The Vikings, everyone’s favorite medieval Scandinavian raiders ’n’ traders, had diverse and interesting death rituals, but a flaming cremation boat wasn’t one of them. Here are a few rituals that did happen. Vikings performed cremations—on land. Sometimes the cremation pyre would be built inside stones that were outlined and stacked into the shape of a boat (which might be where this idea came from). If the dead person was especially important, their whole boat would be hauled up on land and used as a coffin, known as ship or boat burial. But no flaming-arrow cremation cruise.
