PREHISTORIC NAVAL ARCHITECTURE. GOD 



The followiu^i;^ traces of prehistoric? boats have been discovered in 

 Trondhjeiu Auit.^ 



In Valnesset, Bjugn parish^ {63° 50' X.) a boat was deposited over the 

 dead body, bottom up, 20 to 22 feet h)ng-, G to 8 feet broad, 7.^ inches 

 between the nails which were partly 1^ and partly 2| inches long — 

 the latter most likely through the keel and tlic ribs; was placed in an 

 east to west direction, parallel to the near shore-line, the bow most 

 likely i)ointing- to the west.'^ 



In a mound at TuuiioJ., JV^^9'^ parkh, were found two rows of nails (i 

 feet distant from each other. A part of the stem, probably of oak, 

 could be seen in the east end of the mound, with a large iron loop 

 fastened to it. The head of the body eastward. Together with it were 

 here found more objects than in any of the other interments, namely, 

 a silver bracelet, bronze scales, some implements of bone, etc.^ 



On the Ide of Snofra, Aafjord parish (03^ 54' ]S'.), four boats, ap- 

 parently of fir, have been found in four different mounds, 22 to 24 feet 

 long. The iron nails were of the same dimensions and with the same 

 distance between them as above. In one of these the nails were of 

 three different sizes. In one of the mounds the body was deposited with 

 the head towards the east, in the others towards west and northeast.'* 



At Gravrohy Melhus parish^ about 20 kilometers so nth of Trondhjem 

 and consequently as far from the coast (while the above-mentioned 

 finds have Ijeen made along- the coast) a similar boat seems seems to 

 have been deposited in a mound.*"" 



St<>rh<(i((/(')i ship.' — Upon a small plateau formed by Karmisland (Kar- 

 )n0en), abont !(!() miles from the shore in Avaldsnes Bay, Bergens Stiff, 

 Norway, stands a mound in which, in 1887, the remains of a ship were 

 discovered, the anti(piity of which ai)pears to (bite back to the days of 

 the strife in the Xorth between paganism and Christianity. 



Oaken boards and otlu^r worked pieces of wood found occasionally 

 seemed to indi(;ate tlic^ existence of a boat, but as the excavations were 

 carried on unsystematically and the finds represented little, if any, 

 anti(iuariau value, special attention was not given to the matter until 

 ill 1887, when, upon proper representation, systematic excavation was 

 liegun under the skillful management of the late Dr. A. Lorange, of 

 the Bergen Museum. 



' Kouffeliga Norske Vi(lcusk;ib«rue.s Selskiil»s .Skriftei' f. 1878 iind 1870; Aarsberet- 

 niug fra foreningen til norske fbrtidsiniudesinat'rkprs bcvaring. 



- Aarsbcretning, etc., 1873, pp. 8, 9. 



' For this iuforniatiou I am iudebtcd to Mr. K. Lossins, deputy manager of the 

 Archa'ological Museum of Trondhjem. 



* Aarsberetuiiig fra foreniugen til norske fortidsmiudfsimi-rkers bevaring,1872, p. 36. 



" Aarsbcretning, etc-., 1864 and 1874, pp. 16, 17. 



'■ Communicated by Mr. K. Lossius, deputy manager of the Archa-ological Museum 

 of Trondhjem. 



" Lorange, A.: Storhaugen paa Karm0en, Nyt Skibsfund fra Vikingelideu. In Ber- 

 gen's Museum Aarsberetning. 1887. Da ChniUii : Gunnarhaug ship discovered iu 

 Bergen Stift in 1887. In Viking Age, vol. ii, p. 335. 



SM 91, PT 2 39 



