Archaeologists Discover Viking Age Ship Burial in Norway

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Using ground-penetrating radar, a team of archaeologists made the discovery in southeastern Norway. Once excavated, the findings could offer insight into Viking settlements.



Archaeologists using radar technology have discovered a millennium-old ship burial in southeastern Norway, at a site that they hope will offer clues about life during the period after the fall of the Roman Empire through the end of the Viking Age.

Lars Gustavsen, a researcher at the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research and the lead author of a paper on the findings, published Wednesday in the journal Antiquity, said his team made the discovery in April 2018 in Gjellestad, Norway. A farmer notified the local authorities about his plans to build drainage ditches in one of his fields, prompting the archaeological survey.

“Before we started we knew about maybe one other site like it in that area," Mr. Gustavsen said. “Now we have another one that could probably provide us with more information about how society was built, what kind of political system they had, what kind of technological systems they had.”

The archaeologists used a motorized, high-resolution ground-penetrating radar system. They found evidence of the ship burial, a feasting area and another building that may have been the site of religious worship during the Viking Age, from about 750 to 1050. During that time, a ship burial symbolized safe passage into the afterlife and was a sign of status, wealth, and political or religious connections.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/11/world/europe/viking-discovery.html