© Lars Gustavsen/NIKU
Posted on 05/20/2020 8:27:29 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
If the project is successful, the 65-foot-long (20 meters) oak vessel -- called the Gjellestad ship -- will become the first Viking ship to be excavated in Norway in 115 years, said Sveinung Rotevatn, the Norwegian Minister of Climate and Environment...
The ship is buried at a well-known Viking archaeological site at Gjellestad, near Halden, a town in southeastern Norway. But scientists discovered the vessel only recently, in the fall of 2018, by using radar scans that can detect structures underground. The scans revealed not only the ship, but also the Viking cemetery where it was ritually buried.
The team determined that the Gjellestad ship was built between the end of the eighth century and the beginning of the 10th century. The vessel was likely made for traveling long distances at sea, said Sigrid Mannsåker Gundersen, an archaeologist with the Viken County Council.
At the time, archaeologists were hesitant to excavate the ship, because buried wet wood can be damaged when exposed to the open air, Live Science previously reported. After a test excavation in 2019, however, archaeologists learned that they would have to dig up the ship soon, or lose it to decay.
The narrow trench they excavated showed that the ship was very decomposed. "Only the imprints of the planks -- or 'strakes' -- were left, together with the iron nails," Mannsåker Gundersen told Live Science in an email. "The only part that was still solid wood was the keel."
But even the keel is in bad shape; an analysis showed it is infected with fungus and very brittle, likely from periods of drought.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
Wow!
That looks like my last colonoscopy. No wonder I haven’t been feeling great. I have a Viking ship blockage.
Some fungus huh doc? Not really no
Quick, name that movie :-)
I went to a Viking graveyard at Lindholm Hoje in Denmark. It was eerie, to say the least. Some of the stones marking the graves had scorch marks on them from the funeral pyres. Many other artifacts ... Strange to think I was walking the same ground where common people mourned all those centuries ago.
Sounds great!
Here's a hint for others:
How did the plague reshape Bronze Age Europe?
(okay, so, not a great hint)
Spray it with bleach?
:^D Yeah, and when they dig up a mummy, the Egyptians use Bactine on it.
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