Stone Ships and Viking Goddess Cult

In Sweden, while Uppland boat burials are all for men, in Tuna, Västmanland the boat burials contain women. The only runestone dedicated to a woman, the Odendisa stone, is also in Västmanland. By the 1st century AD, the Nordic boat cult was expressed in this area in the form of ship shaped stone circles known as “skeppssättningar“ - there were five at Anundshög which is also the site of a huge Viking burial mound and a runestone with a unique picture which seems to suggest a fertility cult was there.