The Oseberg ship is a well-preserved Viking ship discovered in a large burial mound at the Oseberg farm near Tønsberg in Vestfold county, Norway. This ship is commonly acknowledged to be among the finest artifacts to have survived from the Viking Age. The ship and some of its contents are displayed at the Viking Ship Museum at Bygdøy on the western side of Oslo, Norway.
The Oseberg ship (Viking Ship Museum, Norway)
Detail from the Oseberg ship
View from the front.
The so-called "Buddha bucket" (Buddha-bøtte), a brass and cloisonné enamel ornament of a bucket (pail) handle in the shape of a figure sitting with crossed legs.
Viking ships were marine vessels of unique structure, used in Scandinavia from the Viking Age 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 flexible boats, with symmetrical ends with true keel. They were clinker built, which is the overlapping of planks riveted together. Some might have had a dragon's head or other circular object protruding from the bow and stern for design, although this is only inferred from historical sources. Viking ships were used both for military purposes and for long-distance trade, exploration and colonization.
A modern replica of a Viking ship. This ship is of the snekkja longship type.
The Gokstad ship, on display at the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo, Norway
The Söderala vane, presumably once used on a Viking ship
The Ladby ship is part of a ship burial that has been preserved where it was discovered, with a museum built around it