PEEHISTORIC NAVAL ARCIIITFX'TURE. 



619 



as the "King's Mound" because, according to popular belief, a king 

 had been buried there with all his treasures, and it was in the expecta- 

 tion of finding these treasures that early in January, 1880, the sons of 

 the farmers of lower Gokstad began excavations of the mound. The 

 Society for the Preservation of Norwegian Antiquities being infornu'd 

 of these i^roceedings, desired to take charge of the undertaking; after 

 considerable negotiations with the proprietors they obtained the privi- 

 lege of opening the mound, and on April 27, 1880, Mr. Mcolaysen, the 

 president of the society, repaired to the spot to direct the work. 



Fig. i:i6. 

 The Kino's Mound. 



I From J. .-;. U'liitp. "The Viking Ship." S.rihncr's Miigaiinp, v,,l. ,i. No. !>.) 



The excavation was conducted with great care by opening a passage- 

 way right through the middle of the mound, and the second day 

 already rewarded the diligent explorers by the discovery of a ship 

 stern lying right in the track of the excavation. Upon further widen- 

 ing the track the entire ship was gradually laid bare (Fig. lo(>). 



Voyage of the Vega, London, 1881, voL i, p. 50 (illustration). Potter's Amerlcfin 

 Monthly, 1882. Werner, Admiral li.: Das Seewesen der Gcrmanischeu Vorzeit (iv 

 ■\Vesterniann'.s Illustrirte Monatshefte Liii, October, 1882. Prehle, in United Service, 

 May, 1883. Good Words, xxii, 759. Boehmer, George H. : Norsk Naval Architecture ( in 

 Proceedinjrs U. S. National Museum, vol. ix, p. 455). Memoirs de la Societe Eoyale 

 dcs Antiquaires dn Nord, 1887, p. 280. White, John S.: The Viking ship (in Scrib- 

 ncr's Magazine, vol. ii. No. 5). Preble, in Avuerican Flag, p. 159. Da Costa : Pre- 

 Columbian Discovery of America, p. xxxvii. Fox's Landfnll of Columbus, p. 3. 

 Popular Science Monthly, xix, p. 80. Titxen, N. E.: De Nordiske Laugskibc. In 

 Aarb. f. nord. Oldk. ogHist., 1886. Van Nostrand Eclectic Engineering Magazine, xxiii 

 p. 320. Higginson's Larger History of the United States. Worsaae, J. J. A.: Pre- 

 history of the North (English translation), London, 1886. 



