Wednesday 19th October 2011
Viking burial boat surfaces after 1,000 years
Scotsman
It's the sort of find most archaeologists spend their careers looking for, a discovery unseen by human eyes for more than a thousand years.
The first fully intact Viking boat burial site ever uncovered on the UK mainland has been found on the Ardnamurchan peninsula in Lochaber.
The 16ft-long grave contained the remains of a “high-status Viking” who was buried with an axe, a sword and a spear.
Archaeologists say the find is hugely significant and will lead to an improved understanding of how the Vikings came to Scotland.
The discovery was made by those studying social change on the Ardnamurchan peninsula, from the first farmers 6,000 years ago to the Clearances of the 18th and 19th centuries.
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