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http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article800320.ece
Major excavation to open Viking graves
The largest excavation of a Viking burial site
in 50 years is underway at a farm in Vestfold, south of Oslo.
Archaeologists already started finding ship nails last week,
and chances are good more Viking treasures are about to be revealed.
This aerial view shows the burial sites, including contures of a ship at far left.
PIC AT LINK
PHOTO: DAGFINN SKRE, UNIVERSITETET I OSLO
Related stories:
Researchers zero in on 'new' V
king ship -
Archaeologists launch major excavation -
Expectations are high as experts start opening up ancient Viking
gravesites over the next few weeks.
"This is an incredibly ex
citing project," says Lars Erik Gjerpe
of the University of Oslo's Historic Museum in Norway.
Gjerpe, in charge of
the major dig at Gulli Farm in Vestfold,
said he and his team expects to find weapons and jewelry,
including jewelry brought back to Norway by Vikings
more than 1,100 years ago.
The site lies adjacent to the busy E-18 highway,
which is due to be expanded later this year.
Archaeologists have the summer to find what they can following
preliminary investigations last year.
Gjerpe said the wordwork from the burial ship in the first grave
has rotted away, but judging from where nails were found,
measurements can reveal much about the ship's size and construction.
The graves, which stem from the end of the 8th ce
ntury
to the middle of the 10th, have been linked to affluent relatives
of farming families at Gulli.
The excavation is the biggest since the Kaupang dig in the 1950s.
Aftenposten'
;s reporter
Cato Guhnfeldt
Aftenposten English Web Desk
Nina Berglund
Major excavation to open Viking graves
The largest excavation of a Viking burial site
in 50 years is underway at a farm in Vestfold, south of Oslo.
Archaeologists already started finding ship nails last week,
and chances are good more Viking treasures are about to be revealed.
This aerial view shows the burial sites, including contures of a ship at far left.
PIC AT LINK
PHOTO: DAGFINN SKRE, UNIVERSITETET I OSLO
Related stories:
Researchers zero in on 'new' V
king ship -
Archaeologists launch major excavation -
Expectations are high as experts start opening up ancient Viking
gravesites over the next few weeks.
"This is an incredibly ex
citing project," says Lars Erik Gjerpe
of the University of Oslo's Historic Museum in Norway.
Gjerpe, in charge of
the major dig at Gulli Farm in Vestfold,
said he and his team expects to find weapons and jewelry,
including jewelry brought back to Norway by Vikings
more than 1,100 years ago.
The site lies adjacent to the busy E-18 highway,
which is due to be expanded later this year.
Archaeologists have the summer to find what they can following
preliminary investigations last year.
Gjerpe said the wordwork from the burial ship in the first grave
has rotted away, but judging from where nails were found,
measurements can reveal much about the ship's size and construction.
The graves, which stem from the end of the 8th ce
ntury
to the middle of the 10th, have been linked to affluent relatives
of farming families at Gulli.
The excavation is the biggest since the Kaupang dig in the 1950s.
Aftenposten'
;s reporter
Cato Guhnfeldt
Aftenposten English Web Desk
Nina Berglund