Independent researcher Steve Dickinson says he has pinpointed what may be the burial site of Viking ruler Ivar the Boneless in Cumbria, northwest England, according to Fox News. He is focusing on a prominent mound known locally as the King’s Mound and recorded historically as Cuningishou. He calls it the King’s Mound as a translation of its Latin name. He believes it could mark England’s first monumental Viking ship burial.
His team reports finding ship rivets, roves, and lead weights in the area around the mound, according to Fox News. Dickinson argues these are consistent with a Viking ship burial.
Prominent Viking leader
Ivar the Boneless, also known as Ivar Ragnarsson, was a prominent 9th-century Viking leader. He led the Great Heathen Army’s invasions of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and established Viking dominance in Ireland, where he is sometimes identified with Ímar, the founder of the Uí Ímair dynasty that ruled Dublin and where he likely died around 873 AD.
Norse sagas depict Ivar as the Viking commander who led attacks on English kingdoms and describe displays of cruelty, such as torturing King Edmund with arrows.
A Viking ship burial is a form of elite interment in which high-status individuals were laid to rest in a boat or ship.
Dickinson says he has identified 39 smaller mounds encircling the principal mound, according to Fox News. He suggests they indicate a wider ceremonial or funerary landscape. He contends the mound’s setting corresponds to “Laithlind,” a realm associated with Ivar and interpreted as “marsh/lake-land,” which he says matches the Cumbrian terrain.
He adds that Icelandic saga literature indicates Ivar was buried “in England, in a mound on a boundary.” He says he has identified what he believes were fleet bases and a series of post-holes near the mound,. He interprets these as structural evidence of a large royal palace complex associated with Ivar. These finds, he said, “give the strongest connections with him and his grave,” according to Fox News.
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