The Skuldelev Ships: A Report of the Final Underwater Excavation in 1959 and the Salvaging Operation in 1962

For a long time it has been possible to have one of the most rewarding experiences provided by the Dark Ages in the Vikingeskipene building at Bygdoy in Norway. One just has to crouch down in front of the Gokstad ship and look at the line of the strakes sweeping aft from the stem with incomparable sureness and elegance. Soon a similar experience will be possible at Roskilde in Denmark, as the five Viking ships found blocking the Peberrenden channel begin to take shape, silhouetted against the waters of Roskilde Fjord, in the splendid new museum there. The Skuldelev Ships is an account of the final stages of the excavation, salvage and preservation of these ships and what has so far been found out about their nature and structure. The final excavation of the ships took place during 15 weeks of 1962 after a cofferdam had been placed round the silt-covered, stone ridge which geological research showed had been chosen with professional skill by the Vikings for the site of their fjord-blockage. When the water inside the dam had been lowered, catwalks resting on wooden beams were placed just above the ships, and excavation was carried out mostly kneeling or lying on these boards. One of the most crucial tasks was to keep the timbers wet 24 hours a day as the stones and crusted silt were removed. The sprinklers used ensured that the excavators spent the coldest summer for 34 years working in a constant drizzle, but not a single piece of timber was damaged through untimely drying. The five ships, by a remarkable piece of luck, are all different. Another stroke of luck was that the knorr, wreck no. 1, lay indubitably under wreck 2, a more conventional Viking longship. It was clear therefore that it could not be a later medieval type.