'Unique' Viking Age Marketplace Uncovered on Farm, Archaeologists Suspect

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.

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 historic marketplace, possibly 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 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 long predicted the presence of a marketplace in this region, due to previous finds in the area of coins, scales, etcetera, that all relate to trade," Hillesland told Newsweek. "The placement of the site in the terrain is ideal with regards to shipping routes. The ground-penetrating radar findings further support the claim that there is a marketplace in the area."

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.

"Pit houses are most commonly interpreted as workshops," Hillesland said. "Their construction is often simple and not permanent, as for seasonal use. Several pit houses, and in particular those from western Norway, have findings of a large quantity of loom weights and spinning wheels, indicating that they were used as weaving rooms. Other finds also suggest they were used for smithing. In many cases, the constructions have been related to trade and marketplaces for seasonal use."

For example, another marketplace from the Viking Age in Bjørkum, Norway, consists of a large number of pit houses. Another example is from Kaupang in the county of Vestfold, also dated to the Viking Age.

"Here, they also found pit-houses and stone piers dated to the same period," Hillesland said. "If we compare these sites to the new finds, there are many similarities in site organization, finds, structures, etcetera, and this is the basis for our interpretations. The presence of coins and scales further supports the interpretation, but we will not know for sure until we excavate the area."

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Update 2/26/24, 11:21 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from Kristoffer Hillesland.