In 2023, a metal detectorist found two brooches and some ribs just under the surface layer of dirt on a farm on Senja, in northern Norway. Archaeologists dated the site between 900 and 950 CE based on the style of the brooches. A plow could just as easily have turned the site under and lost the grave with its riches. Instead, archaeologists from the Arctic University Museum of Norway were able to excavate the site in June 2025. They found a ship grave containing a Viking woman buried with her dog curled at her feet. We reported the find when news of the dig came out in Viking Grave Site Holds Boat, Woman, and Dog. This post follows the excavation.
Boat Details
The boat measured at 17 feet 8 inches (5.4 meters). Archaeologists classed it as a “sewn” boat, meaning builders fastened the planks with something other than iron rivets. Only dark spots at the site showed where the planks had been; the wood and the material used to fasten it together had long since decomposed. (The ocean-going boats of the age are in Boats That Vikings Used Beyond the Longship.)
The Viking Woman Buried With Her Dog
Her grave held a ring-shaped pendant that likely hung from her ear or a headpiece. Archaeologists found it next to her skull. The oval brooches were refined and used silver thread.
“Only the elite would receive a burial like this,” archaeologist Anja Roth Niemi told Science Norway. “She wasn’t at the very top of the social ladder, but she was clearly an important figure.” Niemi explained that only one or two people a generation received a boat burial with their valuables. Viking Women Celebration covers what Norse women could own and do.
The Dog Buried With the Viking Woman
The dog was a small one and lay at the woman’s feet. Niemi told Science Norway she is not sure the team can name the exact breed, but she expects they will learn what kind of dog it was.
Dogs turn up in a number of Viking graves, and in the sagas too. Someone placed this one with care, a quiet reminder that people a thousand years ago loved their animals as much as we do.
More Graves?
Another brooch found nearby may indicate another grave, but archaeologists haven’t confirmed its presence.
“We’d really like to survey the area with ground-penetrating radar to see if there’s more to uncover,” said Niemi.
If you liked reading about a Viking woman buried with her dog, check out our article about Vikings and cats, and another Norwegian woman’s grave that confounds archaeologists.
At Asgard Alaska we want to bring the Viking Age to life, finds like this one included. The museum is not open yet. We are raising the Land Fund to buy the site, Phase 1 of our Roadmap.
Sources
- Science Norway, “A Viking woman was buried here with her dog” (June 6, 2025)
