Ladby Ship Burial — Kerteminde, Funen
Ladbyskibet · Vikingemuseet Ladby
Viking Age (Late, c.925 CE)·Danish Viking (Jelling dynasty)·🇩🇰 Southern Denmark, Funen (Fyn), Kerteminde Municipality, Ladby, Kerteminde Fjord, Denmark
About
About Ladby Ship Burial — Kerteminde, Funen
The Ladby ship (c.925 CE) is Denmark's only surviving Viking ship burial, a 21.5-m clinker warship set within a mound 230 m south of Kerteminde Fjord on Funen, excavated in 1934–35 by conservator G. Rosenberg with pharmacist Poul Helweg. Though the oak hull had decayed to a ghost in clay, the 2,000 iron rivets trace a 3-m beam warship with anchor, gilded bronze harness mounts in Jelling style, and sacrificed 11 horses and 3–4 dogs arrayed on deck. A secondary cremation and grave robbery disturbance meant no human bone survived, but gold thread and T-shaped Thor pendant hint at a high-status chieftain linked to Hedeby.
Why it mattersOnly Danish ship burial; Jelling-style harness dates Danish animal art.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Identity of chieftain and why no human remains (robbed?)
Theories
- 01Royal vassal controlling Funen fjord access to Odense
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.925 CE burial (dendro 925±10)
- Period
- Viking Age (Late, c.925 CE)
- Culture
- Danish Viking (Jelling dynasty)
- Builders
- Danish Viking
- Purpose
- Chieftain ship mound burial with animal sacrifice
- Excavation
- Excavated
c.925 CE
Chieftain ship burial on Kerteminde Fjord ridge
10th c. soon after
Grave opened via robbery tunnel
1934–35
Helweg discovers mound; Rosenberg excavates ghost hull
1937; 1995
Museum hall erected; Vikingemuseet Ladby expanded
On the ground
Structures & features
55.4425° N · 10.6153° E · 12 m · 2 mapped features
Ladby Ship Ghost — Rivet Hull
ship burial21.5-m hull ghost defined by ~2,000 iron rivets, oak anchor chain and keel impression under museum glass
55.4426° N · 10.6155° ELadby Horse Sacrifice Array
animal sacrificeSkeletons of 11 horses and 3 dogs arrayed on eastern deck, with harness and bridle mounts
55.4424° N · 10.6152° E