Viking Ship Museum

Oslo, Norway

The Age of the Vikings, when Norsemen terrorized the coasts of Europe, lasted approximately from
800 to 1050. (Perhaps the most famous among them was Leif Ericsson, the bold explorer and son of
Erik the Red from western Norway; he is said to have “discovered” America in 1001.)

Few of their vivid sagas and legends were written down, but plenty of heritage is nevertheless
preserved at the cathedral-like Vikingskiphuset, the Viking Ship Museum. Built in 1936, it houses three
remarkably intact 9th-century Viking burial ships discovered at the turn of the last century in the
nearby Oslo Fjord. Considered the country’s most important archaeological cache, the three long, low-
slung wooden vessels contained the bodies of Viking chieftains and one queen (believed to be the
grandmother of Harald Hårfagre, the first king of Norway), all entombed with weapons, horses,
jewelry, tools, and artifacts meant to serve them in the afterlife. Although partially plundered by grave
robbers, they nevertheless represent the largest Viking find ever recorded and have shaped the
understanding of Norway’s distant maritime past.

For a more recent example of the Nordic fascination with the sea, fast-forward to the late 1940s,
when a young, adventurous Norwegian scientist, Thor Heyerdahl, and his five-man crew sailed a
fragile balsa-log raft from Peru to Polynesia, to prove Heyerdahl’s belief that people from South
America could have settled the South Sea islands in pre-Columbian times. The Kon-Tiki, as the raft
was christened, sailed for 101 days over 4,300 miles across the Pacific Ocean before smashing into a
reef in the Tuamotu Islands of Polynesia (see p. 691). The crew was rescued, and today the vessel is
proudly displayed in the Kon-Tiki Museum, where you’ll also find striking exhibits of Heyerdahl’s
explorations of Easter Island (see p. 1021).

Viking Ship Museum: Tel 47/22-13-5283; www.khm.uio.no. Kon-Tiki Museum: Tel 47/23-08-
6767; www.kon-tiki.no.

Oseberg Ship
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The Oseberg ship (Viking Ship Museum, Norway)

Detail from the Oseberg ship

View from the front.

The Oseberg ship (Norwegian: Osebergskipet) is a well-preserved Viking

ship discovered in a large burial mound at the Oseberg farm
near Tønsberg in Vestfold county, Norway. This ship is commonly acknowledged to
be among the finer artifacts to have survived from the Viking Era. The ship and some
of its contents are displayed at the Viking Ship Museum at Bygdøy on the western
side of Oslo, Norway.[1]

Contents

 1Burial mound

 2Structure
  3Human remains

 4Grave goods

 5Location

 6Images

 7Film

 8See also

 9References

 10Works cited

 11External links

Burial mound[edit source]

The Oseberg burial mound (Norwegian: Oseberghaugen ved Slagen from the Old
Norse word haugr meaning kurgan mound or barrow) contained two female human
skeletons as well as a considerable quantity of grave goods. The ship's interment into
its burial mound dates from AD 834, but parts of the ship date from around 800, and
the ship itself is thought to be older. [1] It was excavated by Norwegian
archaeologist Haakon Shetelig and Swedish archaeologist Gabriel Gustafson in
1904–1905.[2]

Structure[edit source]
The ship is a Karve, clinker built almost entirely of oak. It is 21.58 metres (70.8 ft)
long and 5.10 metres (16.7 ft) broad, with a mast of approximately 9–10 metres (30–
33 ft). With a sail of c. 90 square metres (970 sq ft), 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 steering oar, 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.[3]
During the debate on whether to move the original ship to a new proposed museum,
thorough investigations were made into the possibilities of moving the ship without
damaging it. During the process, very thorough photographic and laser scans of both
the outside and inside of the ship were made.[4]
In 2004, an attempt to build a copy of the Oseberg ship was launched. A collective
effort of Norwegian and Danish professional builders, scientist and volunteers
engaged in this new attempt with the photo scans and laser scans made available
free of charge to the enthusiastic builders. During this new attempt it was discovered
that, during the initial restoration of the ship, a breach in one of the beams had been
made and that the ship was therefore inadvertently shortened. That fact had not been
appreciated earlier. It is believed this was perhaps the prime reason why several
earlier replicas sank: previous attempts at working replicas had failed owing to a lack
of correct data.[5][6]
In 2010, a new reconstruction was started, entitled Saga Oseberg. Using timber from
Denmark and Norway and utilizing traditional building methods from the Viking age,
this newest Oseberg ship was successfully completed. On the 20th of June 2012 the
new ship was launched from the city of Tønsberg. The ship floated very well and in
March 2014 it was taken to open seas, with Færder as its destination, under full sail.
A speed of 10 knots was achieved. The construction was a success, the ship
performing very well. It demonstrated that the Oseberg ship really could have sailed
and was not just a burial chamber on land. [7]

Human remains[edit source]

Model of Oseberg Ship in Maritime Museum in Stockholm, Sweden.

