Ladby ship
The Ladby ship is a major ship burial, of the type also represented by the boat chamber grave of Hedeby and the ship burials of Oseberg, Borre, Gokstad and Tune in South Norway, all of which date back to the 9th and 10th centuries. It is the only ship burial discovered in Denmark.
The grave is situated within an ordinary burial site, from the Viking Age. Excavations revealed an abundance of grave goods consisting both of objects and of animals. It was previously dated to the early 10th century, based on a gilded link of bronze for a dog-harness, decorated in Jelling style, that was found there.
The grave had been extensively disturbed and, since there was apparently no trace of any dead person, this has been interpreted to be a translatio, i.e. removal from a heathen to a Christian grave.
The excavation was performed by G. Rosenberg, conservator, and P. Helweg Mikkelsen, pharmacist, between 1934 and 1937 and their original drawings constitute the primary source-material for information on the find.