Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research

The institute has nearly 80 employees and regional offices in Bergen, Trondheim, Tønsberg and Tromsø.[1] It consists of six research departments:[2]

• Archaeological Excavations
• Digital Documentation
• Conservation
• Buildings
• Heritage and Society
• High North

The chair is Torger Ødegaard and the deputy chair is Mette Bye[3] The current director general is Kristin Bakken.

NIKU was created in 1994 as a split from the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage.[1] From 1994 to 2003, the institute shared a board of directors with the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research under the moniker NINA•NIKU.[4]

In 2019, archaeologists from NIKU, using large-scale high-resolution georadar technology, determined that a 17-meter-long Viking ship was buried beside Edøy Church on the island of Edøya. Traces of a small settlement were also found. NIKU estimates the ship's age as over 1,000 years: from the Merovingian or Viking period. The group plans to conduct additional searches in the area. A similar buried ship was found previously by a NIKU group in 2018, in Gjellestad.[5]

Replica Viking boat similar in size and appearance to the Gjellestad Ship.

A Viking burial mound at Gjellestad. The Jellhaugen Mound was probably built in the 6th century, about 300 years before the burial of the Gjellestad ship.

The Gjellestad[6] (Norwegian pronunciation: [ˈjɛ̂lːəˌstɑːd]) ship burial, also spelt Jellestad, is the remains of a Viking age longship found at the farm of Gjellestad in Halden municipality in Norway in 2018 by the archeologists Lars Gustavsen and Erich Nau. An ancient well-preserved Viking cemetery for more than 1000 years was discovered using ground-penetrating radar. Archaeologists also revealed at least seven other previously unknown burial mounds and the remnants of five longhouses with the help of the radar survey.[7][8][9][10] The discovery of extensive Bronze Age remains at Gjellestad has led archaeologists to speculate that it had been a sacred site for centuries before the Viking era.[11]

A 2019 examination by the University of Oslo has dated it to AD 733, at the earliest.[12] Originally interred beneath a burial mound, in the present day the ship lies 50 centimetres below the topsoil due to years of plowing.[13]

Due to extensive fungus damage to the hull caused by field drainage, drought and exposure to the air, archaeologists called for an immediate dig to save the ship.[14] Excavation of the ship at Gjellestad began in June 2020,[15] overseen by Professor Knut Paasche from the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research. It is estimated to be over 20 metres long, although only parts of the keel have survived.[16] This would mean that the boat is of a similar size to the Gokstad ship.[17] The identity of the boat's occupant has not yet been confirmed, but experts have speculated that it may have belonged to a king or queen.[18]

By July 2021, archaeologists had exposed the keel of the ship[19] and discovered the remains of a Viking axe.[20] As of December 2021, exploratory excavations and metal detecting surveys in the surrounding area have revealed the existence of a Viking longhouse,[21] a feasting hall, a Norse pagan ritual site,[22] and metal artefacts including an Arabic dirham and three belt buckles.[23]

By December 2022, the archaeological team had completed the excavations. The remains of the keel will be preserved with water-soluble wax. Although most of the wood had disintegrated, the surviving nails will be used to create a 3d reconstruction of the boat. Objects of particular interest included a large amber bead, a spindle whorl, a bracelet, horse and cattle bones, human remains, a comb, a whetstone, fragments of a chest, and two Viking axe heads.[24] The soil from the excavation will be X-rayed and CT scanned before being sifted.[25] The Viken and Halden municipalities intend to open a visitor centre at Gjellestad for viewing the outline of the ship.[26] Meanwhile, the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research has begun a research project called Viking Nativity to investigate the land surrounding the Gjellestad ship burial.[27]

• Norges kirker – church building documentation project affiliated with the institute
• Engagement, Sustainability and Diversity: examining recent heritage policy in Norway

• Official website