DEATH IN ABUNDANCE - QUICKLY!

THE OSEBERG SHIP BURIAL IN NORWAY

Sæbjørg Walaker Nordeide

This article discusses the Oseberg ship burial, as the lower (and less exciting title) indicates. The Oseberg ship burial is a large ship burial in southern Norway, the mound being approximately 40.5m in diameter and 6.4m high. It is dated to 834 a.d. (Vikings!) through dendrochronology, using the wood from the burial chamber rather than the slightly older ship. Within were good things for taking to the grave, which someone thought might be good for the living as well. The grave was robbed and the two bodies, eighty-ish and fity-ish, were put out of place. If ever I rob a grave, I'll at least be decent enough to leave a record of what it looked like before. Fortunately, the contents of this article have little to do with the contents of the grave. The point at hand is the timeline of the making of the grave. According to Sæbjørg, there is a new theory that the grave was started in the spring and finished in the fall. He disagrees with this and vaguely presents his argument. He makes reference to the contents of the sacrificed animal's stomachs, the plants in the mound and grave, crabapples, the oars, and the composition of the mound to support his argument. Unfortunately, this was very casually written, so solid examples and explanations are hidden within the research of others. His dealing with the other argument is something I found to be rather amusing. He suggests that those who agree with the long burial period theory  were just too excited with a remarkable drawing of the half buried ship that was made a decade or so ago (though I don't see why. It isn't particularly good). He also suggests that the propounder of the argument simply made a mistake and mixed up research from another ship burial and attributed it to this one. While it did not leave me overly satisfied in so far as the nature of the burial, I did enjoy the paper. My favourite  part was:

"This is not a heavy burden, however,

as reading the old publications always is a great pleasure.

The authors seem to have done this exciting excavation

very thorough and properly for their time, and one never

tires of admiring the material excavated from the grave."

His friend (whose name I don't remember) deserves the thanks he gave her for improving his English. 


Here is the drawing:

Nordeide,S.W., 2011.DEATH IN ABUNDANCE - QUICKLY! THE OSEBERG SHIP BURIAL IN NORWAY. Acta Archaeologica, 82(1), p.7-15.