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
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 ...
near
Ålesund
Ålesund () sometimes spelled Aalesund in English, is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal County, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Sunnmøre and the centre of the Ålesund Region. The town of Ålesund is the administrative ...
, Norway, in 1920. It was about long and was discovered together with a smaller, long rowboat called ''Kvalsund I''. Detailed
dendrochronology
Dendrochronology (or tree-ring dating) is the scientific method of dating tree rings (also called growth rings) to the exact year they were formed. As well as dating them, this can give data for dendroclimatology, the study of climate and atmos ...
analysis has placed the construction of the Kvalsund ship at 780-800 AD (originally, it was believed to be older), which is the start of the
Viking Age
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 ...
.
The Kvalsund ship is of an earlier and less advanced construction than the
Oseberg ship, also found in Norway, which dates to the early ninth century.
[ Being from around the start of the Viking Age and likely part of an offering in a pond or bog, the Kvalsund ship represents an important link between later Viking Age ships and earlier, pre-Viking Age vessels (like the ]Nydam boat
The Nydam Mose, also known as Nydam Bog, is an archaeological site located at Øster Sottrup, a town located in Sundeved, eight kilometres from Sønderborg, Denmark.
History
In the Iron Age, the site of the bog was a sacred place, where the we ...
) and rituals. Both the ship and the smaller rowboat that was found with it were deliberately destroyed before being placed in the pond or bog, and no human remains have been found (i.e., the offering does not appear to have been part of a burial). This resembles earlier, pre-Viking Age finds from Denmark, but is unlike typical Viking Age ship burials
A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep Sea lane, waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally dist ...
.[ The ship featured a detachable ]rudder
A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally aircraft, air or watercraft, water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to ...
on one side that could be removed in shallow water, and its shape suggests it might have had a sail.Viking ships
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 bein ...
, sharing some features with both.[ A mast was found at the smaller ''Kvalsund I'' boat, but it is unclear if it belongs to it. The earliest Scandinavian ship confirmed to have had a sail was the Oseberg ship.][
]
References
* ''New Viking Ship'', ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', August 22, 1920, pg. X10.
Kvalsund ship at the Sunnmøre Museum, Aalesund
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kvalsund Ship
Archaeological sites in Norway
Medieval ships
Ships preserved in museums
8th century in Norway