© Åge Hojem, NTNU University MuseumA blue glass bead at least 1,500 years old is among the finds archaeologists have made at the Ørland Main Air Station dig. This bead was found in a garbage layer and was probably lost by its owner.
The strategically located site includes three large longhouses arranged in a U shape, one of which had several fire pits possibly used for cooking, keeping warm and for handwork, says a press release from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. The longhouses may have been used for community gatherings, to honor the chief of the settlement and possibly to store food.
Ystgaard says the site is unique in Norway because many bones of animals, birds and fish are preserved in the site's garbage heaps or middens. The soil in the areas is composed of seashells and so is not acidic, unlike much of the soil in Norway. The acid in the soil at other sites breaks down bone and other organic matter so that it is unusual to find bones from before the medieval era. Usually at such old sites archaeologists only find ceramics, beads and metal."This was a very strategic place," Ingrid Ystgaard, project manager at the Department of Archaeology and Cultural History at NTNU University Museum, said in the press release. "It was a sheltered area along the Norwegian coastal route from southern Norway to the northern coasts. And it was at the mouth of Trondheim Fjord, which was a vital link to Sweden and the inner regions of mid-Norway."
The bones are plentiful enough that researchers can compare wild and domestic varieties of that time with those of today."Nothing like this has been examined anywhere in Norway before," Ystgaard said.
The sheltered bay and fertile fields were a great place for the settlement, says the press release. Archaeologists had suspected Ørland would be a rich archaeological site, but they found the excuse to dig there when the Norwegian Air Force decided to purchase 52 F-35 jets and expand the airport.
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