The Oseburg ship.
Posted on 01/01/2007 3:06:17 PM PST by blam
Viking longships' last voyage strikes fear into the heart of archaeologists
WALTER GIBBS IN OSLO
A ROW has broken out in Norway over a decision to move three ancient Viking ships, which may not survive the journey.
The University of Oslo has decided to move three longships, probably by lorry and barge, to a new museum, despite dire warnings that the thousand-year-old oak vessels could fall apart en route.
A retired curator of Oslo's current Viking Ship Museum has said that the delicately preserved ships, two of which are nearly 80ft long, were almost equal in archaeological importance to the Pyramids.
"Even if I have to live till I am 100, I will go on fighting this move," the former curator, Arne Emil Christensen, 70, said. "The best way to stop it is still through diplomacy, but, if necessary, I will be in front of the ships, chained to the floor."
The university's board of directors has to move the sleek-hulled vessels over the objections of Christensen and several other Viking Age scholars, including the former director of the British Museum, David Wilson, and the director of Denmark's Centre for Maritime Archaeology, Ole Crumlin-Pedersen.
The board wants to transport the popular ships from a remote Oslo peninsula where they have been housed for more than 75 years to a large, multifaceted museum in the centre of the capital.
The three ships were recovered in pieces from separate Viking burial mounds more than a century ago, then painstakingly reassembled with rivets, glue, creosote and linseed oil.
Since then their condition has deteriorated markedly. Christensen said they have the consistency of dry crackers are now too fragile to move.
The most spectacular of them, the Oseberg ship, was built around the year 800 and has featured on the covers of many history books.
Its towering, carved snakehead prow and 30 oars offer insight into the old English prayer, "Deliver us, O Lord, from the fury of the Norsemen." Viking raiders carried by such ships were the scourge of Britain and much of the European continent from the 8th to the 11th centuries.
Engineers from Det Norske Veritas, a risk management foundation, have modelled the Oseberg ship by computer and concluded it could be moved "with little probability of damage" if a gyroscopically controlled cradle is designed to bear all five tons of oak without the slightest stress or tilt.
The most likely travel route would be in three segments: downhill by truck for 750 yards, across the Oslo Fjord by barge for 2.5 miles, and uphill by truck again for several hundred yards.
"It will be a dramatic day, for sure, but I will stay calm," said the University of Oslo president, Geir Ellingsrud. "I am convinced that the move will take place without significant problems."
The Oseberg ship's rival for the attention of museum-goers is the more workmanlike Gokstad ship, dating to around 890. Its strakes, ribs and keel have not been analysed for strength. The third vessel, called Tune, is really only half a ship; but what remains came out of the ground in one piece, held together by the original iron rivets. The most brittle objects are a ceremonial sleigh and a wheeled wagon found in the Oseberg ship.
"We simply don't know what may happen if these things are moved," said Christensen, an archaeologist who recently retired as the ships' curator and has not yet been replaced. "In my opinion, we run the risk of serious damage to both the ships and the artefacts."
Ellingsrud, a mathematician, said Christensen and his colleagues were exaggerating the risk "out of emotion" stemming from their long association with the ships.
He acknowledged that they had one more card to play without turning to civil disobedience. Norway's Directorate of Cultural Heritage has the power to declare landmarks untouchable and is evaluating whether the current Viking Ship Museum and its contents should be protected as one monument.
"The point of no return has not been reached yet," Ellingsrud said.
GGG Ping.
Oops.......... Oh well!
These artifacts are truly amazing to see in person. I recommend the trip to any who have the means.
The Oseburg ship.
Related link:
Of interest here is on the rear right side of the ship is the steering board, or what we have come to call the "starboard" side.
Regards.
Beautiful. It seems to me they should make a replica for the museum.
The Oseberg ship was found in a large burial mound at the Slagen farm in Vestfold and excavated in 1904. The ship was built in around 815-820 A.D. and had been used as a sailing vessel for many years before it was put to use as a burial ship for a prominent woman who died in 834. The woman was placed in a burial chamber in the aft section of the ship. Next to her lay the body of another woman, possibly a servant, as well as her most valuable possessions. Under the ship was a thick layer of blue clay, while the mound itself was built up of turf. This explains the excellent state of preservation of the ship and the other objects of wood, leather and textiles.With very few exceptions, these are objects that never survive in graves of the Viking period. The mound was plundered in ancient times, perhaps explaining why no jewellry or other objects of gold and silver, were found in the grave.
The ship, built of oak, was 22 meters long and 5 meters wide. The 12 strakes were secured with iron nails. The ship was designed for both rowing and sailing. With a square sail of about 90 sq. m., it could reach speeds of over 10 knots. The top strake had 15 oar holes. A full set of oars was included in the grave furnishings. The rudder was placed aft and on the starboard side. The crew probably sat on their ship's chests. The Oseberg ship was in all probability intended to be used as a royal pleasure vessel for sailing along the coast. Both the prow and stern of the vessel are finely carved in the characteristic "animal style".
Many of the Oseberg queen's burial furnishings are displayed in the innermost section of the museum in the artifact collection. The textiles made of wool and silk are to be found in a separate room.
Regards.
The Vikings invented the lapstrake hull, which is the strongest way to make a wooden hull. It will flex in rough seas instead of break.
The gunwhales were too low for the open sea. About half of those attempting the crossing to Greenland were swamped.
Gorgeous, but why did I immediately hear the Viking Kitty song in my head? Too much FR.
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If they have to move them then I suggest plenty of foam peanuts!
I'd rather see the replica, the difference between a corpse and a "living" thing.
Yeah, me too.
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