Viking discovery: Work begins on first ship discovery for 100 years

This illustration gives an idea of what the ship might have looked like.

Work has started on digging up an ancient Viking ship in Norway.

It's pretty big news because it's the first time in 100 years that a dig like this has happened.

The ship was discovered in a burial site in Gjellestad in the south-east of the country two years ago.

Even though it's thought to be in bad condition, it's a really big deal because only three other well-preserved Viking ships have ever been discovered in the country.

This radar data just about shows the outline of the ship buried just below the soil

It's such an important job that it's going to take archaeologists five months to fully dig it up.

The ship, which is about 20 metres long, is quite bad condition and only part of its timber appears to have been preserved.

The dig for a Viking ship in Gjellestad is the first in 100 years

However, modern technology means that the archaeologists will be able to discover it's full original shape.

The government in Norway are really proud of the discovery and they've described it as being of "outstanding national and international importance".

The dig was launched by Norway's climate and environment minister on Friday