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An ancient reindeer trap and weapons recently emerged from Norway’s melting mountains, surprising archaeologists and giving them a glimpse into mountain life 1,500 years ago.
The discovery, announced by the Vestland County Municipality on Nov. 10, was made on the Aurlandsfjellet plateau in Sogn, a remote region in western Norway. Archaeologists from the University Museum of Bergen and Vestland County worked together to document the site.
The research began when a hiker noticed wooden logs near the melting ice and reported them to local authorities.
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The remains, it turns out, were a 1,500-year-old reindeer hunting facility, consisting of several hundred hewn wooden logs and two fences made of wooden stakes.
Officials also found iron spearheads, arrow shafts, parts of bows and a wooden spear — along with a massive number of well-preserved reindeer antlers.
Archaeologists recently uncovered a 1,500-year-old reindeer hunting trap on a Norwegian mountain plateau. (Thomas Bruen Olsen, Universitetsmuseet, UiB)
Speaking to Fox News Digital, archaeologist Leif Inge Åstveit said the entire facility came as a “significant surprise” to researchers.
“We have long been aware that stone trapping facilities existed in the mountains of Norway, but the fact that this facility is entirely constructed of wood was unexpected,” he said.
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“Building this has been challenging,” he said. “Thousands of logs, weighing several tons in total, were transported high into the mountains.”
The facility was designed to lure reindeer into a pen. Åstveit said the barriers of the reindeer trap “stretched far out” into a funnel that measured as much as 1,000 feet wide.
“The antlers are incredibly well-preserved, still retaining a reindeer scent after 1,500 years.”
“The animals were likely calmly driven forward at first, but as they were funneled into a narrower area, their pace increased and panic may have spread through the herd,” he said.
“The barrier probably became more solid closer to the trapping pen, preventing any reindeer from breaking free. Eventually, the animals were clustered into a sluice-like enclosure, and then the animals would be extracted one by one.”
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The spears that archaeologists found were used for this purpose.
Researchers also found a pile of antlers that were collected and discarded. Most of them likely belonged to younger reindeer and females, while larger buck antlers were probably repurposed as items like combs and pins.
The wooden trap system stretched across the mountainside, funneling animals into a narrow enclosure. (Thomas Bruen Olsen, Universitetsmuseet, UiB; Leif Inge Åstveit, Universitetsmuseet, UiB)
Remarkably, after 1,500 years, Åstveit said the antlers still smell like the animals that once bore them.
“The antlers are incredibly well-preserved, still retaining a reindeer scent after 1,500 years,” he said.
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“[They] are clustered only a few meters from the trapping pen, suggesting they were likely severed from the skull with an axe, as almost all have distinct cut marks.”
Oddly, no bones or skeletons have been found at the site so far. This suggests it was a “specialized” facility where animals were processed and transported, Åstveit said.
The trap was used for meat processing, the researchers believe, and likely supported a specialized operation. (Thomas Bruen Olsen, Universitetsmuseet, UiB.)
“Transporting such large quantities of meat — potentially tons — would undoubtedly have been a demanding task,” he said.
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Another star find, Åstveit said, was a decorated oar made of pine, which he called a “major revelation.”
“What this oar, which clearly belonged to a rowboat located 1,400 meters lower in the landscape, is doing up here is a mystery,” he said.
“This finding is exceptionally rare and was selected as the ‘Find of the Year’ at the annual archaeology conference in Norway.”
“Our hypothesis is that it may have been used in the assembly of the guiding barriers … [but it] is also eye-opening to consider that an oar features such elaborate ornamentation. These people likely surrounded themselves with items that exhibited various artistic expressions and ornamentation.”
Archaeologists also found an axe-shaped clothing pin made of antler, which Åstveit said is “so well-preserved and sharp that it is entirely possible to sting yourself on it.”
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He added, “Such items have not been found in Norway previously.”
Looking forward, Åstveit said future work won’t be a traditional excavation in the way most people imagine; rather, it will involve monitoring and documenting what emerges from melting ice.
“Such items have not been found in Norway previously,” said an archaeologist. (Adnan Icagic, Universitetsmuseet, UiB; Leif Inge Åstveit, Universitetsmuseet, UiB)
“This finding is exceptionally rare and was selected as the ‘Find of the Year’ at the annual archaeology conference in Norway, despite very strong competition this year,” he said.
But Åstveit emphasized that much more research will need to be done on the subject, and archaeologists have only collected samples so far.
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“This material will likely be vital for research at the University of Bergen in the near future,” he said.
“As new scientific methods emerge, it will undoubtedly provide new insights into various aspects of Early Iron Age society.”