Viking Ship Unearthed in Norway
Archaeologists in Norway recently unearthed the remains of a Viking ship at a burial mound in the country's Trøndelag region. The discovery comes centuries after a "seated skeleton" and a sword were found at the same site.
The discovery was announced on social media by Trøndelag County, and was made by researchers from the county and the nation's NTNU Science Museum. The archaeologists were conducting a small survey at the burial mound, named Herlaugshaugen, where they found large nails that the county said confirmed it was the site of a Viking ship.
The ship is from the Merovingian Era, which lasted from 476 A.D. until 750 A.D., according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. Gemini, a Scandinavian science and technology publication, said that the ship was built in approximately 700 A.D. and noted that the Merovingian Era precedes the Viking era. Ship burials were used reserved for individuals, because it was believed they offered safe passage to the afterlife.
The discovery at Herlaugshaugen goes beyond the ship itself. According to Gemini, the burial mound is more than 196 feet long and has been excavated multiple times in the 18th century. During these excavations, researchers found iron nails, a bronze cauldron, animal bones, and a "seated skeleton" with a sword.
The county stated that the area where the ship was discovered is now considered the oldest known ship trench in Scandinavia. This finding challenges previous beliefs about the timeline of ship burials. Geir Grønnesby, a researcher at the NTNU Science Museum, commented that dating the ship back to such an early period indicates that people had advanced maritime knowledge and were capable of constructing large ships much earlier than previously assumed.
In 2020, Norwegian archaeologists made headlines with the discovery of a significant Viking burial site.
