At least, it’s huge news if you’re a Viking buff. Or a Viking buff particularly interested in western Norway, anyway. Karmøy island, specifically.

OK, it’s huge news if you’re me.

You’ve certainly seen pictures of the Oseberg Viking ship. It looks like this.

The Oseberg ship, along with the Gokstad ship, were both discovered in remarkable states of preservation in grave mounds in the eastern part of Norway in the 1880s. They were painstakingly reconstructed, and are now viewed by thousands of visitors annually in the Viking Ships Museum in Oslo. Two women had been buried in the Oseberg ship; a man in the Gokstad.

But nobody knew the Oseberg ship’s secret history. Now it appears that history is coming to light.

I’ll translate from the article, found at the Norwegian-language Arkeologi i Nord blog.

The Oseberg Ship From Southwest-land

When the Oseberg, Gokstad and Tune ships, with the help of dendochronology, were first precisely dated at the beginning of the 1990s, it became apparent that the Oseberg ship was not built of lumber from the same growth (around the Oslofjord) as the other two. So until now no one has known where the Oseberg Ship was built, and it has been speculated, among other guesses, that it originally came from Denmark. Now it has been tentatively determined that the wood of the Oseberg Ship comes from the same growth as the wood used in the two ships, as well as a smaller boat, which were found at another time in the Storhaug and Grønhaug burial mounds on Karmøy Island. Therefore we are able not only to date the Karmøy vessels, but also to make a very good guess at where the Oseberg ship was built in its own time.

Let me give a little background here. Dendochronology is a wonderful archaeological technique that has come into use in the last few decades. By comparing the rings in wooden items manufactured at known dates in history, scientists have been able to make charts for the tree rings of various regions (you remember from school how tree rings reflect dry and wet years. These varying ring widths create patterns that are as recognizable as fingerprints). Because of this, it’s possible to take any piece of wood found in those areas and tell when the wood was cut. This allows very accurate dating of wooden objects.

The breakthrough reported in this article (originally printed in the Aftenposten newspaper) identifies the Oseberg ship as a ship originally built in “Vestland” (Westland), that somehow (perhaps through a royal marriage) ended up in eastern Norway. It also argues for early links between eastern and western Norway, and lends some weight to the arguments of recent historians who argue for a west Norwegian origin for the consolidation of the country, rather than the eastern one found in the traditional sagas.

Anyway, Karmøy is where my great-grandfather was born, and it’s my favorite place in Norway, and I’m pleased as punch.

I only wish it had been the Gokstad ship. The Gokstad is a fighting ship. The Oseberg is a coastal pleasure yacht, unsuited for the high seas (those high, curving prows are real wind-catchers).

Nevertheless, I’m proud to welcome the Oseberg Ship to my personal family.