27 April 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Unique Iron & Viking-Age Mortuary Houses Found in Norway

While building a road in the village of Vinjeøra in central Norway, three ancient mortuary houses dating back to the Iron and Viking Ages were discovered. What’s more, not a single person was buried in them!

Mortuary houses date between 500 and 950 CE and these discoveries, described in their recent work published in Medieval Archaeology, reveal a fascinating glimpse into the mysterious funerary rituals of the past.

The analysis of the 3 Vinjeøra mortuary houses is published in the journal Medieval Archaeology. Recent work published by Dr. Raymond Sauvage and Dr. Richard Macphail describes the excavation and interpretation of three Iron- and Viking-Age mortuary houses in central Norway, Skeiet, in the village of Vinjeøra.

Discovered in a test pit excavated in 1996, the pre-Christian cemetery was verified by excavation. However, three mortuary houses were unexpectedly discovered by excavators more recently, next to the leveled burial mounds.

Mortuary houses are small, house-like structures, often found within ancient cemeteries. They might contain graves, tombs, or perhaps even the cremated remains of the deceased. These houses weren’t just for the dead; they were places where the living could visit, leave offerings, and perhaps even worship their ancestors.

Excavations revealed the mortuary houses are unique among the 12 others in Norway and 1 in Sweden which have previously been identified.

The construction style of the mortuary house is similar to that used for stave churches. Photo: Raymond Sauvage, NTNU University Museum
The construction style of the mortuary house is similar to that used for stave churches. Photo: Raymond Sauvage, NTNU University Museum

These mortuary houses had no permanent occupants, meaning that no evidence of a buried person was discovered within, despite being constructed for the dead. These homes had doors and entrances as if beckoning the living to enter. Visitors had to crouch to enter due to the low entrances, which made entering these cramped, dim areas feel intimate and almost reverent.

“I think that the most surprising thing was that we did not find any evidence of a permanent tomb or a buried person inside the houses,” says author Raymond Sauvage, an archaeologist from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. “Also, the fact that they had doors and entrances that may have led into the mortuary house and burial mound was something I had not thought of prior to the analysis.”

The presence of entrances suggests that the mortuary houses were always open for living people to revisit. Trampled soil at the entrances confirms this.

The earliest of the three dates back to around 450–600 AD, during the Iron Age. The most common method of interring the dead at this time was cremation. Built between 600 and 800, the second structure would have come around the time that burials were becoming more common. The third mortuary house was erected 800–950 CE when the local people had shifted completely from cremation to burying their dead.

From above, the imprint of one of the houses, discovered in 2019. Photo: Raymond Sauvage, NTNU University Museum

For almost 100–200 years each, these mortuary houses remained an essential component of the funerary rites despite changes in the manner in which the deceased were interred. Even though no graves were discovered within, the archaeologists did find some interesting artifacts, including nails, arrowheads, and pieces of bone.

The mortuary houses, built to resemble contemporary dwellings, might reflect the belief that the dead continued to “live” in their burial mounds.

The fact that no actual burials have taken place in these houses, however, suggests another possibility: maybe they functioned as the dead’s temporary resting places while their bodies were being prepared for a more permanent burial, akin to the Norse burial ritual that the traveler Ibn Fadlan described in the tenth century.

The mortuary houses of Norway are still very enigmatic and more research will be needed to truly understand their function.

https://doi.org/10.1080/00766097.2024.2347753

Cover Image: Artist’s interpretation of one of the Skeiet mortuary houses. The burial mound is indicated by the conjectured lines. Credit: Sauvage and Macphail 2024; illustration by Arkikon, NTNU University Museum

Related Articles

1,500-Year-Old Stained Glass and Mosaics Discovered at Harran Cathedral Excavation in Türkiye

7 February 2025

7 February 2025

Recent excavations at the historic Harran archaeological site, which is included on UNESCO’s World Heritage Tentative List, have yielded rare...

Excavations in Haldensleben, Germany Reveal A Lost Settlement

9 November 2024

9 November 2024

Excavations at Haldensleben in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt provide important information about a lost settlement. Since May 2024, the...

Golden Tongues and Nails discovered on mummies from the Ptolemaic Period in Egypt

18 December 2024

18 December 2024

Archaeologists have uncovered tombs decorated with colorful inscriptions and ritual scenes, as well as unusual mummies and unique funerary objects,...

Archaeologists in Israel are restoring the largest Roman Basilica in the country

6 June 2021

6 June 2021

Archaeologists in Israel are trying to rebuild a 2,000-year-old Roman-era basilica that is thought to be the country’s biggest. A...

The ashes of 8,000 victims were found in two mass graves near the Soldau concentration camp in Poland

14 July 2022

14 July 2022

Polish authorities said they had unearthed two mass graves near the former Nazi concentration camp Soldau containing the ashes of...

200,000-year-old hand axe discovered in the northern part of Saudi Arabia

5 November 2023

5 November 2023

The Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) of Saudi Arabia has announced that archeological excavation teams at the Qurh site in...

A Remarkable Underground City Discovered Beneath Historic Yazd Homes in Central Iran

26 January 2025

26 January 2025

A remarkable ‘underground city’ was discovered under five historical houses in the ancient town of Abarkuh in Yazd province in...

The 1,800-year-old ‘Iron Legion’ Roman Legionary Base uncovered at the foot of Tel Megiddo

14 February 2024

14 February 2024

The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced that a recent excavation at the foot of Tel Megiddo, near the ancient village...

Unique Rock Tomb Discovered in Southeastern Türkiye’s Şanlıurfa

3 March 2025

3 March 2025

Hasan Şıldak, the governor of the city of Şanlıurfa in south-eastern Türkiye, announced on his social media account that a...

The three-headed statue of Goddess Hecate discovered in Turkey’s Mersin

18 August 2023

18 August 2023

In the ancient city of Kelenderis in Mersin, located in the south of Turkey, the statue of the 3-headed goddess...

Oil drilling uncovers a 2,000-year-old cemetery with giant Urn-like tombs in Southwest Iran

16 July 2022

16 July 2022

An ancient cemetery with urn-like tombs was discovered in Ahvaz, the capital city of Khuzestan province in southwestern Iran. The...

The ‘boiler room’ of the bath in the Ancient City of Metropolis was unearthed

11 August 2022

11 August 2022

The vault section, called the ‘boiler room’, which provides a heat source, has been unearthed in the historical bath of...

A Mysterious Deity’s Ancient Gold Gift was Discovered at Georgia’s Gonio-Apsaros Roman Fort

25 October 2024

25 October 2024

During excavations at the Roman fortress of Apsaros in Georgia, archaeologists discovered a unique gold votive plaque presented to Jupiter...

1,600-year-old Roman-era wine shop unearthed in Greece

29 January 2024

29 January 2024

A team led by Scott Gallimore of Wilfrid Laurier University and Martin Wells of Austin College discovered a 1,600-year-old Roman-era...

Volunteer archaeologists discovered a 1900-year-old silver military decoration in Vindolanda

17 June 2023

17 June 2023

Volunteer archaeologists have discovered a 1900-year-old military decoration (Phalera) that was awarded to distinguished soldiers and troops in the Roman...