110 monuments located in open terrain on the top of
a ridge out of which there are19 stone ships. Details of these ships couldn't be
found but as per measurements made through Google Earth one stone ship appears
to be about 19 x 9 metres.
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Location in Google Maps
Hulterstad Stone Ship, Sweden
Hulterstad Stone Ship is part of Viking gravefield in the small coastal town of
Hulterstad on the island of Öland, Sweden. The gravefield comprises over 170
individual burials but only one stone ship, which is also partially damaged. Not
much information is available about it, however in as per Google Earth's
measurement tool, the ship's outline appears to be about 45 x 13 metres.
Image cropped from original at Wikimedia by C. Michael Hogan.
Source of info: Wikipedia
View in Google Street View
Karlskrona Grave Field
This grave field at Karlskrona in Blekinge County, Sweden has several graves
such as ship, rectangular and triangular
stones, mounds and individual standing stones. Four ship stones
are arranged in the form of a clover leaf out of which only three have survived
and can be clearly seen in aerial/satellite view. The cemetery dates back to the
late Iron Age.
Image source: MSN Bing Maps Bird's Eye View
Source of info: grosssteingraeber.de (In German) (English Translation)
Location in Google Maps
Karume Alvar Stone Ship (Noah's Ark), Sweden
The Karume Alvar Stone Ship near Högsrum on the Swedish island of Oland is a 26
metre long stone ship within the Karume alvar grave field. Besides the stone
ship which is locally known as Noah's Ark (Swedish Noaks ark), there are many
round and few rectangular stone settings. The oldest monument in this cemetery
is dated to the later Bronze Age, 1000-500 BC. The ship cannot be visualised in
the GE imagery probably because it is not made of large stones and presence of
other stone settings in the vicinity.
Image from Wikimedia Commons is by Olaf Meister
Source of info: German Wikipedia (English Translation)
Location in Google Maps
Mala Stenar, Sweden
Mala Stenar is a grave field in Mala town of Hässleholm, Skåne County, Sweden.
The grave field contains about 50 ancient monuments which include six stone
ships. The largest stone ship is 16.5 x 6 meters and consists of 16 standing
stones.
Image from Wikimedia Commons is by dcastor
Main source of info: Swedish Wikipedia (English Translation)
View in Google Maps
Mjösjön Stone Ship, Sweden
Mjösjön Stone Ship is located near the south end of Mjösjön
lake near Holmsjön in Umeå municipality, Sweden. Besides the Stone ship, which
is Sweden's Northern most ship, there are four graves from the Bronze Age and
two cairns and a stone circle.
The stone ship was built about 4,000 years ago in the Bronze
Age and measures 16 meters x 4 meters. Archeologists feel that it was built
close to the coast but with the land uplift it is now almost 2 km from the
coast. The ship was restored 1n 1970. Being in heavy wooded area it cannot be
visualised in GE imagery.
Image from Wikimedia Commons is by Jag själv
Source of info: Swedish Wikipedia (English Translation) / grosssteingraeber.de (In German) (English Translation)
View in Google Maps (Thank you Reinhard Möws for sending me the link to the correct location.)
Nässja Stone Ship, Sweden
The Nässja Stone Ship located in Nässja Parish, Vadstena Municipality,
Östergötland, Sweden, measures 44×18 metres and is made of 24 large stones, of
which 10 are standing. The stone circle was excavated in 1953. One peculiarity
of this ship is that the bow and stern stones are missing.
The stone ship cannot be visualised in GE but can be seen in Google Street View.
Image from Wikimedia Commons is by Yogidoo.
Source of info and location: The Modern Antiquarian
Google Street View
Rannarve Stone Ships, Sweden
The Stone Ships at Rannarve, near Klintehamn, Gotland, Sweden, belong to Bronze
Age and are a group of four ships placed together in perfect linear formation
with bow of one ship touching the stern of other. Each ship is 9 metres long and
5 metres wide.
Image from Wikimedia Commons is by BH2008
Image Source Google Maps. The stone ships can be seen in Google Earth in the Dec 31, 2007 imagery but cannot be seen in the later updates.
Runsa Stone Ships, Sweden
Runsa Stone Ships are part of the grave field near the ancient fortification
located in Upplands Väsby Municipality in Sweden. There are two stone ships,
however only one is visible in GE.
First ship is approximately 53x16 metres consisting of 28 lump-shaped rocks and
the second is about 37x9 metres.
Image from Flickr is by Udo Schröter
Source of info: Swedish National Heritage Board (In Swedish) / Wikipedia
Location in Google Maps
Stenhed Stone Ship, Sweden
The Stenhed stone ship located near Gärsnäs in Skåne, Sweden is 50 m long, 14
meters wide and like the Ales stenar, its bow and stern lie in northwest to
southeast direction, leading to speculation that it was also used as
Astronomical calendar.
Image from Wikimedia Commons is by Jorchr
Source of info: German Wikipedia (English Translation)
Location in Google Maps
Tjelvar's Grave (Stone Ship), Sweden
As per
Gutasagan (The Saga of the Gotlanders), Gotland was first settled by the
legendry hero Tjelvar and he is buried in the Stone Ship near the village of
Tjälder in Gotland in Sweden. The ship commonly known as Tjelvar's Grave is 18
metres long.
Image from Flickr is by JsonLind
Source of info: guteinfo.com (In Swedish) (English Translation)
Location in Google Maps
Ugglarp Stone Ship, Sweden
The Ugglarp Stone Ship, near Dalby in Lund Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden is
one of largest stone ship in Sweden. This stone ship which belongs to early Iron
Age was restored in 1952 and is 45 meters long with 39 upright stones.
Image copied from mior.se and is used here after due permission.
Source of info: grosssteingraeber.de (In German) (English Translation)
Location in Google Maps
Vätteryd Stone Ships, Sweden
The Vätteryd Stone Ships are part of an Iron Age grave field. There are 15 stone
ships, however most of these are damaged and only the largest (25 m x 8 m) is
discernible in the GE imagery.
Image from Wikimedia Commons is by AxelVeibäck
Source of info: Wikipedia
Location in Google Maps
_______________________________________________________________
View location of all these Stone Ships in Google Earth (Download .kmz file)
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