Jan Jewell lived in Roskilde, Denmark while apprenticing to a Goldsmith named Ellen Margarete Brøker in 1977 and 1978. She was fascinated by the Viking Ship Museum in Rosklide. To honor both her experience in Denmark as well as her Scandinavian (Norwegian and Finnish) heritage, she has used the prow of a Viking Ship as her logo throughout her career. She cast this design in silver in the early 1980's and

cherishes it to this day.

 

Around the year 1070, five Viking ships were deliberately sunk at Skuldelev in Roskilde Fjord in order to block the most important fairway and to protect Roskilde from an enemy attack from the sea. These ships, later known as the Skuldelev ships, were excavated in 1962. They turned out to be five different types of ships ranging from cargo ships to ships of war. The Viking Ship Museum overlooking the inlet of Roskilde Fjord was built in 1969 with the main purpose of exhibiting the five newly discovered Skuldelev ships.

 

In the late 1990s, excavations for the shipyard expansion of the museum uncovered a further 9 ships from the Viking Age and early medieval period. It is the largest discovery of prehistoric ships in Northern Europe and includes the longest Viking warship ever found; the Roskilde 6 at 36 metres.