Comments on: Boat burials in Scandinavia

By: debasish dey

debasish dey — Fri, 23 Nov 2018 15:20:03 +0000

I found some evidence of terracotta boat burials in India…. is there any relation with Scandinavia….

By: Cathy

Cathy — Sat, 25 Oct 2014 04:19:02 +0000

I visited the museum in Norway that has a restored funeral boat. Very interesting to see it up close.

By: B.Crawfurd

B.Crawfurd — Fri, 24 Oct 2014 15:59:06 +0000

See the finds af 4,000 years old boat-burials, and the socalled mummies from the Xinjiang area in China (Xiaohe Cemetery), incl.the Yingpan Man, Turfan, a.o. : http://www.penn.museum/documents/publications/expedition/PDFs/52-3/mair.pdf. Victor Mair is a wellknown specialist.

By: Andrea Cross

Andrea Cross — Fri, 24 Oct 2014 11:10:39 +0000

I am nit-picking but then I only speak English….. I did not think that ‘economical’ meant the same as ‘economic’. See third paragraph, second line, second word.
What extraordinary vocabulary in this article, a total distraction from what the author is actually attempting to say. ‘Boats may serve spiritual, secular and physical functions’.

By: Esther Unterweger

Esther Unterweger — Fri, 24 Oct 2014 10:43:58 +0000

When interpreting artefacts as the only remaining archaeological source of a past culture, archaeologists are hindered by their associative impediments of meanings of their own culture. This essential semantic problem demands a determination of meaning of a particular object or custom in the relevant culture group. It is a difficult task to filter meanings or associations from objects of a culture long gone. Theories to resolve those issues are numerous and not always implementable. There is in fact no generally applicable theory when it comes to understanding cognitive processes of humans, especially humans from the past, in different socio-cultural systems. So to answer your question, it is possible, but it remains a theory until proven otherwise.

By: Edwin

Edwin — Fri, 24 Oct 2014 10:38:52 +0000

It is entirely possible that boat burials of large vessels were part of a funerary “potlatch” with the heirs competing to show the status of the deceased and themselves.

By: Ian Barefoot

Ian Barefoot — Fri, 24 Oct 2014 10:20:34 +0000

Would the practice indicate the vessel being ‘taken out’ of usage in ‘this world’ as an offering to the gods, as well perhaps as providing a means of transport to the ‘next world’? There are similar hypotheses proposed for bronze swords etc found as deliberate deposits in water here in the UK