Presenc Valsgarde Burial

There are finds where parts of skull are actually hacked off and arm bones hacked into multiple parts. This clearly constitutes an evidence of some conflict for dominance in the region. Of course, it is impossible to determine at this time, if the fight happened between the local people and the Scandinavian group or between two rival leaders and their followers, however, it is significant indication that struggle for power and dominance took place outside the established borders of Scandinavia. There have been even attempts to link this find to the famous King Ingvar from Inglingasaga, (Heimskringla) although it is, of course, impossible to prove or disprove such hypothesis. In any case, it indicates the presence of significant military force of well-equipped men in the region. Of special significance is the

Salme find is unique, as it represents the burial of at least, part of some leaders retinue or war band, and, as result, offer us better insights as to what warriors would have had with them on the campaign, unlike the burials of the military elite, like those in Valsgarde, where it is often impossible to tell how much of the equipment placed in the burial is actually intended for use, and how much is symbolic - for example, in the richly appointed Valsgarde 8 ship burial, there is a gathering of military equipment, including helmet, sword, mail shirt, several shields, arrows, spears, seax and a rather plain and unassuming looking axe head that seems rather out of place among all the finery, and, likely, was not directly used by the warlord himself, but rather placed in grave as an offering. Salme ship burials lack such "out of place" items - it seems that most of what has been recovered was either parts of fallen warriors personal belongings or ship equipment. It is worth noting, that among all the military gear a third of the warriors had combs with them and it would seem that many had gaming pieces to shorten the time on the long voyages (Curry,