Hello!
There have been no new articles published here in recent months because I have been working on a long-term research and reconstruction project that I plan to present in 2027.
The project is centred on the man buried in the Gokstad burial mound, one of the most important and best-preserved elite burials of the Viking Age in Scandinavia. I have been researching the Gokstad burial for years, and this project is the culmination of that work. At the same time, it will mark the beginning of a larger series of articles dedicated to Gokstad, its archaeological material and comparable contexts.
Gokstad ship in the mound during excavations in 1880, photo taken kindly from Kulturhistorisk museum - hand-colored by Vestfold fylkeskommune.
The aim is to reconstruct a possible appearance of the Gokstad man and, as far as the evidence allows, to recreate the equipment and objects that may have been associated with him. This requires more than simply reproducing the best-known finds from the burial. It requires a detailed analysis of the archaeological material from Gokstad, together with relevant comparative evidence from Scandinavia and beyond, in order to identify missing elements of the burial assemblage and reconstruct objects and equipment that may have originally been part of the burial or may have belonged to or been used by the Gokstad man.
Incomplete skeleton of the Gokstad man. Photos by Kirsten Helgeland, UniMus catalog. Edited by the author.
The research will therefore serve as the basis for a series of practical reconstructions of clothing, jewellery, weapons, and other elements of the Gokstad man's equipment. These reconstructions will also provide a reference for future replicas and interpretations of the Gokstad material.
I am approaching the project as a research-based reconstruction, with every element grounded in archaeological evidence wherever possible. This makes the project considerably more demanding, both in terms of research and production, and requires substantial financial resources. The funding will be used for materials, craftsmanship and the reconstruction of individual objects, as well as for the practical realisation, documentation and publication of the project.
Gokstad Burial Mound, photo by Harald Hrodberhtsson
For this reason, I would like to ask those interested in my research to support the project through my Buy Me a Coffee page. Every contribution made from the publication of this post until June 2027 will go directly towards the realisation of the project. Your support will help make it possible to reconstruct objects and elements of the Gokstad burial, and to bring the entire project to life.
The first results will be presented in 2027, together with the beginning of a new series of articles on the Gokstad burial and comparable archaeological contexts and finds.
Thank you for supporting my research and helping me bring the Gokstad man back to life.