1,000-year-old Viking burial boat discovered

A VIKING boat burial site has been discovered by archaeologists working in the Scottish Highlands.

The 5m-long grave held the remains of a high-status Viking, buried in a ship with around 200 metal rivets, alongside an axe, sword and spear.

The area, on the west coast’s remote Ardnamurchan peninsula, is the first intact boat burial site to be uncovered on British mainland and is thought to be 1,000 years old.

Experts from the universities of Manchester and Leicester, as well as from Archaeology Scotland and cultural heritage organisation CFA Archaeology, also found a shield boss and bronze ring-pin.

A knife, a whetstone from Norway, a ring-pin from Ireland and Viking pottery were also found.

Hannah Cobb, co-director of the project, has been excavating artefacts in the area over the past six years and said the boat burial was an “exciting find”.

“Though we have excavated many important artefacts over the years, I think it’s fair to say that this year the archaeology has really exceeded our expectations,” she said.

“A Viking boat burial is an incredible discovery but in addition to that, the artefacts and preservation make this one of the most important Norse graves ever excavated in Britain.”

Oliver Harris, from the University of Leicester, said: “This project examines social change on the Ardnamurchan peninsula from the first farmers 6,000 years ago.”