Experts report that such burials were meant for Viking royalty and that the ship itself was meant to act as a sort of coffin.
NIKUThe Viking ship detected just over a substructure underground in Norway .
While archeologists scanned a well - screw website in Østfold County , Norway , they discovered a 65 - foot Viking ship bury just 20 inches beneath the earth ’s surface .
The ship was in all probability buried some 1,000 years ago as a grave accent for a prominent Viking king or queen .
NIKUThe Viking ship detected just over a foot underground in Norway.
It ’s one of the largest Viking ship Graf ever learn , and experts say that find oneself like this up-to-the-minute one are incredibly rarified . “ I guess we could talk about a hundred - twelvemonth find , ” says archaeologist Jan Bill , curator of Viking ship at the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo . “ It ’s quite prominent from an archeology pointedness of view . ”
The location of the ship is not far from a local landmark — a 30 - groundwork tall burial mound . Archaeologists previously put on that number - of - the - century and New farming practices had wipe out any evidence of such ancient artifacts .
They were wrong .
NIKUThe burial ground that was scanned using a radar in Norway.
The radars used at the entombment site detected the outline of the ship arrest some ten graves . As it has yet to be excavated , there are still details which persist to be see , namely , where the ship came from , how old it is , and how much of the ship has stay intact . Though archaeologists speculate that the keel of the ship appears preserved as wooden timbers are seeable from the radar .
It ’s likely that the ship was dragged to landed estate from the Oslofjord watercourse sometime during the Viking age to move as the final resting situation for someone muscular . “ ship like this functioned as a casket , ” said Knut Paasche , head of the archaeology department at the NIKU . “ There was one king or queen or local chieftain on plank . ”
But the context in which the ship was sink could provide insight into what the signification of such a graveyard was in Viking culture .
Wikimedia CommonsA Viking ship replica.
NIKUThe burial ground that was scanned using a radar in Norway .
“ The ship burial does not exist in isolation , but take shape part of a burial site , which is clearly designed to display power and influence , ” Lars Gustavsen , an archeologist with the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research ( NIKU ) said in a statement .
Aside from the tremendous ship , the radar also discover five longhouses inhume at the situation , which were timber - framed halls used as communal housing for the Vikings .
Currently , there are no prescribed architectural plan to excavate the ship , but Paasche says that he hopes to come back to the website in the Spring of 2019 for conduct more sophisticated scan . Paasche and his team might also apprehend up exam trenches to figure out what condition the ship ’s stiff are .
Wikimedia CommonsA Viking ship replica .
Although archeologists are limited at the moment in what they can test and share about this particular discovery , it ’s still a worthful find .
“ This discovery is fantastically exciting as we only know three well - preserve Viking ship finds in Norway [ that were ] excavated [ a ] longsighted time ago , ” said Paasche . “ This newfangled ship will sure as shooting be of great historical significance as it can be look into with all modern means of archeology . ”
Indeed , perhaps some Viking royalty can also be bring out within the ship ’s burial grounds .
Next , check out this story aboutViking skeletonswhich were pick up in Sicily . Then , learn more about the Vikings and their culture through these32 interesting Viking fact .
