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Lilleberge Viking Burial facts for kids

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Lilleberge Viking Burial
Lilleberge Plaque (BM).JPG Whalebone plaque from the Lilleberge grave group as displayed in the British Museum
Size Ht 23 cm, Width 20 cm
Created 9th-10th Centuries AD
Period/culture Viking
Present location British Museum
Identification 1891,1021.67

The Lilleberge Viking Burial is a famous collection of Viking treasures. It was found inside a large burial mound, also called a barrow, in a place called Lilleberge in central Norway. This discovery happened in the late 1800s. Since 1891, these amazing objects have been a special part of the British Museum in London.

Finding the Treasure

Lilleberge (BM)
Viking jewellery and other objects from the grave group.

The Lilleberge area is in Nord-Trøndelag county, within the Namdalen district of Norway. In 1886, a British archaeologist named Alfred Heneage Cocks started digging there. He found a very large ship burial mound, which is a type of barrow.

This mound was huge, more than 40 metres (about 130 feet) long. Inside, there was a Viking ship that measured 10 metres (about 33 feet) long. After finding all these treasures, Cocks took them to England. He then sold them to the British Museum in 1891.

What Was Found?

The objects from the Lilleberge burial are a very important collection of Viking jewellery and other items. They likely belonged to an important woman from a local tribe.

One of the most special finds is a nearly complete plaque made from whalebone. Experts think it might have been used as a cutting board for food. It could also have been a surface to smooth out clothes.

Other cool objects found at Lilleberge include:

  • Two oval brooches made of copper alloy.
  • Necklaces with colorful glass beads.
  • A spindle-whorl, which is a tool used for spinning thread.
  • A fancy gilded (gold-covered) Celtic mount. This was only recently found in the British Museum's storage!
  • An iron pot stand.
  • Rivets from a Viking boat.
  • The bones of the person who was buried there.

See also

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