Oseberg ship
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The Oseberg ship (Viking Ship Museum, Norway) |
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Detail from the Oseberg ship |
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View from the front - one of the most stunning expressions of Norse art and craftsmenship |
The
Oseberg ship is a
Viking ship which was found in a large
burial mound at the
Oseberg farm near
Tønsberg in
Vestfold county,
Norway. It was excavated by
Swedish archaeologist
Gabriel Gustafson, and Norwegian archaeologist
Haakon Shetelig in
1904-
1905. The ship and its contents are displayed at the
Viking Ship Museum,
Bygdøy,
Oslo.
The ship is a
clinker built '
karv' ship built almost entirely of
oak. It is c. 22 m long and 5 m broad, with a mast of approximately 9-10 m. With a sail of c. 90 m², the ship could achieve a speed up to 10 knots. The ship has 15 pairs of oar holes, which means that 30 people could row the ship. Other fittings include a broad rudder, iron anchor, gangplank and a bailer. The
bow and
stern of the ship are elaborately decorated with complex woodcarvings in the characteristic "
gripping beast" style, also known as the Oseberg style.The ship was built in
820AD, and had been in use for several years before it was used in the burial. Although seaworthy, the ship is relatively frail, and it is thought to only be used for coastal voyages.
The
skeletons of two women were found in the grave. One, aged 60-70, suffered badly from
arthritis and other maladies; the second was aged 25-30. It is not clear which one was the most important in life, or whether one was sacrificed to accompany the other in death (see
human sacrifice). The opulence of the burial rite and the grave-goods suggests that this was a burial of very high status.
Dendrochronological analysis of timbers in the grave chamber dates the burial to the autumn of
834AD. Although the high-ranking woman's identity is unknown, it has been suggested that it is the burial of
Queen Åsa of the
Ynglinge clan, mother of Halfdan the Black and grandmother of
Harald Fairhair. This theory is now generally dispelled, and it is now thought that she may have been a priestess. Although this fact has not been proved, artefacts recently found have provided a new insight to the discovery.
The grave had been disturbed in antiquity, and precious metals were absent. Nevertheless, a great number of everyday items and artefacts were found during the 1904-1905 excavations. These included four elaborately decorated sleighs, a richly carved four-wheel wooden cart, bed-posts, wooden chests. More mundane items such as agricultural and household tools were also found. A series of textiles included woollen garments, imported
silks and narrow
tapestries. The Oseberg burial is one of the few sources of Viking age textiles, and the wooden cart is the only complete Viking age cart found so far.
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Ship burial*
Gokstad ship*
Tune ship*
The Viking Ship Museum, Roskilde*
Sutton HooChristensen, A.E. Ingstad, A.S. and Myhre, B. (1992) "Oseberg Dronningens Grav - Vår Arkeologiske Nasjonalskatt i Nytt Lys", Oslo
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The Oseberg ship*
Conservation of Gustafson's Sleigh*
the textiles in the Oseberg ship by Anne Stine Ingstad
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Index of norwegian Viking ships
