Digs & Discoveries

Roman marble cutters, anglo-saxon giant, neanderthal hearing… and much more

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VIKING FANTASY ISLAND

On the southern coast of the small Danish island of Hjarnø, just east of the mainland lies a curious collection of stones arranged to form the outlines of boats. More than 1,000 such monuments, called ship settings, which often include burials, have been found throughout the Baltic region. Some of the oldest examples, dating to as early as 1300 b.c., are located in southern Sweden. Based on grave goods uncovered in a 1936 excavation, the Hjarnø ship settings are believed to date to the late Iron Age (a.d. 600–800) or Viking Age (a.d. 800–1000). The tradition, which had faded, was revived during this period, says Erin Sebo, a medievalist at Flinders University who led a survey of the Hjarnø settings in 2018.