Rare Viking longship excavated

Norwegian archaeologists are excavating the largest longship found in more than a century, dating from the dawn of the Viking age


50km 30 miles 
Oslo
NORWAY
Gjellestad ship
SWEDEN


Gjellestad farm
Longhouse 
Burial mound
Jellhaugen mound*
50m 160 ft


2018: Ship discovered when farmer drains soggy field, revealing artificial mound. Wooden keel, lying 50cm below topsoil, has survived at least 1,200 years. Analysis of oak conducted via small shaft shows it is being eaten away by fungi that thrive on modern fertilisers


Radar scan
5m 16 ft


GJELLESTAD SHIP

Artist’s impression of longship burial, likely interred with body of powerful local chieftain

Jun 2020: Dig begins – expected to last five months


*Second-largest burial mound in Nordic countries – predates Vikings by some 200 years


Sources: Norway Today, Sunday Times, Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research
Pictures: Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research 
© GRAPHIC NEWS