{"id":142,"date":"2021-01-22T14:27:05","date_gmt":"2021-01-22T13:27:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/osebergvikingarv.no\/eng\/?page_id=142"},"modified":"2021-12-07T15:43:52","modified_gmt":"2021-12-07T14:43:52","slug":"the-great-puzzle","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/osebergvikingarv.no\/eng\/the-oseberg-ship\/the-oseberg-find-in-short\/the-great-puzzle\/","title":{"rendered":"The great puzzle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In 1903, Oskar Rom started digging into a mound on his farm. Soon, he unearthed a piece of wood, decorated with strange woodcarvings. He sought out professor Gabriel Gustafson, who was rather unenthusiastic until Oskar Rom showed him the strange piece of wood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Excavations started in 1904. The rich find included a large number of objects, made from wood, metal, textiles and bones, all covered with huge quantities of stones. The excavation was therefore demanding and lasted for 102 days. The ship in the mound was completely broken-up, but together the more than 2000 pieces of wood discovered represented an almost complete Viking ship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Engineer Fredrik Johannessen laid out a bold plan for how to restore the ship. Each piece of wood was steamed and bent back into their original shape before conservation and transportation to Oslo where the gigantic puzzle of putting them together could begin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n