The Gokstad ship burial is very interesting and important for three main reasons, first, the ship that was buried is the largest complete Viking ship in Norway and was very well preserved, second it gives us a good idea of the construction methods that were used in the creation of these ships and finally, it also gives us a rough estimate at what time these ships were created due to dendrochronological dating. The Gokstad ship is the largest and most complete ship that was discovered in Norway. Its size and its pristine condition allow us to come to better conclusions about what these Viking ships looked like and what sort of role they played. Since it was so well preserved the ship was pretty much untouched since ancient times when there may have been a bit of looting, but ever since then the ship has pretty much remained untouched and looks exactly what it would have looked like all those years ago. This good condition is also a testament to the Viking’s good construction techniques and material choices in being able to stand the test of time. Since it was so well preserved and untouched it also showed us some of the rituals and the grave goods that were present during a burial. Along with the body of the buried King Olaf Gudrodson, there were also many horses a few dogs and a single peacock which shows that the Vikings had beliefs in the afterlife much like the Egyptians and many other civilizations at this time did as well. Since the ship was so well preserved it also gave us a very good idea of the construction methods used. The boat was largely made from oak and is around 80 feet long. Holding the ship together they used many iron rivets in combination with rope. These iron rivets demonstrate that they had advanced metallurgical knowledge for the time. Due to this construction replicas of the ship have been shown to handle very well in most sea conditions due to the boat’s relatively light weight which allows it to handle well and take on large sea swells better than vessels of comparable size. The ship is also quite fast due to its thin hull being able to reach 10 to 11 knots which is faster than ships of comparable size. This thin hull was also strong enough to carry 40 to 50 men which is quite impressive since it is so thin compared to other boats of the time. Finally, since it was made from wood the maple wood that the boat is made up of can be dendrochronologically dated to be able to achieve a somewhat accurate estimate of the time of constriction for this boat. It was found that the boat was constructed of wood that was felled around 890 CE. This date shows us how well the boat was constructed since it has withstood the test of time for almost 1134 years. This date also proves further that this was the boat that was meant for the burial of King Olaf Gudrodson. All these things just go to show how interesting and important this boat is and why it was such an important discovery.