This 1/25 scale plank-on-frame model of an Oseberg Viking burial ship was built by Michael Titone starting from a Billings Boats kit.
This is a model of an unusual Viking burial vessel that seems to pose more questions than it answers. The Oseberg burial mound (Norwegian: Oseberghaugen ved Slagen from the Old Norse word haugr meaning mound or barrow) contained the ship, numerous grave goods, and two female human skeletons. The ship’s interment into its burial mound dates from 834, but parts of the ship date from around 800, and the ship itself is thought to be older. It was excavated by Norwegian archaeologist, Haakon Shetelig and Swedish archaeologist, Gabriel Gustafson in 1904-1905. This ship is widely celebrated and has been called one of the finest finds to have survived the Viking age. The ship and some of its contents are displayed at the Viking Ship Museum, in Bygdøy.
Unfortunately, in the middle ages the mound was tunneled into by robbers and all of the metalware was removed. The ship and remaining contents were perfectly preserved by the clay in which it was buried for over 1,000 years. It remains one of the best preserved relics of the Viking age.
