Uploaded April 2014 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
The Stone ship or ship setting was an early burial custom, characteristically Scandinavian but also found in Northern Germany and the Baltic states. The grave or cremation burial is surrounded by tightly or loosely fit slabs or stones in the outline of a ship. They are often found in grave fields, but are sometimes far from any other archaeological remains. Excavations have shown that they are usually from the Nordic Bronze Age or from the Germanic Iron Age, the Vendel Age and the Viking Age.
The largest known stone ship is the mostly destroyed Jelling stone ship in Denmark, which was at least 170 metres long. However, recent archaeological research and the re-evaluation of large pits on the west side of the north mound which were noted in the 1960s has led to a different reconstruction, in which the ship had the north mound as its centre rather than its stern and was 354 metres long.
Stone ships in this video:
Ale's Stones
Tjelvars grave
Anundshög
Blomsholm stone ship
Gannarve stone ship
Mjösjön stone ship
Nässja stone ship
Askeberga stone ship
Runsa Stone ship
Vätteryd Stone ship
Music: Lord Wind - The temple of harmony
Copyright Disclaimer: Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.
The Stone ship or ship setting was an early burial custom, characteristically Scandinavian but also found in Northern Germany and the Baltic states. The grave or cremation burial is surrounded by tightly or loosely fit slabs or stones in the outline of a ship. They are often found in grave fields, but are sometimes far from any other archaeological remains. Excavations have shown that they are usually from the Nordic Bronze Age or from the Germanic Iron Age, the Vendel Age and the Viking Age.
The largest known stone ship is the mostly destroyed Jelling stone ship in Denmark, which was at least 170 metres long. However, recent archaeological research and the re-evaluation of large pits on the west side of the north mound which were noted in the 1960s has led to a different reconstruction, in which the ship had the north mound as its centre rather than its stern and was 354 metres long.
Stone ships in this video:
Ale's Stones
Tjelvars grave
Anundshög
Blomsholm stone ship
Gannarve stone ship
Mjösjön stone ship
Nässja stone ship
Askeberga stone ship
Runsa Stone ship
Vätteryd Stone ship
Music: Lord Wind - The temple of harmony
Copyright Disclaimer: Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.
