Ancient Scandinavian Stone Ships

Thanks all for the added info!!! This was new to me too, so interesting. I too think I these could be templates or structures to build the ships on. How cool is this pic with a bunch of stone ships all together...



Link: www.zwoje-scrolls.com...

Hmm. Doesn't look like it would float. Seriously though I had never seen these before, and they are quite interesting. Thanks for posting them. There are so many mysteries from long ago, and it is hard to know whether we are on the right track or not, when there are multiple possibilities to explain something that was found but not documented.

i really cannot see why these would be used as templates. these folk did not lack real boats to use as templates if they were needed afterall, and could place them where they wanted.
and where is the template for the keel?

anyone ever build a canoe or row boat using megaliths for a plan? of course not

bronze age boat builders would more likely have used memory, a well experienced eye or other methods.... they could have had lengths of wood or string/cord if the measurements needed recording - far more practical

also, in those papers i linked earlier, there are plans of some of these monuments and you sure as heck would not float something of those dimensions, however great other ones look.

these no doubt relate to cosmology and burial practices - the boat was understandably a vital part of these peoples lives, for fishing, traveling, trading and raiding. such an integral part of life becomes likewise for death and movement to the otherworld.

Originally posted by skalla
reply to post by Nettlas

 

Hi Nettlas, thanks for a very interesting post

re the burial in a burning ship at sea, obviously there would be nothing in the way of physical evidence of this. i've often wondered where the tales of this rite came from and have not come across it in the sagas (which is why i'm curious about it) and wondered if there is a source for this that i missed. i've not read the entire poetic/older edda for example - is it in there somewhere?

There is..

Baldur

Now the gods began the funeral for the God of Light and placed his body, wrapped in crimson, upon his ship, the Ringhorn, as a funeral pyre. Alongside him on the pyre was his wife, Nanna, who died of heartache at his passing. Also on his pyre was all of his possessions and his horse. The ship was pushed out to sea by the giantess Hyrrokin.

I can't say how relevant it is to the idea of a Viking boat-funeral.. but there is precedent, slight though it may be.

reply to post by Fimbulvetr


Thanks for the input, obvs i'm looking for less myth based stuff but thanks regardless maybe i missed stuff in Heimskringla, idk.

i guess i have to hit the books again. it's a great idea for a rite ofc, most of the dudes i know want to go that way though it'd probs be more like pushing them off of a cliff in a burning nissan micra

I always like to imagine what this kind of monument(s) would look like lit up in the darkness by torch or small fires. The stones flickering with the spaces between the boat formations being dark. A fleet of boats challenging the stars. What a great place for a gathering or for story telling or dreaming. Of remembering days gone by. The shape of ships seems central and much like a cradle or comfort zone. The white stones would stand out in the moonlight.

The larger ships remind me of gathering places where one person could be heard when talking to a group. Sound bouncing off stone. Has anyone scientifically checked the acoustics of the boat shapes? Anyone giving tours would pick up on it if they found they could save their voice in certain places or if there was an echo.