Archaeologists have identified the possible remains of a marketplace from the Viking Age on a Norwegian farm.
The farm is located at Utstein on the island of Klosterøy, which lies off the southwestern coast of the Scandinavian country.
The island is known for its rich cultural heritage and is home to Norway’s best-preserved medieval monastery, among other attractions.
In September, 2023, a team of archaeologists employed ground-penetrating radar technology on an area of farmland, revealing the presence of several clearly man-made structures below the surface.
iStock
Among these structures, the researchers identified pit houses, as well as the foundations of three piers or boathouses. Pit houses are a type of dwelling in which the floor is dug up below ground level. These shelters were common in medieval Scandinavia during the Viking Age.
“In the pits, you can often find remains of a floor surface. There may also be postholes from the supporting structure, as well as a fireplace. The construction makes them cool in the summer and warm during winter. A common interpretation of pit houses is that they served as workshops associated with craftsmanship,” Kristoffer Hillesland, a researcher with the University of Stavanger’s Museum of Archaeology, said in a press release published by ScienceNorway.
Such findings have led the team to believe that the site was once home to a marketplace during the Viking Age. If this interpretation turns out to be true, the discovery would be “unique” in this region of Norway, according to the researchers.
The Viking Age was a period in medieval history when the Vikings—a Scandinavian seafaring people—raided, colonized and traded widely across areas of Europe. They even made it further afield, reaching regions such as North Africa, the Middle East and North America.
This period is generally considered to have begun in the late 8th century and ended in the 11th century.
Numerous artifacts previously uncovered by metal detectors at Utstein, including coins and weights, lend further support to the Viking marketplace hypothesis. It was finds like these that led the researchers to investigate the area with the ground-penetrating radar in the first place.
“We have received numerous metal detector finds from Utstein in recent years, including items associated with trade such as weights and coins,” Håkon Reiersen, an associate professor with the museum and one of the leaders of the research project, said in a press release.
“One of the things we wanted to investigate with the ground-penetrating radar was whether there could be additional traces of trade activity. I am therefore not surprised that the results now indicate that Utstein was indeed a marketplace in the Viking Age and early Middle Ages.”
In addition to the pit houses and boathouse foundations, the archaeologists also found possible evidence of burial mounds, cooking pits and cultivation layers—layers of soil resulting from agriculture.
Taken together, the results suggest the existence of a marketplace that persisted for a long time at the site, although this hypothesis can only be confirmed with further investigations.
Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about archaeology? Let us know via [email protected].
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.