Two mounds in Vestfold
Among the Vikings, important people were sometimes buried in ships, either by being laid in the vessel on land or, according to some sources, by sending it out burning. Most of the ships were destroyed or have rotted away. Two rare exceptions survive in Norway, both from mounds in Vestfold, on the western side of the Oslo Fjord: the Gokstad ship, found in 1880, and the Oseberg ship, found in 1904. The Vikings’ own ship-burial customs varied, and these two finds should not be taken as a typical funeral.
In both cases the ship had been dragged to a site, a burial chamber of timber built on deck, and the whole thing covered with a large mound. The mounds were sealed by thick layers of clay and turf, a condition that helped keep the timber intact for over a thousand years.
The Gokstad ship
The Gokstad ship was excavated in 1880 at Sandefjord. It is about 24 metres long, built mostly of oak, with a single mast and sixteen pairs of oar-holes. Tree-ring dating suggests the oak was felled in the 890s, and the burial is dated shortly after 900. The hull has a deep, flexible keel and overlapping planks, the clinker construction described in the history of the clinker-built longship, and it is a ship that could cross open water as well as run along coasts. Thirty-two shields are usually reported on each side, which would give about sixty-four in total.
The chamber had been robbed in antiquity, so less treasure remained than the builders probably intended. Still, researchers found a man’s skeleton, remains of animals including horses and dogs, and three small boats. The man’s identity is unknown, and attempts to link him to a named person are speculation.
The Oseberg ship
The Oseberg ship was excavated in 1904 by a team under Gabriel Gustafson, with the archaeologist Haakon Shetelig later contributing to the study. The ship is a little shorter than the Gokstad vessel, around 22 metres, and the hull is lower and finer. It is built in oak and decorated with elaborate carvings of animals and interlacing patterns, particularly at the prow and stern. Tree-ring evidence suggests the ship was built in the early ninth century, and the burial is dated to about 834.
Its grave goods were extraordinary, since the chamber contained wooden objects that rarely survive, including a cart, several sledges, beds, chests, tools, textiles and a decorated post. The burial held the remains of two women, one older and one younger, together with the bodies of animals. Their identities are unknown, and one commonly repeated theory says that one was a woman of very high rank. Historians debate this, and other explanations of the burial are possible.
Built for different jobs
Comparing the two ships is instructive. Gokstad looks like a practical sea-going vessel, with a sturdy keel and the ability to flex in waves. Oseberg is more graceful but also more delicate, and many scholars think it was built for use in sheltered waters or for ceremony, though it did show repairs and signs of use. A replica of the Gokstad ship sailed across the Atlantic in 1893, an episode treated in the article on replica ships, which suggests that its general form was capable of long voyages.
The ships support the wider picture of Norse seafaring skill, since they show careful selection of timber, split planks, hand tools and a strong tradition of joining wood with iron rivets and lashings. Neither ship is the same as the later warship type usually imagined as a Viking ship; both belong to an earlier phase of development.
From soil to museum
The finds were taken to Oslo and, after years of conservation, displayed in a museum built for them on the Bygdøy peninsula, where the Oseberg, Gokstad and a third, smaller ship from Tune can be seen. Early treatments of the wood used methods that are now regarded as outdated, and conservators later had to deal with the effects. In recent years plans have been made for a new museum building, so visitors should check current details.
Why they matter
These graves show what the Viking Age elite wanted to take with them, and what they valued most: ships, animals, objects of daily life and craft. They also preserve information that rarely survives in other contexts, such as decorative styles, textiles and furniture. Together with later discoveries such as the earlier Anglo-Saxon burial described in the article on the Sutton Hoo ship, they show how the ship could be both a vehicle and a symbol of power.