Haakon Shetelig


Haakon Shetelig was a Norwegian archaeologist, historian and museum director. He was a pioneer in archaeology known for his study of art from the Viking era in Norway. He is most frequently associated with his work on the Oseberg ship near Tønsberg, Norway.

Biography

Haakon Shetelig grew up in Christiania. He was the son of Harald Fredrik Schetelig and Magnhild Pedersen, and the nephew of Tord Pedersen. He and studied classical languages and Old Norse philology and history at the University of Christiania. In 1901, Shetelig was hired as curator and manager of the historical-antiquarian part of the Bergen Museum, the University of Bergen museum in Bergen, Norway. He was appointed professor in 1914 and worked as director of the History and Antiquarian Department until 1942.
Shetelig and his colleague, Swedish archaeologist Gabriel Gustafson, led the team that dug out and preserved the Oseberg ship in 1904–1905. After Gustafson's death in 1915, he collaborated with archaeologist Anton Wilhelm Brøgger and Hjalmar Falk to publish the discovery. In 1920 he led the excavation of the Kvalsund ships, which were found at the Kvalsund farm at Herøy, Møre og Romsdal County in 1920.
In 1910 he founded the magazine Kunst og Kultur with Harry Fett, which he edited. He published a number of papers and writings about archaeology, history, and cultural history. He also wrote the first volume of the six-volume series Viking Antiquities in Great Britain and Ireland, for which he also served as the main editor. He introduced the Shetelig axiom, which refers to the idea that the Viking age began when Scandinavian Vikings attacked Lindisfarne in 793.
Haakon Shetelig was a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and the Royal Norwegian Scientific Society. He was appointed Commander of the Order of St. Olav in 1946 and held several foreign orders and medals.

Selected works