The National Museum of Denmark confirms that a Viking longship discovered in Roskilde fjord was built in Dublin.
Archaeologists have used the science of dendrochronology, or tree-ring dating to confirm the age and provenance of a ship, which was excavated along with four other Viking vessels in 1962 from the Skuldelev waterway near Roskilde in Denmark.
Originally measured thirty metres this seagoing warship has been given the name Skuldelev 2 and was built of Irish wood in Dublin around the year 1060. Niels Bonde from the Danish National Museum says,
We have produced chronologies for the ship, and it synchronised perfectly with the Dublin chronology, based upon wood excavated in Dublin in the Seventies.
On a visit to the National Museum of Ireland in Kildare Street today, Taoiseach Charles Haughey was clearly taken with the saga of the Viking longship and the archaeological detection work that traced it to Dublin.
Acknowledging that the National Museum has been neglected in the past, an input of funds in the near future from the National Lottery will provide a welcome boost, and keep it open to the public free of charge,
We hope to be able to devote a lot more resources to making this great venerable national institution into what it should be.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 8 November 1989. The reporter is Tom Kelly.
