A Viking-era mound in Norway long thought to be empty actually houses an incredible artifact: the remains of a ship’s burial, according to GPR analysis.
Remains still found underground indicate that the ship was buried in the late 8th century AD, at the very beginning of the Viking Age (793 – 1066 AD). If confirmed, this would be the third early Viking ship tomb found at the site located off the coast of the island of Karmoy in southwestern Norway, an area that could be the source of Viking culture.
“This is a very strategic point where maritime traffic off the Norwegian coast is controlled,” said Håkon Reyersen, an archaeologist at the University of Stavanger in Norway. Ryersen works at the university’s Archaeological Museum and leads the team that explored near the village of Avaldsnes last year.
The legendary first king of Norway, Harald Fairhair, lived on the royal estate there. Prior to this, the region was a center of political power from the Bronze Age (around 1700 BC) to the Middle Ages.
“It was an important place for 3,000 years,” Reersen said.
The mound of Salhusgaugen, where ship-shaped markings were discovered, was first excavated in 1906 by the Norwegian archaeologist Haakon Shetelig. Shetelig had already discovered the nearby Grenhaug ship burial from 795 AD, and had co-directed the excavations of the famous Oseberg ship grave in southeastern Norway in 834 AD.
But he was disappointed to find only arrowheads and wooden shovels on the Salgusgaugen mound. (An older ship burial, Storhaug 779, was discovered by other archaeologists under another nearby mound in 1886.)
Ryersen suspects that Schetelig’s team stopped digging when they encountered a layer of stone near the bottom of the mound. If they dug deeper, Reersen said they might find the Salhushaugen ship, which appears to be buried in a layer of rock—a practice seen elsewhere as well, Reersen said.
The signals come from ground-based radar equipment that uses the reflection of radio wave pulses to detect objects buried 100 feet (30 meters) below the surface. They discovered the silhouette of a ship about 65 feet (20 m) long.
This is a diagram showing where all three ships are located.
This is larger than the 50-foot (15 m) long wooden ship at the nearby Gronhaug mound, but slightly smaller than the 65-foot (20 m) long wooden ship at the nearby Storhaug mound.
The Stavanger University team hopes to excavate the Salhusgaugen mound later this year; and the consequences of these actions will determine whether they reach the ship.
“We’re pretty sure this lens-shaped signal really came from the ship,” Reersen said. “It has the same dimensions as the previous ships and is located in the middle of the mound. But we don’t know how well it is preserved.”
mystery ship
Archaeologists say the mounds above ship burials can be seen from ships at sea when they were relatively new in the Viking Age. This photo shows a large blue vehicle with a front attachment sweeping a grassy mound.
The Salhusgaugen mound, which appears to have not been looted, is also likely to still contain artifacts similar to those found at Storhaug mound, Ryersen said.
When the mounds were newly built, they were visible from ships entering the narrow strait of Karmsun between Karmoa and the mainland, the entrance to the vital sea route through the western islands known as Nordwegen, which gave modern Norway its name. aforementioned
“The new find fits the generally accepted model that ship burials were made in clusters,” said Jan Bill, an archaeologist at the University of Oslo and curator of the Viking ship collection at the university’s Museum of Cultural History. Bill disagrees with the new study.
In other excavations, Bill has found evidence that ship burials of Viking kings and chiefs were “staged” as if they were in the water, despite being on land; for example, during burial, access to the ship was provided only by passages.
This suggests that their aim was to suggest that the buried king did not actually die, but “swimmed” to his ancestors, a belief that preceded the Vikings.
“I think these ship burials find a way to consolidate power among the Germanic peoples,” Bill said. “The idea was that the king was descended from a god like Odin or Wotan.”
Source: Port Altele
