A ship burial or boat grave is a burial in which a ship or boat is used either as a container for the dead and the grave goods, or as a part of the grave goods itself. If the ship is very small, it is called a boat grave. This style of burial was used among the Germanic peoples, particularly by Viking Age Norsemen, but has been practised in Scandinavia since at last the earliest Iron Age, as evidenced by the Hjortspring boat grave and the Nydam Mose ships.