The Oseberg boat burial is often considered to be the richest Viking grave ever discovered. Not only were there two partial skeletons of women discovered, archaeologists unearthed was an entirely preserved Viking ship. This ship gives us clear evidence of the boat building techniques of the time as well as the functions of the boats as grave goods.
The Oseberg boat find measures about 21.4 meters long and 5 meters wide with 15 oar slots. This suggests that this ship could hold 30 men in total. It was excavated from the Oslo Fjord in 1904, and due to the anaerobic conditions under which it was buried, the ship was perfectly preserved. The dendrochronology of the timbers dates that the boat was constructed in 834 AD.¹ Inside the ship were the remains of two women, their dogs, horses and oxen, an ornately decorated sled, a cart, an animal head post as well as several gilded buckets. Although most of the precious metals had been looted before the excavation, this find is still monumentally important for informing the burial rituals of the Vikings.
However, largest and most shocking find at Oseberg was the boat itself. This is because the Oseberg ship is a wooden, and under regular conditions, the timber would have naturally decayed over time leaving only the clench nails as evidence of the boat’s existence. But because of these unique burial conditions, the boat, as well as its contents was preserved. Although its nautical design is simple, the Oseberg ship is ornately decorated. It is also one of the earliest discovered Scandinavian ships and was implemented with a host of improvements from earlier vessels: With a distinct V-shaped bottom (unlike the rounded bottoms of the earlier ships) and a deeper keel, (though relatively shallower than others) this ship was much more seaworthy and better at battling fierce winds. The Oseberg ship, however, probably served as an inshore yacht when compared to the more seaworthy ship found at Gokstad.²
The Oseberg ship, on top of being a treasure trove of grave goods, informs us of the ways that the vikings used ships during this time and supports the descriptions of nautical viking battles as well as annals depicting viking raids: ships were not only used for war, they were also used for long-distance travel and the shallow bottom shows they were most effective up rivers. Through the Oseberg ship, we can also understand the intricate burial rituals that the vikings performed as well as the many uses for boats that existed at the time.

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