The Stone ship was a Gemanic burial custom, typical for Scandinavia with scattered examples in Northern Germany and along the coast of the Baltic States (where they are called devil ships). They are believed to have represented the actual burning ship in which the dead was sent out to the sea. Excavations have shown that they are usually from the latter part of the Nordic Bronze Age ca. 1000 BC - 500 BC (e.g. Gotland) or from the Germanic Iron Age, the Vendel Age and the Viking Age (e.g. Blekinge and Scania).

The stone ships are built from tighly or loosely fit slabs or stones. Sometimes they are of monumental proportions. In Sweden, the size varies from 67 metres (Ale's Stones) to only a few metres. The orientation varies. Inside, they can be cobbled or filled with stones, or have raised stones in the positions of masts. The illusion of being ships has often been reinforced by larger stones in the ends. Some have an oblique aft. Ship settings are often found on grave fields, but sometimes far from any other archaeological remains.

Prominent stone ships

• Ale's Stones is a stone ship in southernmost Sweden. It is 67 metres long and 19 metres wide.
• Stones of Askeberga Image and more images is Sweden's second largest stone ship measuring 55 metres in length. It is, however, the most remarkable one as it is made of 24 enormous boulders, weighing about 25 tonne each.
• Anund's Mound Image The double stone ship at Anund's mound has a total length of 100 metres and one of the ships is 25 metres wide. In the same area there are several smaller stone ships.
• Stones of Blomsholm The stone ship at Blomsholm near Strömstad in Bohuslän measures more than 40 m in length and consists of 49 large menhirs. The fore and the aft are about 4 meters tall. There are several other large megaliths in the area.
• Tjelvar's Grave Image:Gotland-Tjelvars_grav_2.jpg is according to legend the grave of Gotland's mythical discoverer Thjelvar, and it is dated to ca 750 BC.

See also

• Menhir (Iron Age)
• Ship burial
• Solar barge
• Stone circle (Iron Age)

History of the Germanic peoples | Scandinavian history | Archaeology in Sweden | Iron Age | Archaeoastronomy | Death customs | Megalithic monuments | Monument types | Nordic Bronze Age | Schiffssetzung | skeppssättning

Sources

• Nationalencyklopedin
• Swedish information site