The Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (no|Norsk institutt for kulturminneforskning, NIKU) is a cultural heritage research institute based in Oslo, Norway.
The institute has nearly 80 employees and regional offices in Bergen, Trondheim, Tønsberg and Tromsø. It consists of six research departments:[1]
The chair is Torger Ødegaard and the deputy chair is Mette Bye[2] The current director general is Kristin Bakken.
NIKU was created in 1994 as a split from the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage.[3] 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 Age. 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]
The Gjellestad[6] (in Norwegian pronounced as /ˈjɛ̂lːəˌstɑː/) 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 Age.[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 wooden 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]