The plundering of the ship graves from Oseberg and Gokstad

An Example of Power Politics

Bibliographic Data

ID3506002
AuthorsJan Bill (0000-0002-4054-1552), Aoife Daly (0000-0002-4389-3238)
Year2012
Volume86
Issue333
Pages808-824
Publication date2012-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAntiquity (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0003-598X • E-ISSN: 1745-1744
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0003598x00047931
OpenAlexW2262267787
LanguageEN
Citations received26
References cited5

Not the least of the unusual revelations that have come from the wonderfully preserved ninth-century Norwegian ship burials at Oseberg and Gokstad, is the fact that both had been later broken into-by interlopers who defaced the ship, damaged the grave goods and pulled out and dispersed the bones of the deceased. These 'mound-breakers' helpfully left spades and stretchers in place, and through the application of some highly ingenious dendrochronology our authors have been able to date the break-ins with some precision. Mound-breaking, it seems, took place during the domination of Norway by Harald Bluetooth in the tenth century as part of an extensive campaign which included subduing local monuments as well as converting Scandinavians to Christianity. The old mounds retained such power in the landscape that it was worth desecrating them and disinterring their occupants a century after their burial

Archaeology · Physics · Political science · Politics · Power (physics) · Ancient and Medieval Archaeology Studies · Geology · Historical and Archaeological Studies · History · Law · Maritime and Coastal Archaeology

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