Elite warriors and chamber graves on either end of the Silk Road

John Ljungkvist is a researcher at Uppsala University and has worked extensively on graves, centres of power and the material culture of resources and trade/exchange in the First Millennia CE. He is currently co-director of the Viking phenomenon project and World in the Viking Age (WIVA) excellence center.

In many societies around the world have most people been buried according to a common practice. But in the population as a whole, there can be a group that for some reason decide to do things in a different way. In Scandinavia is a new kind of deviating burial practice, the so-called chamber burials (or oversized graves), which emerge in the 3^rd century CE. They appear in societies where the cremation burial practice dominates completely, and it is a practice that exists throughout the 1^st Millennia in several parts of Scandinavia.

The ‘chamber’ area in one of the Viking Age boat graves from the Valsgärde cemetery. The deceased person is surrounded by weapons, tools and personal items. Note expecially the embroided silk (red) by the cranium. In front of the feet lies the remains if the saddle (stirrups and buckles) as well as the bridle. Drawing by: Bengt Schönbäck, Museum Gustavianum collections.

The furnishing of all chamber graves follow a basic principle where the position of the deceased is the focus. Placed closest to the corpse in graves with male attributes are personal items like belts and swords, a shield and perhaps drinking vessels. Riding gear, various types of vessels in different materials, gaming pieces and often various tools can be found elsewhere in the grave. In typical female graves, weapons are substituted by sets of jewellery. In the best-preserved cases we also find a multitude of organic remains identified as textiles and foodstuff. From the mid-6^th century onwards, animal sacrifices are also found. In some periods the variety and number of animals is considerable.

One of the iconic helmets from the Valsgärde boat (chamber) graves. Drawing by: Bengt Schönbäck, Museum Gustavianum collections.

Mounds containing chamber burials, kofun (古墳), start to appear in Japan about the same time as in Northern Europe. These key-hole shaped mounds look very different to the round Scandinavian mounds. But if we look at the actual burial chamber, and particularly the ideas of the relationship between the individual and the deposited items, there are striking similarities. As in Scandinavia, in Japan we find the deceased surrounded by weapons, horse equipment, exclusive imports and other items.

Is there an explanation for the near contemporary practice of chamber burials on either margin of Eurasia? We can be pretty confident that the Japanese and Scandinavian elites did not meet and exchange ideas in this period. It might be worth considering a common influence, for example practices that originated in central Asia and spread in either direction. But the complexity of regional burial practices in the ancient world makes it impossible to draw any trustworthy conclusions. It is unequivocal that the graves at both ends of Eurasia are intended to manifest power among certain societal groups. The grave goods reflect not only wealth but also, for example, leisure, artistry and food culture, i.e. the luxurious life of the occupant.

Glass drinking horn from the Roman provinces found in a chamber grave from Östra Varv, Östergötland, Sweden. Photographer: Christer Åhlin, Swedish History Museum.

Another common denominator in the graves is their evidence for contacts with the outer world. Characteristic of the early Scandinavian chamber graves are Roman imports and fashions, most often in the form of bronze and glass vessels. Kofun, probably influenced from the Silla Kingdom in Korea, contain Roman and Indo-Pacific beads and Roman and Sassanian glass vessels. They were indeed parts of the same material and cognitive world and eager recipients of luxuries from the wider Eurasian world.

John Ljungkvist, October 2025