The Viking World (Routledge Worlds)

not only about 8 per cent longer, but also 25 per cent higher than the Oseberg ship. This
is achieved by adding two extra strakes above the one with the oar holes. Its interior
structure is similar to that of the Oseberg ship, but it is equipped with thirty-two oars.
The keelson spans over four frames, and the mast fish over six. The keel is significantly
stronger, and the hull shape curved to provide good sailing. Full-scale reconstructions of
both the Gokstad and the Oseberg ship have sailed in the Atlantic in modern times,
proving the seaworthiness of the two vessels.
Recent analyses of the Tune ship, built c. ad 910 , have shown that although smaller,
even this 19 m long and 4. 2 m wide vessel has been sea-going (Guhnfeldt 2005 ).
In construction it is similar to the Gokstad and Oseberg ships, and it shares their
proportions as well. Although being distinct and different vessels, the three ship finds
give a remarkably homogeneous picture of how a ship sailing in the ninth- and early
tenth-century Skagerak region looked.

Ladby

The ship grave from Ladby on Fynen in central Denmark, however, gives a different
picture of Viking shipbuilding. The ship, which was only preserved as an impression
and rows of metal fasteners in the soil, has recently been thoroughly analysed and its
dimensions reconstructed (Sørensen 2001 ). The length was 21. 5 m, the beam 2. 9 m and
the height amidships only 1. 0 m. The vessel, which dates to around ad 900 , was thus of
a different design from the Norwegian grave ships. It was lower and more slender, like
the rowed vessels from Nydam and Sutton Hoo. The reconstructed hull shape also
appears less specialised for sailing than in the Norwegian ships, and the frames are
tree-nailed, not lashed to the planking. While the latter may be a regional feature, it is
likely that differences in hull shape reflect that the ships were built for use in different
environments. Indeed the Ladby ship was suited for navigation in the Baltic and
Kattegat, not in the North Sea.

THE TIME OF SPECIALISATION

From the late tenth century on, the frequency of shipfinds increases, and the ships turn
up in other contexts. While the older finds are mainly vessels that have been selected for
funeral use, the younger ones represent the everyday use of ships. These are vessels that
have been lost by accident or warfare, that have been pulled ashore for scrapping, or
which have been filled in with stones and sunk to form part of sea-route blockages. This
may in part be why they show a much larger variation than the older finds, but it is also
a reflection of the growing amount of transport needs in society. There was an increasing
concentration of political power, and a growing trade channelled more and more
through ports and towns. This conditioned a growing number of ships to be deposited
at places where they would be preserved and later detected and studied.

The longships

The longship found in the harbour of Hedeby, known as Hedeby 1 , is the first example
of a Viking warship in a size range that until now has only appeared among ships from
the end of the Viking Age (Crumlin-Pedersen 1997 ). It was severely damaged already by

–– Jan Bill ––