The skeletons of two women were found in the grave with the ship. One, probably
aged around 80, suffered badly from arthritis and other maladies. The second was
initially believed to be aged 25–30, but analysis of tooth-root translucency suggests
she was older (aged 50–55).[8] It is not clear which one was the more important in life
or whether one was sacrificed to accompany the other in death. The younger woman
had a broken collarbone, initially thought to be evidence that she was a human
sacrifice, but closer examination showed that the bone had been healing for several
weeks. The opulence of the burial rite and the grave-goods suggests that this was a
burial of very high status. One woman wore a very fine red wool dress with a lozenge
twill pattern (a luxury commodity) and a fine white linen veil in a gauze weave, while
the other wore a plainer blue wool dress with a wool veil, possibly showing some
stratification in their social status. Neither woman wore anything entirely made of silk,
although small silk strips were appliqued onto a tunic worn under the red dress. [9]
Dendrochronological analysis of timbers in the grave chamber dates the burial to the
autumn of 834.[10] Although the high-ranking woman's identity is unknown, it has been
suggested that she is Queen Åsa of the Yngling clan, mother of Halfdan the
Black and grandmother of Harald Fairhair. Recent tests of the women's remains
suggest that they lived in Agder in Norway, as had Queen Åsa.[11] This theory has
been challenged, however, and some think that she may have been a shaman.
There were also the skeletal remains of 14 horses, an ox, and three dogs found on
the ship.
According to Per Holck of Oslo University, the younger
woman's mitochondrial haplogroup was discovered to be U7.[12] Her ancestors came
to Norway from the Pontic littoral, probably Iran.[13] Three subsequent studies failed to
confirm these results, however, and it is likely that the bone samples contain little (if
any) original DNA or have been contaminated through handling. [14]
Examinations of fragments of the skeletons have provided more insight into their
lives. The younger woman's teeth showed signs that she used a metal toothpick, a
rare 9th century luxury. Both women had a diet composed mainly of meat, another
luxury when most Vikings ate fish. However, there was not enough DNA to tell if they
were related, for instance a queen and her daughter. [15]

Grave goods[edit source]

The so-called "Buddha bucket" (Buddha-bøtte), a brass and cloisonné enamel ornament of a bucket (pail)
handle in the shape of a figure sitting with crossed legs.

The grave had been disturbed in antiquity, and precious metals were absent.
Nevertheless, a great number of everyday items and artifacts were found during the
1904–1905 excavations. These included four elaborately decorated sleighs, a richly
carved four-wheel wooden cart, bed-posts, and wooden chests, as well as the so-
called "Buddha bucket" (Buddha-bøtte), a brass and cloisonné enamel ornament of a
bucket (pail) handle in the shape of a figure sitting with crossed legs. The bucket is
made from yew wood, held together with brass strips, and the handle is attached to
two anthropomorphic figures compared to depictions of the Buddha in the lotus
posture, although any connection is most uncertain. More relevant is the connection
between the patterned enamel torso and similar human figures in the Gospel
books of the Insular art of the British Isles, such as the Book of Durrow. More
mundane items such as agricultural and household tools were also found. A series of
textiles included woolen 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. A bedpost shows one of the few
period examples of the use of what has been dubbed the valknut symbol.[16]

Location[edit source]
The conservation of the wooden artifacts is an ongoing problem. On May 3, 2011,
thirteen years after debate began over the disposition of the ship, Norwegian Minister
of Education Kristin Halvorsen stated that the ship will not be moved from Bygdøy.[17][18]
The Viking Ship Museum
 Museums and Attractions

At the Viking Ship Museum you will find the world's best-conserved Viking ships, the
Viking graves, as well as the exquisite carving of the objects found in them, and the
mystical dragon heads.

The three famous ships from Oseberg, Gokstad and Tune were used to navigate the
seas and later they were used as graves. These Viking Ships are more than 1000
years old!

