Discovery
On March 29, 1943, Gunnar Gjermundbo, planning to build a home for his parents, discovered a rich burial site in Vesleenga. [6]
Gjermundbo already knew that the site contained a large tumulus (a round Iron Age burial mound), but he had no intention of touching it. Just to the west of this burial mound was an elongated rise that he would need to level to build a house and plant a new orchard. It was when he began to dig into this embankment that artifacts began to appear. The next day, the local historian Jon Guldal informed The Collection of Norwegian antiquities at the University of Oslo about the find by telephone. The local newspaper Ringerikes Blad published the news about the find and an interview with Gjermundbo's father Lars on March 31. [6]
Archaeologist Sverre Marstrander and museum assistant Charlotte Blindheim were sent by the university to investigate the matter. They performed additional excavations of the discovery site without any further artifacts coming to light. Marstrander was able to ascertain that it was an exceptionally rich burial, a man's grave from the Viking Age, and took the artifacts back to Oslo.
In May 1943, Gjermundbo discovered another grave in the same mound. Marstrander was again sent out and was able to ascertain that this was a separate grave from the same period as the first. The two burial are designated Gjermundbu I and II.
Site description
The embankment was originally believed to be a single, approximately 25 metres (80 ft) long, 8 metres (26 ft) wide (at its widest) and up to 1.8 metres (5.9 ft) high, burial mound. It was later determined to be two different human graves (cremations) from the Viking Age. The dimensions given for the ship-shaped mound have since been adjusted to 29 metres (95 ft) long and up to 9 metres (30 ft) wide. [6]
Gjermundbu I
This discovery was located in an elongated mound next to a tumulus, a few boulders that formed a burial chamber. A number of artifacts were found underneath the elongated mound. In terms of the quality of the grave goods, this is probably the richest man's grave from the Viking Age in Norway – after the ship graves from Gokstad in Sandefjord, Haugen farm in Rolvsøy, and the chamber grave from the same place. [6] Helge Braathen dates the Gjermundbu grave to the latter half of the 10th century. [7] Archaeologist Frans-Arne Stylegar [ no ] has a theory that the man's grave is connected to the Vikings' ties to the Kievan Rus'. [8]
The discovery was made in the smaller of two large mounds on the farm and included, among other things:
The Gjermundbu find stands alone among Viking Age grave finds in Scandinavia and Western Europe; no other finds there contain a helmet or chain mail. The helmet was found in nine fragments and has since been restored. The objects from the find are now on display at the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo. The last burial mound has not yet been excavated, but it has a stone perimeter, known as a "foot chain," which is relatively common for burial mounds from the early Iron Age. [6] [8]
Gjermundbu II
This find is nowhere near as rich in content as Gjermundbu I. It contained a double-edged sword of type M, a battle axe and a spear head. The find dates from the 10th century, i.e. around the same time as Gjermundbu I. [6]
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