The Myklebust Ship ( Norwegian: Myklebustskipet) is the remains of a burned

Viking ship Viking ships were marine vessels of unique structure, used in Scandinavia throughout the Middle Ages. The boat-types were quite varied, depending on what the ship was intended for, but they were generally characterized as being slender and flexi ...

that was found in the burial mound Rundehågjen on the farm Myklebust in

Nordfjordeid Nordfjordeid is the administrative centre of the municipality of Stad, Norway, Stad in Vestland county, western Norway. It is located at the end of the Eidsfjorden, an arm of the main Nordfjorden (Sogn og Fjordane), Nordfjorden, west of the large ...

, Norway. In terms of total volume the Myklebust ship is the largest Viking ship that has been discovered in the world to date.

Excavation

The archaeologist Anders Lorange traveled to

from

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

in 1874 to investigate the large burial mound locally called “Rundehågjen” or “Lisje Skjoratippen”. The mound stands on the Myklebust farm, a farm which used to house 5 burial mounds, and is believed to have been the home of a Viking

Dynasty A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a monarchy, monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A dynasty may also be referred to as a "house", "family" or "clan", among others. H ...

, led by among others the Viking King Audbjørn Frøybjørnson of the Firda Kingdom. The mound was approximately 30 meters in diameter, and almost 4 meters tall. It also had a wide moat around it. The mound contained the remains of a large Viking ship and a number of high-status objects from the end of the ninth century. Sagastad 01

Size

The size of the ship is known on the basis of several finds according to the

University of Bergen The University of Bergen () is a public university, public research university in Bergen, Norway. As of 2021, the university had over 4,000 employees and 19,000 students. It was established by an act of parliament in 1946 consolidating several sci ...

: The first is the number of rivets and nails (at least 7000), and the size of these. The size varied according to which part of the ship it had belonged to and the length told how thick the hull of the ship must have been. The second is the large amount of ash in the pile. The ash layer extended to both edges of the mound, and in the middle there were a double layer, separated by a layer of sand. The other layer may have been the burned remains of the ends of the ship, thrown into the middle before the mound was built over the grave. The third is the number of shield bosses in the grave. A total of 44 shield bosses were found, something that is believed to represent the crew of the ship. This number is counted as a minimum number as the grave was only halfway excavated. The shields would probably be placed along the rows on the ship, and therefore gives a picture of the length of the ship. Based on these points, the estimated length of the Myklebust ship is 30 meters (100 ft).

Reconstruction

The Viking museum Sagastad in

, houses a full-scale replica of the Myklebust ship as its main attraction. The ship was christened by the Norwegian Minister of Culture

Trine Skei Grande Trine Skei Grande (born 2 October 1969) is a Norwegian politician who served as the leader of the Liberal Party of Norway from 2010 to 2020. She also served as Minister of Education from January to March 2020,; and as Minister of Culture and Gend ...

on the 10 May 2019. The reconstruction is fully seaworthy and is launched as an annual event. The modern, purpose-built waterfront building features large rear doors and a ramp down to the fjord to facilitate launching of the vessel. The 2024 launch was the first launch since 2019 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The launch went viral reaching over 18 million people.

References

{{Reflist Viking ships Viking Age Ships of Norway