The museum works constantly to find the best conserving methods to preserve the
ships and they can still be admired very closely by our visitors. A short 3D film about
the Viking era is shown twice an hour on the ceiling of one of the wings. 

The building was designed exclusively for the museum by the Norwegian architect
Arnstein Arneberg and has been declared protected by the cultural authorities of the
country. 

Your ticket is valid at the Historical Museum too, where you can see the rest of the
Viking collection and learn more about Norwegian history from the Stone Age and up
to the Middle Ages. You can also walk around our permanent and temporary exhibits
on history, anthropology and culture. 

Viking Ship Museum (Oslo)

The Viking Ship Museum (Norwegian: Vikingskipshuset på Bygdøy) is located on
the Bygdøy peninsula in Oslo, Norway. It is part of the Museum of Cultural History of
the University of Oslo, and houses three Viking era burial ships that were found as part
of archaeological finds from Tune, Gokstad (Sandefjord), Oseberg (Tønsberg) and the Borre
mound cemetery.[1]
Oseberg Ship prow

Animal Head Post from Viking Ship Museum

Viking Ship Museum at Bygdøy

Oseberg Ship in Viking Ship Museum

Bust of Anne Stine and Helge Ingstad outside Viking Ship Museum

Contents

 1Attractions

 2History

o 2.1Museum extension

 3Gallery

 4See also

 5References

 6Other sources

 7External links
Attractions[edit source]
The museum is most famous for the completely whole Oseberg ship, excavated from the largest
known ship burial in the world. Other main attractions at the Viking Ship Museum are the Gokstad
ship and Tune ship. Additionally, the Viking Age display includes sledges, beds, a horse cart,
wood carving, tent components, buckets and other grave goods.[2][3]

History[edit source]
In 1913, Swedish professor Gabriel Gustafson proposed a specific building to house Viking
Age finds that were discovered at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. The
Gokstad and Oseberg ships had been stored in temporary shelters at the University of Oslo. An
architectural contest was held, and Arnstein Arneberg won.
The hall for the Oseberg ship was built with funding from the Parliament of Norway, and the ship
was moved from the University shelters in 1926. The halls for the ships from Gokstad and Tune
were completed in 1932. Building of the last hall was delayed, partly due to the Second World
War, and this hall was completed in 1957. It houses most of the other finds, mostly from Oseberg.
[4]

Museum extension[edit source]

On 20 December 2000 the University of Oslo had supported a proposal by the Historical Museum
to move the ships and all the grave goods to a proposed new museum in Bjørvika, Oslo. There
has been much debate about this suggestion, both in the museum and archaeological community
as well as in the media. Opponents to the move have raised concerns that the ships are too
fragile and that they will not survive the move undamaged, while proponents claim otherwise,
suggesting a move could go ahead without inflicting serious damage to the finds. [5]
In 2015 the Ministry let Statsbygg announce a competition for the expansion of existing facilities
at Bygdøy. The winner of the architectural competition was released the 12 April 2016, and it was
the Danish firm AART architects with their proposal titled "NAUST". [6]
1904'te Norveç'te bir Viking gemisi ortaya çıkarılmıştı.
Viking Gemi Müzesi, Oslo, Norveç'te Bygdøy yarımadasında yer almaktadır. Oslo Üniversitesi
Kültür Tarihi Müzesi'nin bir parçasıdır ve Tune, Gokstad, Oseberg ve Borre höyük mezarlığından
arkeolojik buluntuların bir parçası olarak bulunan üç Viking dönemi mezar gemisi
barındırmaktadır.
Excavation of the Oseberg ship, 1904/5

Moving the ship on rails to its current location at Bygdøy, September 1926
D U R I N G T H E L A T E  19th
century, a young Norwegian farmer,
Johannes Hansen, arrived in the United States where—like many
Scandinavians of the period—he had high hopes of starting a new life.
However, an encounter with a fortune teller there made him change
his plans. He learned that he need not suffer hardships in America to
get rich because hidden on his farm back home was a great treasure.

This fateful encounter, described in a 1930 compilation of local

history of Oseberg in southern Norway, may be nothing more than a
yarn, but it reveals the intrigue and legends that surround one of the
most exciting discoveries from the Viking age.

A carved head on the funerary cart found at Oseberg.P H O T O G R A P H BY OVE

HOLST/UNIVERSITY OF OSLO

Hansen returned to Oseberg. He started to excavate a curious mound

on his land but found nothing. He halted digging, speculating that the
mound was just a burial site of Black Death victims from the 1349
epidemic. (This Mass Grave May Belong to 'Great Viking Army.')

