I think that the ground weave is probably a straightforward warp-twined 4-hole tablet weave, it's just that I couldn't figure out what the pattern might have been because the band is so damaged and faded.
To protect the band from further deterioration, it is also kept in very low light, so it is, indeed, very hard to see the details. However, seeing the band is wonderful, as is the whole rest of the Viking Ship museum. It was one of my favorite stops on our trip to Norway a few years ago. I would advise anyone going to Oslo to avoid the "canned" bus tours that take you there. I watched many a bus tour just drop in, stay for 15 or 20 minutes, and leave. You'll want at least several hours, if not all day at the museum. It's easy enough to take a water taxi from the Oslo waterfront to the museum.
And while you're there, take a walk to the nearby folklife museum, where they have wonderful reconstructions of early homes, stave churches, etc. In the "weaving shop," they sell replicas of the tablets used in the Oseberg band. (These are perhaps also sold in the Viking Ship museum shop, but I don't remember seeing them there.) These are rather crude wooden replicas, but they are true to the size the ones on the Oseberg band.
Ruth
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