THE BURIAL GROUND AT BY AND ENGLAUG, LØTEN

This unique Iron Age burial ground is among the largest in inland Norway, once counting more than 160 known cairns dating back to the period 0 – 1000 AD. Many of the cairns have been removed and those remaining are heavily modified due to Nicolaysen’s research. They appear as irregular, circular or oval shaped piles of stones and soil, each with a center-placed excavated pit.

In Iron Age society the event of death was approached through rituals, symbols and myths. Departed relatives continued to represent the kin and their graves were kept close to the settlements. At the By burial ground, the dead were cremated and the remains were placed in a ceramic or wooden vessel, or spread out on the ground where the cairn was eventually erected.

Driven by a strong belief in the afterlife, people thoughtfully cared for their dead. Graves contain valued artifacts such as pearls, brooches and pendants, horse equipment, swords, arrowheads, knives, needles and game chips. The artefacts may reflect the dead person’s life and social position, gender and occupation, but may be just as relevant when interpreting the beliefs and intentions of his or her living relatives. Similar burial practice is described in Icelandic literature:

Odin set in his land the laws which had formerly been upheld by the Åsa folks; thus, he bade that they burn all the dead and bear their possessions on to the firebale with them. He said that every man should come to Valhall with such riches as he had with him on the firebale and that each should use what he himself had buried in the earth. They should bear the ashes out on the sea or bury them down in the earth; for a renowned man they should build a howe as a mark of remembrance, and for all men in whom there was some manliness they should raise standing stones, and this custom held good for a long time after.

                Ynglingasaga, Heimskringla (cha. 8), translated by Erling Monsen.

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