Seemingly ’empty’ burial mound is hiding a 1,200-year-old Viking ship

A Viking Age burial mound in Norway lengthy considered empty truly holds an unbelievable artifact: the stays of a ship burial, in response to a ground-penetrating radar evaluation.

The stays, that are nonetheless underground, point out {that a} ship burial befell through the late eighth century A.D., the very begin of the Viking Age (A.D. 793 to 1066). If confirmed, it will be the third early Viking ship burial discovered within the space, on the coast of the island of Karmøy in southwestern Norway, a area that could be the origin of Viking tradition.

“This can be a very strategic level, the place maritime site visitors alongside the Norwegian coast was managed,” Håkon Reiersen (opens in new tab), an archaeologist on the College of Stavanger in Norway, advised Dwell Science. Reiersen works for the college’s Museum of Archaeology and led the group that made the invention final 12 months, close to the village of Avaldsnes.

A white and black image showing what might be the remains of a ship buried underground. — The radar alerts present what seems to be a Viking ship buried close to the middle of the Salhushaugen mound, which was considered empty. (Picture credit score: The Museum of Archaeology, College of Stavanger)

Harald Fairhair, the legendary first king of Norway, lived in a royal manor there. Earlier than that, the world was a middle of political energy from the Bronze Age (about 1700 B.C.) till the medieval interval.

“This was an essential place for 3,000 years,” Reiersen stated.

Associated: Viking warriors sailed the seas with their pets, bone evaluation finds

Viking burial

Here we see a person in a hi-vis jacket sitting in a narrow but deep trench.

The archaeologists plan to make excavation trenches within the Salhushaugen mound to find out the chance that the Viking ship buried there may be well-preserved. (Picture credit score: Theo B. Gill – The Museum of Archaeology, College of Stavanger)

The Salhushaugen mound, the place the ship-shaped alerts have been detected, was first excavated in 1906 by the Norwegian archaeologist Haakon Shetelig. Shetelig had already found the close by Grønhaug ship burial from A.D. 795, and co-directed the excavation of the well-known Oseberg ship burial, from 834, within the southeastern a part of Norway.

However he was dissatisfied to search out solely arrowheads and wood spades within the Salhushaugen mound. (An earlier ship burial, the Storhaug ship from 779, was found by different archaeologists beneath one more close by mound in 1886.)

Reiersen suspects Shetelig’s group stopped digging once they struck a rock layer close to the underside of the mound. If that they had dug deeper, they could have discovered the Salhushaugen ship, which appears to be buried inside the rock layer — a observe that is additionally been seen at different websites, Reiersen stated.

The alerts come from ground-penetrating radar tools, which makes use of the reflections of pulses of radio waves to disclose objects buried as much as 100 ft (30 meters) beneath the floor. They’ve revealed the impression of a ship about 65 ft (20 m) lengthy.

This is a diagram which shows where all three ships were found.

Two different Viking ships have been discovered beneath burial mounds close by: the Storhaug ship, dated to A.D. 779, and the Grønhaug ship, dated to 795. The Salhushaugen ship, too, is believed so far from the late eighth century. (Picture credit score: The Museum of Archaeology, College of Stavanger)

That is bigger than the 50 foot-long (15 m) wood ship beneath the close by Grønhaug mound, however barely smaller than the greater than 65-foot lengthy (20 m) wood ship beneath the close by Storhaug mound.

The College of Stavanger group hopes to hold out additional excavations of the Salhushaugen mound later this 12 months; and the outcomes of these will decide in the event that they dig right down to the ship.

“We’re assured this lens-shaped sign truly comes from a ship,” Reiersen stated. “It shares the scale and measurement of earlier ships, and it is located in the midst of the mound. However we do not understand how effectively preserved it’s.”

Thriller ship

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Gold arm bands and gaming pieces made of glass and amber were found during the excavation of the Storhaug ship. — Gold arm bands and gaming items manufactured from glass and amber had been discovered through the excavation of the Storhaug ship. (Picture credit score: Annette Øvrelid – The Museum of Archaeology, College of Stavanger)

There may be additionally the likelihood that the Salhushaugen mound, which does not appear to have been looted, should still include artifacts like these discovered on the Storhaug mound, Reiersen stated.

When the mounds had been newly constructed, they might have been seen from ships coming into the slender Karmsund strait, between Karmøy and the mainland — the doorway to the very important sea route by way of the western islands referred to as the Nordvegen, which supplies trendy Norway its identify, he stated.

The brand new discover suits a acknowledged sample that ship burials had been made in clusters, Jan Invoice (opens in new tab), an archaeologist on the College of Oslo and curator of the Viking Ship assortment on the college’s Museum of Cultural Historical past, advised Dwell Science. Invoice isn’t concerned with the brand new analysis.

Invoice has discovered proof from different excavations indicating that ship burials of Viking kings and chieftains had been “staged” to appear to be on water, although they had been on land; for instance, entry to the ship through the burial was solely through gangways.

This hints that their goal was to counsel the buried king wasn’t actually lifeless however merely “crusing away” to be along with his ancestors — a perception that predates the Vikings.

“I believe these ship burials return to a method of consolidating energy amongst Germanic peoples,” Invoice stated. “The concept was that the king was a descendant of a god, equivalent to Odin or Wotan.”

Editor’s be aware: Up to date at 12:02 p.m. EDT to repair the 12 months of the primary Salhuhaugan excavation from 1904 to the proper 12 months of 1906. Additionally, to notice that the Storhaug ship was not 88 ft (27 meters) lengthy, however relatively over 65 ft (20 m).

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