Scan radar, detect ghost ship carrying remains 'swimming' under the highway

The highway that was about to be formed in Norway almost passed one of the largest and most mysterious ancient tombs - a ghost ship carrying people to the dead more than 9 meters long.

According to the Daily Mail, scientists discovered the mysterious ghost ship when using ground-penetrating radar to survey the area that the highway was about to cross. The ghost ship is 9 meters long, 1.5 meters wide, enough for 6 men to lie inside, possibly part of a Viking aristocrat.

The location of the boat grave and surrounding small burial mounds is marked in black

The Vikings had a habit of burying high-status people in a boat instead of a coffin, but this boat tomb is considerably larger than other boat graves ever excavated.

The land on which the ghost train resides is intended to form part of the E39 motorway that crosses the area near Øyesletta, Norway. Because this is a site with potential archaeological remains, the team from the Norwegian Institute of Cultural Heritage (NIKU) has the task of surveying before construction.

According to archaeologist Jani Causevic, who led the survey team, the radar did not reveal anything more about the person being buried, but it must have been an important person - which is evident from the scale of the human boat. Most likely the person was among many precious burial items and most likely there was more than one remains in the boat.

Another boat grave ever excavated

The age of the boat tomb is about 1,500 - 2,000 years. Around the tomb are several smaller burial mounds, indicating that this is an ancient necropolis of a Viking community.

According to NIKU, authorities have yet to determine the fate of the boat grave. If the highway still passes, the tomb will be excavated soon. But it's also possible that the route would detour to avoid the burial ground and so the mysterious nobleman would rest in peace for at least a while.