The house was built on the grave.
Norwegian archaeologists found in the village Viniera in the Central part of the country the remains of the tomb of the Vikings — “the house of the dead,” reports the Chronicle.info with reference to rusjev.
He was in the burial mound surrounded by other burial mounds and graves. Researchers do not fully understand the purpose of such tombs, but I believe that buried in this house person (or people) were to protect their offspring, to help them get a rich harvest and ensure fertility of livestock and people. In addition, the “house of the dead” was meant to hold the dead, so they did not come out of the grave and disturbs the living.
He was in the burial mound surrounded by other burial mounds and graves. Researchers do not fully understand the purpose of such tombs, but I believe that buried in this house person (or people) were to protect their offspring, to help them get a rich harvest and ensure fertility of livestock and people. In addition, the “house of the dead” was meant to hold the dead, so they did not come out of the grave and disturbs the living.
On burial customs of the Vikings known from Scandinavian sagas, the testimonies of travellers, who came to the villages of the Vikings, and from archaeological finds. Noble Viking could be buried in the burial boat or ship made out of wood or stone. Together with them in the grave were placed the funerary gifts, which corresponded to the status of the deceased and could be useful to him in the afterlife. Presumably, in the boat or on the boat, the deceased was sent to the afterlife.
Occasionally in Scandinavia find so-called “house of the dead”, which also buried the Vikings. The remains of one of them the archaeologists found during security work, before the construction of the highway. Excavations were conducted in the village Viniera where in the middle ages there was a settlement of Vikings. The researchers found the remains of a round burial mound, and a moat and a quadrangular stones, apparently to support the wall. Scientists estimate that the structure was a length of five meters and a width of three. In the corners stood pillars, and between them the walls were built of boards standing upright. As the house stood in the middle of the burial mound, archaeologists believe that it was a “house of the dead”, which served as a grave. The age of the finds, even the evaluation, the researchers did not specify.
Now in Norway there are 15 known of such places. A few “houses of the dead” found in Denmark and Sweden, but they were too small, so scientists were able to draw definite conclusions about their purpose.
According to the head of the excavation of Raymond Sauvage (Raymond Sauvage) from the Museum of the Norwegian University of life Sciences and engineering, early archaeologists believed that the “house of dead” needed for practical purposes. For example, they kept the dead bodies during the winter, until then, until the ground has thawed, so they can be buried. This hypothesis, however, does not explain why “the house of the dead” from Winery was built into the burial mound and it was surrounded by other graves.
Now researchers believe that such a burial was rather symbolic, not practical purpose. Perhaps the descendants wanted to propitiate the deceased (or the deceased) and believed that if they like their new home, they will stay there and not to go outside and not to disturb the living. The dead bring gifts, and if they were pleased with them and their home, they helped their descendants to obtain good yields, ensured fertility of people and their Pets.
