Viking
© AFP / Andy Buchanan
Archaeologists have discovered traces of a Viking ship buried beneath a field in Norway, a rare find that could shed further light on the lives of Vikings.

The amazing discovery was made by archaeologists from the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU) in Halden, southeast of Oslo.

"This find is incredibly exciting as we only know three well-preserved Viking ship finds in Norway excavated long time ago," Dr Knut Paasche, head of Digital Archaeology at NIKU said. "This new ship will certainly be of great historical significance as it can be investigated with all modern means of archaeology."

Outline of the Viking ship
© NIKU
The outline of the Viking ship can clearly be seen in this image from the radar data.
Using high resolution georadar, the group detected the remains of the ship, a number of burial mounds and five longhouses. The ship was laid only 50 centimeters underground, inside a burial mound known as a tumulus.

Burial mound
© Lars Gustavsen, NIKU
The ship burial forms part of a larger mound cemetery and settlement site from the Iron Age.
"We are certain that there is a ship there, but how much is preserved is hard to say before further investigation," said Morten Hanisch, county conservator in Østfold.

Digital data visualisations reveal a 20-meter-long ship-shaped structure, the NIKU said. The images suggest the lower part of the ship is preserved.

The team hope to carry out more non-invasive investigations to digitally map the area. This way, they can learn more about the ship without exposing it to the elements. They haven't ruled out eventually excavating the ship.