Oseberg

The Oseberg ship was found in a large burial mound at the Oseberg farm near T?nsberg in Vestfold county, Norway, excavated in 1904. The ship was built some time around 815–820 AD, and had been in use for several years before it was used as a burial ship for a woman of high rank — possibly a queen — who died in the autumn of 834 AD. Although the woman's identity is unknown, it is believed that she may have been Queen ?sa of the Ynglinge clan, grandmother of Harald Fairhair. She was buried in the ship together with another woman, who might have been a slave (see human sacrifice).

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The burial goods in the Oseberg grave included four sleighs, a four wheel richly carved wooden cart, tapestries, beds, chests, and agricultural and household tools, such as an iron cooking cauldron.

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The Oseberg burial is one of the few sources of Viking age textiles, and the wooden cart is the only complete Viking age cart found so far.

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The Oseberg ship, a 'karv' type longship made of riveted planks of oak, is 22 meters long and 5 meters wide. With a mast of approximately 9–10 meters a sail of 90 square meters, the ship could achieve a speed up to 10 knots. The ship has 15 pairs of oar holes, which means that 30 people could row the ship.

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The ship is beautifully decorated with elaborate and complex woodcarvings in the characteristic "gripping beast" style, also known as the Oseberg style.

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T?nsberg: T?nsberg is a town and municipality in the county of Vestfold, Norway, and has 35,326 inhabitants as of January 1, 2002. The municipality of T?nsberg covers 106 km? and includes today also the former municipality Sem....

Vestfold: Vestfold is a county in Norway, bordering Buskerud and Telemark. The county administration is in T?nsberg....

Norway: The Kingdom of Norway is a Nordic country on the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, bordering Sweden, Finland and Russia, with territorial waters bordering Danish and British waters. It has a very elongated form and has an extensive coastline along the North Atlantic Ocean, where Norway'...