The Cruel Ritual In Ibn Fadlan's Burial Mo

The end of this sentence, “an object they had constructed which looked like a door-frame.”, demonstrates ibn Fadlan’s lack of familiarity with the Viking’s burial ritual and thus his desire to attribute familiar characteristics to it. Because he is not familiar with the structure, he is only able to vaguely illustrate it in his writing, in which he initially describes it as “an object”. He further develops the image of this object by qualifying it as being “constructed” by the Vikings and that it “looked like a door-frame.” The fact that the structure is built by the community indicates that the society is likely collectivistic and tries to limit outside influence, especially within their burial rituals. Moreover, with his statement that the