Massive Viking vessel is found

There was no greater honor for a Viking than to die in battle, beginning a journey from the flat Earth up toward Valhalla, where an eternal feast awaited. “They can have a fight and party every day,” Knut Paasche, a period archaeologist said, “and then the next day, do it again.”

But they needed a vessel to get there. Chieftains and kings, laid to rest in long ships with swords and jewels, were buried in earthen mounds signifying their stature, Paasche said. The larger the ship and mound, the more important the burial.

Archaeologists using ground-penetrating radar found a big mound carved into a western Norwegian island — along with the remains of a “huge” ship as long as 55 feet, Paasche said, in a discovery that may tell new tales about how the ships evolved to become fearsome and agile vessels more than 1,000 years ago.

The discovery on the Edoy island, announced Nov. 22 by the Institute for Cultural Heritage Research — where Paasche is an archaeologist and researcher — was part luck.

Archaeologists partnered with the Smola municipality, and the counties of More and Romsdal, to conduct research in the area already known for its rich historical setting, including Viking battles.

Researchers had finished for the day in September, the institute said, but decided to make a quick pass in a farmer’s field near a medieval church.

The georadar vehicle rumbled over the soil, revealing the husk of a ship set inside a burial mound that was once 60 feet in diameter, Paasche said, but has been destroyed by centuries of plows tearing through the dirt.

It is unknown how much of the ship remains before excavation begins. Researchers can pinpoint the ship’s backbone, the 42-foot keel, along with hints of planking, Paasche said, but it is unclear whether the occupant was buried with any riches or weapons.

Wood from a buried ship found last year was rotted away, leaving only black detritus, he said. Another ship found in England also had no wood, though an outline of nails helped identify it, Paasche said, so he hopes for more nails or other finds.

Anything helps, he said, to understand an era with few immaculate artifacts as large as a vessel.

“There are only three well-preserved Viking ships in Norway,” Paasche said, which are all housed in a museum in Oslo. “And we need more.”