During a routine investigation, Norwegian researchers have found answers to an unsolved riddle about a mysterious trading post from the Viking Age... When a silver button and a bowl scale suddenly appeared from the ground, archaeologists Geir Grønnesby and Ellen Grav Ellingsen from NTNU (Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim) realized that they had found exciting evidence of a trading post from the Viking Age. The finds come from two separate boat graves in Nord-Trøndelag in Norway. The archaeologists were there to carry out a routine survey due to a renovation of the E6 motorway. But instead of a simple excavation in the road, the researchers found a possible answer to an unsolved riddle about a mysterious trading post, Steinkjer, from the Viking Age. The place is named in old sagas, but has never been found. "These objects, especially the bowl scale, made us think of the saga literature's description of Steinkjer as a trading place. The sagas tell that under Eirik Jarl, Steinkjer was for a shorter period of greater importance than Nidaros (Trondheim, ed.). It was before Olav Haraldsson restored Nidaros as a royal residence and trading town,' write Geir Grønnesby and Ellen Grav Ellingsen in the magazine VITARK 8, which is published by the NTNU Science Museum. Trondheim was Norway's capital in the Viking Age and the country's religious center. At that time the city was called Nidaros. The world's northernmost Gothic cathedral, the Nidraros Cathedral, was built in Trondheim when the first stones were laid over Olav Haraldsson's grave in 1070. The oldest extant parts of the cathedral were built in 1183. As a medieval city and religious capital, Nidaros played an important role in international trade throughout the Middle Ages. The Lewis Chessmen, an exquisite 13th Century set of walrus ivory and whale teeth, are believed to have been made in Nidaros. Olav Haraldsson was Norwegian king who was credited with bringing Christianity to Norway. He was canonized in 1031, a year after his death. This was confirmed by Pope Alexander III in 1164. Olav Haraldsson is mentioned in a number of different Norse and Icelandic sagas. It is in these sagas that it is written about an important trading post in Steinkjer, which was even bigger than Nidaros. But until archaeologists began digging in Lø, they had only a few clues as to where the important trading post might be. There were most certainly no permanent buildings in Steinkjer, as they would have been easy to find. And items for buying and selling made of organic materials will not have survived destruction of several centuries. Better clues are coins or other metal from foreign countries. Beyond this, archaeologists must rely on much more subtle evidence. One such evidence may be the geography of the place itself. "Although there is no archaeological evidence that there was a trading post in Steinkjer during the Viking Age, there are several aspects that support this idea," write Geir Grønnesby and Ellen Grav Ellingsen. They point out that one of the most important clues is that Steinkjer is located in a natural trading post, at the mouth of a river in the inner part of the Trondheimsfjord. It is also a place where farmers have cultivated flat lands for centuries. 📷 : Bowls, swords, pearls – all are traces of a trading post in the Viking Age. The three balls in the lower left corner are silver buttons, which the archaeologists believe come from the British Isles. (📷© Åge Hojem) #archaeohistories