The excavation of the Osebergship

In the year 834, the popular Viking queen, Aasa of Adger, died.
She was so beloved by her subjects that they gave her a royal burial.
At the time, a royal burial meant that the body was placed on a ship,  and then the ship was set on fire and sent out to sea.
This tradition, though, was only for a male,  so Aasa’s royal funeral ship was set into a deep pit in the blue sea-clay.
Aasa’s funeral ship was the most beautiful ( known ) Viking ship ever made,  the ship now known as the Oseberg ship. 
It is 21.14 meters long, made of oak,  and has astonishingly beautiful engraving on the bow and stern.
The ship was built between 815 and 820 and is believed to have been a royal yacht.
In 1904 the ship was discovered near the Norwegian city of Oseberg.
According to tradition, a Viking ship is named after the place where it is found,  so Queen Aasa’s burial ship is now called the Oseberg ship.
The ship is extremely well preserved.
Grave thieves plundered many of the objects that were to accompany her on her journey to Valhalla,  but those that remain have tremendous historical value.
The Oseberg ship is now in the  Viking Ship Museum  in Oslo,  together with other ships that were found in the fjord of Oslo.

[ last updated :  22-10-2021 ]

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