VANERSBORG, Sweden, May 9 (UPI) -- Divers stumbled on the wreck of a Viking ship this week on the bottom of the largest lake in Sweden.

Archaeologists say the ship is the first from the Viking era found underwater in Sweden, The Local reported. Previous Viking ship discoveries have been used for land burials.


The boat was in the midst of an island group in the center of Lake Vanern. Most of the wreck was covered with 3 feet of mud with a single rib sticking out of the ooze, the divers said.

Roland Peterson, an archaeologist with the Vanern Museum, said that a sample of the ship's wood and iron from a sword and shield found in the wreck are being tested to determine the age of the vessel. But he said the sword resembles those from other Viking-era sites.

The divers discovered six more shipwrecks within 300 feet of the Viking ship, including three in the same spot. Peterson said the age of those wrecks is still completely unknown.

Vanern, which lies west of Stockholm, is one of a chain of lakes in the Gotha Canal system, connecting the capital and Gothenburg. The lake is the third largest in Europe.