Oseberg

On 8 August 1903, the archaeologist Gabriel Gustafson received a visit from Oskar Rom, a farmer who had dug into a large burial mound on his property and had come across the remains of a ship.

The Oseberg ship is a particularly fine vessel, and the person who had it made spent considerable resources on the decoration of the ship.

In 834 two significant women died, and were honoured with a magnificent burial.

Five unique carved animal heads were found in the Oseberg grave. Four of them are exhibited in the Viking Ship Museum. Unfortunately the fifth is in very poor condition and the remains are kept in the Museum’s depository.

The two women buried in the Oseberg ship were accompanied by a lavish array of textiles designed for a range of uses. It was clear even during the excavation that the large numbers of textiles constituted a key feature of the Oseberg finds.

The cart from the Oseberg finds was of considerable age even before it was placed in the grave. It was possibly built before 800.

When excavating the Oseberg Ship in 1904, the archaeologists found the remains of two women. One of them could have been in her fifties when she died, the other around 70–80 years. But who is the main person in the grave?

The elevated status of the women in the Oseberg grave was underlined by their means of transport – not only did they have a beautiful cart but also three splendid sleighs.