Gabriel Gustafson and Haakon Shetelig began digging into the Oseberghaugen mound near Tønsberg in 1904. They worked through winter months to uncover a massive burial site containing the vessel.
The vessel measures approximately twenty-one meters in length and five meters broad. It is built almost entirely of oak using the clinker method where overlapping planks create a flexible hull.
One woman appeared to be around eighty years old at death but suffered severe arthritis throughout her life. The second skeleton initially seemed to belong to someone aged between twenty-five and thirty years before later analysis suggested she might have been closer to fifty or fifty-five years old instead.
Dendrochronological tests placed the burial date firmly in autumn 834 based on tree ring data. Some structural components dated back as early as 800 while others might be even older than that.
Saga Oseberg launched from Tønsberg on the 20th of June 2012 after years of preparation. Builders used traditional methods combined with laser scans taken during earlier restoration efforts.