An Icelandic Approach to the “Reburial” Issue

Here is a twist on the controversy over the reburial of ancient remains: Bury the skeleton and grave goods at the museum.

Of course, it helps it the remains are Norse and the museum is the Viking World Museum in Iceland. Not so many problems of cultural continuity there.

According to museum director Elisabeth Ward, research has shown that most Icelandic settlers were pagan [sic] and that paganism was practiced among the first generations of Icelanders.

“We are reconstructing the pagan grave from Hafurbjarnarstadir,” Ward explained. “The skeletons are placed in a wooden boat, which is a replica of a Viking boat, and sand from Hafurbjarnarstadir has been put inside. Some people believe the man was buried inside a boat, but it is not quite clear.”

(Hat tip: Caroline Tully at Necropolis Now.)

One thought on “An Icelandic Approach to the “Reburial” Issue

  1. Pitch313

    Anyway I turn this around in my head, there’s a horror movie script and a potential Interwebs flame war lurking close by. Plus, I keep having a vision of mountain top removal mining and what it does to the lay of the land and to everything on or within the land. Museum seems like a better resting place than disturbed fill pushed into a once green hollow.

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