Buried Viking ship found in southern Norway: report

OSLO, March 25 (Xinhua) -- A buried ship that is assumed to come from the Viking age has been found in southern Norway, public broadcaster NRK reported Monday.

The discovery was made with ground-penetrating radar and the pictures show a clear boat shape, the report said.

"It is a big event presenting a new big Viking discovery that will be noticed all over the world," Norwegian Minister of Climate and Environment Ola Elvestuen said at a press conference.

According to Vestfold county in southern Norway where the discovery was made, the data from the new investigation are not sharp enough to measure the length of the found vessel.

This makes it still difficult to categorize it as a Viking ship which per definition is 15 meters or longer or as a boat in case it is shorter than 15 meters.

According to Terje Gansum, section manager for cultural heritage in Vestfold county, the pictures taken by instruments show a boat shape with visible weak traces of a circular recess around the boat.

"It is not yet possible to answer how much it is preserved under the peat. We are now going to investigate the find with several noninvasive methods and repeat the use of the radar," he said.

The ship was first discovered in 2017, but many investigations have been made to confirm the discovery, which has now been published, NRK reported.

Seven ship burials have been registered in Europe dated to the Viking Age (AD 800-1050), and three of them were located in Vestfold county.