Viking Ship Is Excavated Again After 100 Years

The first days of September 2019 witness one of the most exciting news of the year: a Viking ship is under excavation in Norway, after more than 100 years. 

In case you miss the Viking ship news of 2018, Norwegian archaeologists happened to find out a Viking ship on a farm in south-east Norway. Last year, we only saw the ship on the image from radar. But this year, the archaeologists declare that the site is currently under excavation. 

As the site revealed some items of interest, the county archaeologists decided to carry out a project to see through what was beneath the surface with georadar. What they found was incredible. The site included not only a Viking ship but five more Viking longhouses as well. This made the archaeologists come to a conclusion that this once was a Viking cemetery.

A Viking ship is now under excavation after 100 years

Last year, the archaeologists still hesitated to carry out excavation or not for they feared excavated could destroy the remains. And archaeology was not always about the digging, but its main purpose was to remain the artifact in the most well-conserved condition as much as possible. 

This year, a small excavation has been conducted. 

After more than 100 years, a Viking ship is under excavation in Norway. The latest Viking ship to be excavated is the Oseberg ship which was excavated in 1904. 

Archaeologists have carried out a small excavation to examine the condition of the ship

This newly found Viking ship is called Gjellestad Viking Ship. By far, there has been no full excavation because the archaeologists want to examine the ship condition first. Good news is that e small extract from the keel reveals that they can carry out a bigger excavation in the future. But archaeologists had to agree that this Gjellestad ship is in poorer condition comparing with other Viking ships excavated. 

With the georadar images as well as the small excavation, the archaeologists agree that this ship burial had been looted. This was a common problem to other Viking ship burial. The looting action left the burial to expose to the open-air leading it to decomposition. 

Finding a ship is never an everyday discovery. And so is the ship excavation. That's the reason why this month should be celebrated. Good news is about to come for the Viking enthusiasts.