The only Viking ship burial found in Denmark, dating to c.925 AD. A 21.5-metre warship served as the final resting place of a Viking chieftain, preserved in situ with weapons, tools, and the remains of horses and dogs.
About This Site
The Ladby Viking Museum in Kerteminde, Denmark, preserves the only Viking ship burial discovered in the country. Dating to approximately 925 A.D., the site contains the remains of a 21.5-metre warship used as the burial vessel for a Viking chieftain, likely the King of Ladby. The ship was interred with the ruler's weapons, tools, and the remains of horses and dogs, following Norse burial customs that reflected the belief in an afterlife requiring provisions and transport. The museum has been built directly over the original excavation site, allowing visitors to view the ship's imprint and surviving iron rivets in their original position. The collection includes weapons, jewellery, and navigational instruments from the early medieval period.
Connection to Oak Island
In Season 11, Rick Lagina, Doug Crowell, Corjan Mol, and the team visited the Ladby Viking Museum during their research trip to Denmark. Curator Ane Jepsen Nyborg showed them the burial site of the King of Ladby, who died around 925 A.D. and was interred in a 70-foot Viking ship. When Doug presented a photograph of a crossbow bolt found on Oak Island in the 1960s, Ane produced a replica and confirmed that the artifact matched pieces from local Danish archaeological excavations, dating it to the early medieval period through the Viking Age, specifically pre-1300s. The identification placed the Oak Island crossbow bolt within a Scandinavian military context and added to the growing body of evidence suggesting Norse or early medieval European activity on the island centuries before its official discovery in 1795.
Fieldwork Notes
Visited during Season 11 by Rick Lagina, Doug Crowell, and team members, accompanied by Corjan Mol. Curator Ane Jepsen Nyborg guided the team through the ship burial site and compared a photograph of the Oak Island crossbow bolt to local archaeological finds, confirming a match to the early medieval or Viking period (pre-1300s).
