Viking Ships

Recently discovered burial in Scotland

         Even before ships were discovered buried under the earth, we knew that the Vikings navigated the waters all throughout Western Europe on sea worthy and river worthy ships, but we did not know much about their technology used. Today, you could ask any person off the street to draw or describe what a Viking ship looks like, and they would likely come up with something that resembles this. The discovery of ship burials in the 19th century and since has not only allowed archaeologists and historians to better understand the Viking beliefs in terms of death rituals, but it also has allowed the general public to better understand the world of the Vikings (Gould 2011:177).


Buried Ships


In Northern Europe alone there are 420 examples of buried ships discovered in archaeology, not including sites that include ship-like structures of non-traditional material (stone) (Gould 2011:178). Now, not all of these are Viking burials, as the great Sutton Hoo in Scotland is interpreted to be prior to the Viking age and Anglo-Saxon in origin. In the Icelandic sagas, it is suggested that - at least the Icelandic - Vikings did not believe that everyone went on to the after life, but that most people stayed in their burial mounds for eternity (Short 2010:71) - although it is important to note that there are distinctions between Icelandic viking burial rituals and others (Guthmunsson 1967:8).Whether this means those who were buried with their ships were of the select few chosen to join Odin, their god, is unclear. 

Oseberg

(Photo from Brogger 1921:2)

The Oseberg ship is one of the most famous Viking ship burials discovered. It was discovered in Norway in 1903 and in the two subsequent field sessions it was excavated (Holck 2006:188). Through dating it is believed that the ship was buried around 834 A.D. (Bonde Christensen 1993:581) but the ship itself seems to date through dendrochronology back to around 820 A.D. (Bonde Christensen 1993:576). There were two women buried with the boat with a large assortment of grave goods from all over Europe. According to legend, one of the women is Queen Ǻsa and the other is her servant, however we are unsure if this is an accurate supposition (Holck 2006:194).

What can we learn from Oseberg?


Oseberg was neither a trade ship, nor a warship as an expert can see from its lack of strength and the amount of decoration (Bruun 1997:1287). This would indicate that the ship was possibly built as just a funerary vessel. Short suggests that the grave goods in simple graves included only items which would be used in everyday life (2012:70) but the ship which is obviously part of a more elaborate grave, is not. Although the boat predates the peak of Viking ship carpentry (Gould 2011:178) and is not actually meant for sea fairing, the ship structure is indicative of the traditional engineering of a sea vessel.


Transportantion


Ships are an obvious transport vessel. Buried with the ship was a richly decorated wagon, sledges (like sleighs), what appears to be a tent, and remains of dogs, horses, and oxen (Brogger 1921:6). The number of transportation vessels buried with these two deceased is significant in trying to understand the belief systems of these Vikings. They were equipped to traverse all types of landscape and the rich decoration of the items would indicate there was belief in something beyond and possibly even a spiritual being that these decorations are meant to impress.


We need to be careful in our speculations however, since burials are not just meant to represent and honor the dead, but they are also meant to suit the needs of the living (Ucko 1969:265). These offerings of  grave goods to this extreme probably has less to do with what the people did before their deaths and more to do with what the living believe is necessary for safe passage into the afterlife (Pearson 1999:9).

Sources:

Bonde, Neils, and Christensen, " Arne Emil "Dendrochronology dating of the Viking Age Ship burials at Oseberg, Gokstad and Tune" Antiquity. (1993) 67

Brogger, Anton. "The Oseberg Ship" American Scandinavian Review (1921) 

Bruun, Per "The Viking Ship" Journal of Coastal Research (1997) 13:4

Gould, Richard. Sailing Ships of the Middle Ages. Archaeology and the Social History of Ships. Cambridge University Press. (2011)

Guthmundsson, Barth. The Origin of the Icelanders. Nebraska. (1967) 

Holck, Per "The Oseberg Ship Burial, Norway: New Thoughts on the skeletons from the Grave Mound". European Journal of Archaeology (2006) 9:185
Pearson, Michael. Archaeology of Death and Burial Texas A&M University Press (1999)

Short, William. Icelanders in the Viking Age People of the Sagas. M(2010)
Ucko, Peter. "Ethnography and Archaeological Interpretation of Funerary Remains" World Archaeology (1969) 1:2