Hansen and his neighbors had good reason to suspect there might be
important archaeological sites in the area. In 1879 two teenagers in
Gokstad, a town in the same region of Vestfold as Oseberg, discovered
the burial place of a ninth-century Viking prince. The mysterious
mound had also yielded a fantastic discovery: an entire wooden
Viking ship encased in the dirt. (What you don't know about the
Vikings may surprise you.)

Buried boat
In 1903 Knut Rom, one of Hansen’s neighbors, bought the Oseberg
farm. Rom continued to search the property and soon did find
something: a wooden fragment measuring only eight inches. It was a
small find that heralded something much bigger.
Sixty miles away, in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, Rom approached
Professor Gabriel Gustafson of the University Museum of National
Antiquities. At first it seemed the veteran archaeologist might dismiss
this farmer out of hand— but after Rom presented him with the
wooden fragment, Gustafson marveled at the rich, intricate carving.
He had no doubt about the fragment’s Viking origins. (Why were
archaeologists so excited to find a Viking comb?)

Alerted to the
presence of Viking remains at Oseberg in summer 1903,
Professor Gustafson (center) traveled from Oslo to the site, where a
preliminary dig suggested a major find. Poor weather forced Gustafson and
his team to wait until the following May to get back to work. P H O T O G R A P H B Y
PETER BARRITT/ALAMY/ACI

The very next day the professor went to Oseberg and explored the
mound to evaluate the site. On August 10, 1903, he informed the
Norwegian press that a significant, new Viking burial ship had been
found. Despite the fortune teller’s predictions, Knut Rom, not
Hansen, turned out to be the beneficiary of the treasure hunt: Rom
received 12,000 Norwegian kroner (about $1,400) for the land—a
considerable sum of money at the time.

Digging begins
The excavation began the following spring. The burial mound, 130
feet wide and 19 feet high, was made from blue clay and stones
covered with turf from the local marshlands. This protective layer
provided the ideal conditions to preserve wood, which explains why
the Oseberg ship’s condition was better than the vessel found in
Gokstad. The weight of the earth, however, had crushed the structure
and its contents. Experts took years to put all the parts back together.
(Archeaologists use ground penetrating radar to find Viking burial
ships.)

S L O W R E V E A L Professor
Gustafson and his team carefully excavated the
ship from the Oseberg burial mound in 1904.P H O T O G R A P H B Y I M A G E
COLLECTION
After excavation, the ship measured 70 feet long and 16 feet wide. It
had been placed with the prow facing the sea. The funeral chamber
itself was in the stern, constructed from wood that has been dated to
A.D. 834. Gustafson realized the tomb had been looted, probably
soon after the burial. The thieves entered through the prow, broke
into the tomb, and stole what is thought now to have been the most
valuable grave goods, scattering the bones in the process. (How to
fight like a Viking)

Royal bones?
The most recent studies indicate that these bones belonged to two
women: one approximatelt 70 years old and the other much younger,
about 50 years of age. There was immediate speculation about their
identity: Some believed one of the women could be Queen Åsa, the
grandmother of Harald I (A.D. 860-940), the first king of a united
Norway. Others believed one of the women was a high priestess.
Whoever they were, their rich attire indicated that they held
important positions in Viking society. (Famous Viking Warrior Was a
Woman, DNA Reveals.)

Some scholars believe that one of them—it is not known whom—was

probably sacrificed to accompany the higher ranking person in her
long journey in the afterlife.
A SHIP'S PURPOSE

A sketch imaging what the Oseburg ship looked like in its prime
ILLUSTRATION BY NAVISTORY

It is not known for sure why the Oseberg ship was first built. Was it originally
intended to be a lavish burial chamber or a working ship? According to the
Viking Ship Museum in Oslo, Norway, where it is now on display, scholars
believe that the Oseberg ship may have been built somewhere in western
Norway, around 820 A.D. However, the Oseberg ship’s design yields no clues
to its intended function. The design closely resembles that of a typical
working Viking ship, which could be powered by either sails or oars, but no
solid proof exists to show the boat ever went to sea.

Apart from the ship itself, the grave goods that had been left
undisturbed included objects for everyday use: beds, tapestries,
clothes, combs, farming tools, and tents. There was also a cart, along
with the remains of 15 horses, 6 dogs, and 2 cows. The tomb was
furnished with everything the deceased might need as they boarded
their richly carved vessel for its last, mysterious voyage into the world
of the dead.