![]() “The remaining ice from the time of the pass probably melted out. “When we arrived at the site last fall, the surface of the ice in the pass was littered with artefacts and horse dung,” Finstad said. The 2019 melt also revealed the first artifacts from another pass on the same ridge, about six miles to the west. More research about the final remains recovered from Lendbreen will be released in the future. The researchers said more ice has melted since then, with a large amount lost in 2019. “When the local area recovered, things had changed, and the Lendbreen pass was lost to memory.”įieldwork has been conducted at the site since 2011, but this study only includes the discoveries made up through 2015. “The decline of the Lendbreen pass was probably caused by a combination of economic changes, climate change and late medieval pandemics, including the Black Death,” Pilø said. Rare find: Mass grave may belong to Viking Great Army Repton 1982, Feaature 940, looking S Martin Biddle They also found evidence of a permanent shelter on the pass. Passage was likely easiest between late winter and early summer when snow covered the rough terrain.Ĭairns, or piles of stones built by humans, were used to mark the route. It was also a travel and trade route, transporting goods like antlers and pelts outside of Norway. They found small wooden bits, likely used for goats, and leaf fodder stripped from trees that could be used as a dietary supplement for livestock during winter. Based on the ages the items provided, the researchers believe that local traffic used the pass to access summer dairy and livestock farms located in higher elevations. Sixty of the items have been dated so far. “It is like they were lost a short time ago, not centuries or millennia ago.” “The preservation of the objects emerging from the ice is just stunning,” said Espen Finstad, study co-author and co-director of the Glacier Archaeology Program, in a statement. Some of the most remarkable items include blue textile rags, a Viking mitten, shoes and a complete Roman Iron Age tunic.Īnd some items can’t be identified yet because the researchers have nothing to compare them to.Ĭourtesy Arkeologerna, Statens historiska museerĪrchaeologists expected a routine dig in Sweden, but they uncovered two rare Viking burial boatsįrozen for all this time, some of the items appear almost new. Other objects discarded along the way include a knife and its wooden handle a birchbark container a wooden needle tinderbox a wooden whisk and a distaff, a tool that was used to hold wool as it was spun by hand. Horseshoes a horse snowshoe the bones of packhorses sled fragments and a walking stick inscribed with runes all reveal the transportation used on the pass. ![]() The researchers believe the pass was used from the Roman Iron Age in 300 AD to the Viking Age in 1000 AD. These incredibly well-preserved artefacts of organic materials have great historical value.” ![]() “In such passes, past travelers left behind lots of artefacts, frozen in time by the ice. He is the study author and co-director of the Glacier Archaeology Program. “A lost mountain pass melting out of the ice is a dream discovery for us glacial archaeologists,” said Lars Pilø in a statement. Photo: UHI Archaeology Institute UHI Archaeology InstituteĪrchaeologists found a Viking 'drinking hall' on an island off the coast of Scotland ![]() Skaill Norse Hall exposing more of the northern wall. ![]()
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