Historical Discoveries Of Viking Artifacts Made After Glacial Ice Melts In Norway
Espen Finstad/SecretsOfTheIceAs the Lendbreen ice patch melted, it exposed artifacts and horse dung that had been frozen for centuries.
April’s warming temperatures revealed some historical news in Norway this year. As the ice melted at the Lendbreen ice patch, more than 1,000 Viking artifacts — from sled fragments and arrows to horseshoes and animal dung — suddenly appeared. These items date back to the Bronze Age, between 1750 B.C. and 340 A.D., and haven’t been seen by humans for centuries — until now.
This historical discovery showed how busy this ancient route, 200 miles northwest of Oslo, was during the Viking Age. Today, the Jotunheim Mountains are so remote it requires a helicopter to reach. Clearly, that wasn’t always the case.
Some of the oldest artifacts revolved around hunting, like arrows used to kill deer. Wool clothing, leather shoes, and sled fragments were also uncovered. Perhaps the most exciting historical discovery was a 1,700-year-old tunic — the oldest piece of clothing ever found in Norway.
While the batch of invaluable items was found between 2011 and 2015, it was only this spring that the long-term research came to light. Lars Holger Pilø of the Glacier Archaeology Program carbon-dated 60 of the items. Once he and his team were certain of the significance of their discovery, the historical news was revealed to the public.
Their analysis confirmed that this pass saw heavy foot traffic ranging all the way from the Roman Iron Age to the Middle Ages. While the Roman Empire didn’t extend to today’s Norway, it did have extreme influence across Northern Europe. Lendbreen was a buzzing hub of travel and trade.
From sheepherders and farmers to ambitious and unscrupulous merchants, everyone crossed the 6,300-foot-tall Lomseggen mountain ridge to reach warmer summer pastures and more promising trading posts. For Pilø, “a lost mountain pass melting out of the ice is a dream discovery for us glacial archaeologists.” Pilø wasn’t alone in feeling this way — his historical discoveries were some of the most exciting of the year.
Antiquity JournalThe recovered artifacts ranged from horseshoes and preserved horse dung to animal remains and Bronze Age arrows.
“The preservation of the objects emerging from the ice is just stunning,” said Espen Finstad, co-author of the study and co-director of the Glacier Archaeology Program. “It is like they were lost a short time, not centuries or millennia ago.”
Pilø believes that the Lendbreen route was likely the most trafficked pass of them of all. He and his peers assessed that it was at its busiest around 1,000 A.D., with the artifacts an invaluable wealth in terms of illustrating a timeline for the small-scale globalization that occurred back then.
Pilø and his team scoured an area that measured 35 American football fields — the largest archaeological survey of a glacier ever undertaken — to make this historical discovery. While the COVID-19 pandemic put an abrupt hold on the research, it’s unprecedented nature can hopefully recommence soon. Keep an eye on this story for more history news in 2021.
