The Vikings lived from circa 700-1100 AD.  This is one of several forms of transportation found in the richest Viking burial from Norway, including a Viking ship.  The burial was located about 40 miles south of Oslo on the banks of the Oslo Fjord.  Two adult women were buried in a wooden tent structure inside the burial mound.  One of the women was in her 80s when she died, the other in her 50s.  One may have been Queen Asa.  Textiles found near the skeletons suggest the women were dressed in red wool with strips of silk appliqued on her tunic. 

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The wagon is intricately carved with scenes on all its sides. The back of the wagon features at least ten cats possibly relating it, and the people that traveled in it, to Freyja, the Goddess of fertility, love, beauty, gold, and death.  Freyja herself had a cart pulled by two cats.  Carts like this are also featured on the tapestry found in the Oseberg burial.

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Freyja had elaborate ceremonies because the growing season was so short and so important.  These ceremonies included one in which a cart like this was wheeled from village to village collecting flowers and other offerings to accompany prayers for an abundant harvest.

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This is the only complete wheeled vehicle from the Viking era.  It is thought that the wagon was not intended to travel long distances because of its solid wooden wheels. The wagon bed appears to be able to be lifted from the chassis.  It may have served as a means for a person to board a ship without getting their feet wet or it may have been a burial cart. 

Before being used as a weathervane on a Swedish church, the gilt bronze standard flew at a Viking warship's prow.

Runes are the letters used to write the several Germanic alphabets before the adoption of the Latin alphabet.  They were made for carving on wood, hence the characters are angular to make it easy to carve across the grain.  On stones Runes were used primarily to mark graves or a person’s accomplishments.  This stone from Busby, Taby, Uppland Sweden tells of a man called Osten who went to Jerusalem and died in Greece.

It was a clinker-built ship meaning that it was built so the planks overlap and are bound together at either end into a strake.  The planks taper in cross-section to allow for overlap.These ships were designed to travel across the sea and into shallows with draughts as low as 20 inches.  The ship was built for warfare and transport.  The ship measures 78’ long  by 16.5’wide and is mostly made of oak, although the mast and oars are pine. 

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Queen Asa was the grandmother of King Harald Fairhair, who commissioned this ship. 

A middle aged male was buried with the ship but the grave was looted so there isn’t much known about him.