Anton Wilhelm Brögger (1884-1951), The Oseberg Ship, 1921.
Professor of archaeology at the University of Christiania
Summary, see appendix.
Viking og Hvidekrist. Catalog
164. Oak, iron, L 108-113; W 29-32; H 38.
Oseberg, Slagen, Vestfold, Norway. Circa 800–850. Scandinavian. University Collection of National Antiquities, Oslo.
The lid of the chest is convex. The chest is fitted with 6–6.5 cm wide iron bands, each with three rows of tin-plated nail heads. The front and back pieces have 11 vertical bands, with corresponding bands on the lid. Each side plank has three horizontal bands that go around the corners. The lock consists of a long horizontal fitting on the front with three hasps made of braided iron threads with animal heads on the ends. The lid has nine hinges, consisting of simple staples.
Found in the grave chamber of the Oseberg Ship. The chest contained tools for various purposes and showed no signs of plundering. Another richly decorated chest was plundered and destroyed.
At the opening of the exhibit in Oslo on May 2, 2004: 100 years after the Oseberg find – the great adventure of Norwegian archaeology
A summary, with text and images, of 100 years of events surrounding the Oseberg Ship, from the time that professor Gabriel Gustafsson at the University Collection of National Antiquities in Oslo met farmer Knut Rom of Lille Oseberg Farm in the parish of Slagen in Vestfold County.
The excavation took less than three months. The local population was so fascinated by the events that the area had to be fenced off. It took 21 years before all the parts were prepared and restored. Not until 1927 was the ship in place in the new museum building in Bygdøy in Oslo. A few years later, the expanded museum also featured two other Viking ships. It is the most popular museum in Norway, with some 450,000 visitors each year.
There have been proposals to move the ships to the new museum of cultural history in Björvika in connection with the university’s 200th anniversary in 2011, to ensure their future preservation. However, all parts of the ships are extremely fragile due to the type of preservation that was used from the start.