In fall 2018, archaeologists discovered a Viking ship burial at Gjellestad near Halden, Norway. The Gjellestad excavation is the first Viking ship excavation in Norway since 1904. Examinations show that the grave dates between the 700s and the early 900s, the first half of the Viking Age. Join us for a talk with two of the digs' archaeologists as they take us through the ongoing findings from this incredible piece of history.
To keep up with news from the Gjellestad site, please visit www.gjellestadstory.com or vikingtidsmuseet.no/english/research/gjellestad-ship/index.html.
About the Speakers:
Christian Løchsen Rødsrud is an archaeologist based in the Museum of Cultural History at the University of Oslo where he currently works as an advisor and regularly leads archaeological excavation projects. He is currently Project Manager for the Gjellestad-project, involving the excavation and documentation of a ship burial from the Viking Age. Furthermore he is a researcher within the Viking Nativity-project, where the examination of Gjellestads surroundings is the overarching-theme, aiming to establish how Gjellestad became a site of significance in greater political constellations and spheres of interest. Rødsrud completed his Ph.D. at the University of Oslo in 2012 on the topic of Iron Age pottery and the ritualized feasting culture of the elite. His main research interests include burial practices, settlement and society, social networks and early urbanism, cultural hybridization and studies of past within the past.
Sigrid Mannsåker Gundersen completed her MA in archaeology at the University of Bergen in 2004. She has been working as an archaeologist with various museums and county councils in Norway, with experience from surveying, excavations and as advisor in cases connected to cultural heritage. Since 2013 she has been working at the Viken (Østfold) County Council, engaged in many different projects and cases where archaeological sites may be affected by development projects. Gjellestad is one of these projects, and Gundersen and her colleagues instigated the surveys that led to the discovery of the ship grave. Since 2018 they have engaged in surveying and documenting the Gjellestad area, and disseminating the results. Gundersen was part of the team led by Joakim Karlsen/Østfold University College that developed Gjellestadstory, and she is also engaged in the ongoing project Viking Nativity.
