Equestrian Burial in Southern Norway and Western Sweden

Horse equipment and horses are known from numerous burials, settlement deposits and other archaeological contexts across Scandinavia, leaving no doubt that horses played a significant role in everyday life and death during the Viking Age. When the first equestrian and weapon burials were recorded in the 19th century, they were often viewed as a material manifestation of the violent behaviour and beliefs of the Vikings presented by contemporary and medieval written sources. Today, it is evident that equestrian burial was not the norm in Viking-Age Denmark, nor was it apparently common everywhere in neighbouring Norway and Sweden. Despite the widespread evidence of horses, the defining features of equestrian burial in Denmark, i.e. the combination of bridle and stirrup irons for the animal and the spurs worn by the rider, appear to have formed part of the grave assemblage only in certain areas: mainly Uppland and Västmanland in eastern Sweden, and farther west, southeast Norway and parts of western Sweden.