Archaeology & History
Huge viking vessel to be shown at museum
By
T.K. RandallDecember 30, 2012 ·
13 comments
Image Credit: Jason Vanderhill
An enormous long boat uncovered in 1996 at Roskilde is the largest Viking vessel ever discovered.
Dating back over 1,000 years and measuring 118ft long, the ancient Viking troop carrier would have been capable of transporting 100 warriors and is thought to have taken more than 30,000 hours to build. A stunning example of Viking shipbuilding, the vessel would have been a part of a fleet of up to 100 vessels that could deliver 10,000 battle-hardened warriors to anywhere they were needed.
"This ship was a troop carrier," said Gareth Williams of the British Museum. "There are records in the annals of fleets of hundreds of ships. So you could be talking about an army of up to 10,000 men suddenly landing on your coast, highly trained, fit, capable of moving very fast on water or land."
It is believed that this particular vessel was deliberately sunk along with several other ships in a defensive effort to narrow the fjord approaching the former capital of Denmark.[!gad]Dating back over 1,000 years and measuring 118ft long, the ancient Viking troop carrier would have been capable of transporting 100 warriors and is thought to have taken more than 30,000 hours to build. A stunning example of Viking shipbuilding, the vessel would have been a part of a fleet of up to 100 vessels that could deliver 10,000 battle-hardened warriors to anywhere they were needed.
"This ship was a troop carrier," said Gareth Williams of the British Museum. "There are records in the annals of fleets of hundreds of ships. So you could be talking about an army of up to 10,000 men suddenly landing on your coast, highly trained, fit, capable of moving very fast on water or land."
It is believed that this particular vessel was deliberately sunk along with several other ships in a defensive effort to narrow the fjord approaching the former capital of Denmark.
The largest Viking ship ever found, a 118 foot troop carrier, is to go on display at the British museum 1,000 years after it helped King Canute control the seas of northern Europe.
Source:
Telegraph |
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