Archaeologists find hull of Viking ship

Preliminary excavations into the discovery of more Viking treasures south of Oslo have led to the hull of what archaeologists are calling the Gjellestadskip. It’s reportedly “in good shape,” and believed to be older than Norway’s famed Oseberg and Gokstad ships.

Archaeologists from the Cultural History Museum (UiO) and the county conservator in Østfold county municipality
dug in to the keel of what was a 20-metre long Viking ship [Credit: Sigrid Mannsåker Gundersen,
 county conservator in Østfold county municipality]

“I think the mood could be best described as more or less euphoric,” Christian Løchsen Rødsrud of the University of Oslo’s Museum of Cultural History told state broadcaster NRK on Thursday. “Everyone was jubilant.”

Three nails of the ship buried at Gjellestad [Credit: Fredrik Norland,
Østfold Fylkeskommune]

The picture shows the imprint of the bucket
[Credit: Christian Rødsrud]

Rødsrud is the project leader on the dig that started just last week and will soon end, with plans calling for the ground to be covered up again while experts decide how to proceed. The hull was described as “solid wood,” leading Rødsrud to believe that it will be possible to excavate.

Archaeologists have uncovered a number of ships rivets representing joints
between planks in the ship [Credit: Christian Rødsrud]

The keel of the Gjellestad ship [Credit: Christian Rødsrud]

Right now they want to cover it all up again while they work with specimens and “test material” from the site. He said the hull was different than those of the Oseberg and Gokstad ships but he and his colleagues believe the vessel also had been used for a funeral and likely on the water as well. It may date to pre-Viking times: “We are playing with the idea that it’s older, but it’s too early to say.”

Source: News in English [September 10, 2019]