Norwegian Wood 2006

This morning when I woke up I was still in Oslo, and so was the famous and rarely seen J-P Vilkman, direct from Finnland. We went to the Vikingshiphuset (Viking Ship Museum) to see the famous Oseberg ship, as well as the sleds and objects that were discovered on board this ship from a royal Viking burial mound dated around 850. We met with the conservator, Nadine Huth, and the museum´s wood carver, Bjarte Aarseth. Currently, they are working to support and restore the sleds because they are extremely brittle from the chemicals used in the 1908 conservation efforts. Bjarte showed us the reproductions he is working on in his shop. Museums around the world borrow the reproductions. These reproductions gave us a unique oppertunity to see the carved patterns up-close. The sleds are from the 9th century AD or earlier, but show the incredibly advanced handwork of the Vikings. Of course, these particular sleds were used to carry a queen and are subsequently extremely fancy with all of the figures in the patterns being symbols to ward off evil spirits and bring luck. It is interesting to compare these to the rough-hewn, quickly made, utilitarian pulk sleds of the Sami which are from around 1850, one thousand years later.
After getting a $4 cup of coffee and a $25 piece of quiche for J-P (just normal here, which is why I luckily had my handy pocket knife and picnic items on hand), we proceeded to the Kon Tiki Museum to see the Kon Tiki and the Ra II. This has nothing to do with actual Nordic woodcraft, but these are nonetheless perhaps the most famous boats in Norway from Thor Heyerdahl´s famous trans-oceanic expeditions. The Viking spirit carries on! By the way, I am half Viking myself, plus Scottish, German, and Basque to round it out.