458 NORSK NAVAL ARCHITECTURE. 



e. Parts of a wooden chair, finely carved, that would appear to have 

 been the high seat of the chieftain or commander of the vessel. The side 

 pieces— in an excellent state of preservation — are modeled at the top 

 to represent the heads of animals, in j)recisely the same style as the 

 upper end of the tent-supports. 



/. A great variety of kitchen utensils, among which were a very 

 large and massive copper kettle, together with the iron chain, grace- 

 fully wrought, for suspending it over the fire ; bits of a smaller kettle, 

 of iron, and of the chain belonging to it ; numerous tubs and buckets 

 of different sizes ; wooden plates ; several small, finely carved wooden 

 drin king-cups, with handles; and many other articles. No trace of a fire- 

 place can be discovered in the ship, nor would it, indeed, have been easy 

 to provide one in an open vessel of this kind. Hence, the cooking uten- 

 sils were only of service while coasting, when a harbor could at any 

 time almost be gained ; and in those days a ship kept near the shore 

 whenever possible.^ 



Something remains to be said of the tomb in which this vessel was 

 discovered, and to which we are indebted for her preservation. 



The barrow was very large, of the usual circular form. The ship had 

 been interred in the middle, on her keel, decorated with shields hung 

 close together along the rail on both sides of the vessel. This was a 

 geueral custom in ]S"orway till late in the Middle Ages, when dressing a 

 ship on festive occasions, and corresponded to the decking out of a ves- 

 sel with flags in our times. A few of these shields have been success- 

 fully restored and placed in position. They are of wood, circular in 

 shape, 30 inches in diameter, but extremely thin, with a boos of iron in 

 the center, and plated at the rim with narrow strip of the same metal. 



A large grave-chamber of wood is built in the middle of the ship 

 from the mast towards the stern. It has the form of a gable-roof, the 

 sides consisting of round logs, and the gable-ends of planks placed on 

 end. In this chamber the remains of the dead were deposited, unburnt, 

 and no doubt on a bed, fragments of a bedstead having been found in 

 the chamber. 



Unfortunately, this ship tomb had been visited by grave- robbers, in 

 all probability during the pagan era. They have dug into the mound 

 on the port side, and gained access through a large opening which they 

 cut in the ship's side and the wall of the grave-chamber. This accounts 

 for the fact, that the bones of the body had nearly all disappeared ; 

 that in the chamber there were but few articles of antiquarian value 

 compared with what it might reasonably have been expected to contain; 

 and in jjarticular, that no implement of war was to be found. Mean- 



' Nicoliiysen, Lau^skibet, etc., p. 2:^, says : " The cookins? could only l»e done ou land, 

 which is presupposed in the municipal law of Bergeu (1276), where it is enacted that 

 the mate shall, whensoever the ship lies at anchor in harbor, cause the crew to be 

 put on shore and backward once a day, but the cook thrice, once to take in water 

 and twice to prepare food." 



