Last autumn, archaeologists using ground-penetrating radar (GPR) discovered traces of previously unknown graves and settlement activity at several locations along Trondheim Fjord. They hope that these discoveries can shed light on state formation, national unification and religious change in Norway a thousand years ago.
Digital archaeology
NIKU is adopting a broad range of new technology for the surveying, recording, and monitoring of cultural heritage sites.
Laser scanning
Laser scanning can be an important addition to documenting cultural heritage, and has proven to be an accurate and cost-effective method of documenting and monitoring different types of cultural heritage projects.
Geophysical surveys
By using geophysical methods of investigation, we can investigate archaeological sites without resorting to physical intervention.
Projects
Here are some of our projects
Latest news
Using GPR to Shed Light on State Formation, National Unification and Religious Change in Norway
Promising results with ground-penetrating radar in Iceland
This summer, archaeologists from Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage (NIKU) have carried out several surveys using ground penetrating radar in Iceland. Preliminary results show that the investigations have already been very successful.
60 metre longhouse discovered with GPR near Viking ship at Gjellestad
At Gjellestad in Norway, archaeologists from the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU) have found a 60 metre longhouse. There is no longer a doubt that Gjellestad, where the same team discovered a Viking ship in 2018, has been a central place in the late Nordic Iron Age. In the next few years, researchers will hopefully find the answer to how Gjellestad became such an important place.
Press release: Viking Ship Burial and Ritual Centre found without digging
Archaeologists in Norway have identified a previously unknown ritual centre, including a feast hall, cult house, and ship burial.
First Viking ship excavation in a 100 years starts now
"This will be exciting for all of us, regardless of whether you are an archaeologist or just have a medium interest in our past," says Viking ship expert Knut Paasche.
The Gjellestad Ship confirmed to be from the Viking Age
The Gjellestad Ship is quite clearly from the Viking Age, the Museum of Cultural History said today. “The investigations happily confirm our hypothesis from 2018, when we found the ship by ground-penetrating radar (GPR),” says Knut Paasche, head of NIKU’s department of digital archaeology.
New ship burial found in Norway
A high-resolution georadar has detected traces of a ship burial and a settlement that probably dates to the Merovingian or Viking Period at Edøy in Møre and Romsdal County in Norway.
Critical Digital Heritage 2020: Call for Papers
We urge contributors to demonstrate how the sessions’ topics may be discussed through a variety of methods and theoretical approaches from different disciplines.
What is left of the Gjellestad Ship?
Next week archaeologists will open trenches at the site of the Gjellestad Ship.
The technology behind the Gjellestad ship find
With the help of newly developed motorised georadar systems, NIKU's archaeologists did some major discoveries at Gjellestad - including a Viking Ship. But how does the technology work and what will happen next?