Haakon Shetelig (June 25, 1877 – July 22, 1955) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

archaeologist, historian and museum director. He was a pioneer in archaeology known for his study of art from the

Viking era The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Ger ...

in Norway. He is most frequently associated with his work on the Oseberg ship (''Osebergfunnet'') near

Tønsberg Tønsberg , historically Tunsberg, is a city and municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, eastern Norway, located around south-southwest of Oslo on the western coast of the Oslofjord near its mouth onto the Skagerrak. The administrative c ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

Biography

Haakon Shetelig grew up in Christiania (now Oslo, Norway). He was the son of Harald Fredrik Schetelig (1846–1918) and Magnhild Pedersen (1850–1920), and the nephew of Tord Pedersen. He and studied classical languages and

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

and history at the

University of Christiania The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

(now the University of Oslo). In 1901, Shetelig was hired as curator and manager of the historical-antiquarian part of the

Bergen Museum The University Museum of Bergen ( no, Universitetsmuseet i Bergen) is a university museum in Bergen, Norway. The museum features material related to anthropology, archaeology, botany, geology, zoology, art, and cultural history. History The Univ ...

, the

University of Bergen The University of Bergen ( no, Universitetet i Bergen, ) is a research-intensive state university located in Bergen, Norway. As of 2019, the university has over 4,000 employees and 18,000 students. It was established by an act of parliament in 194 ...

museum in Bergen, Norway. He was appointed professor in 1914 and worked as director of the History and Antiquarian Department until 1942. Shetelig and his colleague, Swedish archaeologist

Gabriel Gustafson Gabriel Adolf Gustafson (8August 185316April 1915) was a Swedish-Norwegian archaeologist. He was responsible for the excavation and conservation of the Oseberg Ship (''Osebergfunnet'') . Biography Gabriel Gustafson was born in Visby, in Got ...

, led the team that dug out and preserved the Oseberg ship in 1904–1905. After Gustafson's death in 1915, he collaborated with archaeologist Anton Wilhelm Brøgger and

Hjalmar Falk Peterolsen Groth Hjalmar Seierstedt Falk (April 2, 1859 – November 2, 1928) was a Norwegian linguist and philologist. Early life and education Falk was born in Vang. He started his university studies in 1876 and graduated with an education ...

to publish the discovery. In 1920 he led the excavation of the

Kvalsund ship The Kvalsund ship (Norwegian: ''Kvalsundskipet''), also known as ''Kvalsund II'', is a late 8th century rowing ship, discovered embedded in a marsh at Kvalsund in Herøy, Møre og Romsdal near Ålesund, Norway, in 1920. It was about long and was d ...

s (''Kvalsundskipet''), which were found at the Kvalsund farm at

Herøy, Møre og Romsdal Herøy is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the Sunnmøre region. The administrative centre is the town of Fosnavåg on the island of Bergsøya. The industrial area of Eggesbønes is located south of Fosnavåg ...

County in 1920. In 1910 he founded the magazine '' Kunst og Kultur'' with Harry Fett, which he edited (1910–1927). He published a number of papers and writings about archaeology, history, and cultural history. He also wrote the first volume of the six-volume series ''Viking Antiquities in Great Britain and Ireland'', for which he also served as the main editor. He introduced the ''Shetelig axiom'', which refers to the idea that the Viking age began when Scandinavian Vikings attacked Lindisfarne in 793. Haakon Shetelig was a member of the

Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters ( no, Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi, DNVA) is a learned society based in Oslo, Norway. Its purpose is to support the advancement of science and scholarship in Norway. History The Royal Frederick Unive ...

and the Royal Norwegian Scientific Society. He was appointed Commander of the Order of St. Olav in 1946 and held several foreign orders and medals.

Selected works

*''Spandformede lerkar fra folkevandringstiden'' (1904) *''Smaa bronsespænder fra folkevandringstiden'' (1910) *''Vestlandske graver fra jernalderen'' (1912) *''Bergen 1814-1914'', with Carl Geelmuyden (1914) * ''Oseberg-funnet 1'', with Anton Wilhelm Brøgger and Hjalmar Falk (1917) * ''Primitive tider i Norge. En oversigt over stenalderen'' (1922) *''Prehistoire De La Norvzge'' (1926) *''Oseberg-funnet 2'', with Anton Wilhelm Brøgger and Hjalmar Falk (1928) *''Vikingeminner I Vest-Europa'' (1933) * ''Scandinavian Archaeology'', with Hjalmar Falk (1937) *''Viking Antiquities of Great Britain and Ireland'', with A. Bjørn (1940) * ''Foreningen til norske fortidsminnesmerkers bevaring 1844–1944'' (1944) * ''Norske museers historie'' (1944) *''Vikingeskipene: Deres Forgjengere Og Etterfolgere'', with Anton Wilhelm Brøgger (1950)

References

Other sources

*Hovland, Kari Shetelig (1995) ''Haakon Shetelig: Arkeologen og mennesket'' (Alma mater) *Hartvedt, Gunnar Hagen (1994) ''Bergen Byleksikon'' (Oslo: Kunnskapsforlaget) .

External links

Haakon Shetelig, Library Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shetelig, Haakon 1877 births 1955 deaths Archaeologists from Bergen Norwegian art historians University of Oslo alumni Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters Recipients of the St. Olav's Medal Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy Norwegian magazine founders