Archaeologists discovered the Gjellestad Viking ship using modern georadar technology in late 2018.
Almost two years after its discovery by georadar, the Gjellestad Viking ship grave is now in the process of being excavated. Until today, it had been 100 years since a full Viking ship excavation project took place in Norway.
A vulnerable discovery
A ceremonial dig from Norway’s minister for climate and environment Sveinung Rotevatn launched the project, which is expected to last for five months.
In 2019, a trial excavation revealed that the wooden keel was intact, but otherwise the wood was in poor condition. Rotevatn said the discovery was of international importance and that a rapid excavation was critical:
“The finding is very vulnerable to human intervention and climate change, and we know it is undergoing active degradation. Therefore, it was necessary for the government to provide funding in order to stop the degradation and secure the discovery and the potential for knowledge as quickly as possible.”
A center of Viking Age power
Archaeologists from the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU) found the clear imprint of a ship during a georadar study of the area in 2018.
The Viking ship burial site was discovered in a farmer’s field in the Oslofjord region of south-east Norway, the same region in which the country’s other famous Viking ships were discovered more than 100 years ago.
Such ship burials were reserved for powerful people. Researchers believe it’s possible whoever was buried at Gjellestad could have lived around the same time as the people buried in the Oseberg and Gokstad ships on the other side of the Oslofjord, further cementing the area’s reputation as a center of power in the Viking Age.
A five-month process
NIKU’s Knut Paasche explains that archaeologists led by the Museum of Cultural History at the University of Oslo will spend the first month removing the topsoil by machine, but that even this step could turn up surprises: “The ship is not far underground, perhaps just half a metre, so items such as jewelry, nails or weapons could have found their way into the topsoil.”
After the initial month, archaeologists will then turn to manual work to dig out the remains of the ship. As for what to expect, Paasche hopes there will be one or two planks either side of the keel still intact. “The remainder of the wood will likely have left a dark layer throughout the soil,” he says.
New learning about old ships
Prior to the Gjellestad excavation, only three known ships still exist from the many hundreds that would have been based in Norway during the Viking Age. The Oseberg, Gokstad and Tune ships are all on display at the Oslo Viking Ship Museum.
Paasche is excited about the potential for learning that the Gjellestad ship may offer: “To understand and explain the Viking period better, we have to understand the ships as they were fundamental to trade and expansion. This is a rare opportunity to learn more.”
The trial dig in 2019 already turned up some interesting facts. The keel helped archaeologists determine that the ship was from the Viking Age, but it also appeared to be different from the other known ships.
“It is a lot smaller, but it may look different if we dig out more of the ship. Then we can also find out more about what kind of boat this has been. We have a hope of finding some of the mast. If it is preserved, it could help us determine if we have found a sailing ship,” explained project manager Christian Løchsen Rødsrud.
