That week in July digging at a Viking site in Norway felt like a total waste

I spent five perfect days at an excavation near Avaldsnes but we only found two iron rivets and some burnt bone fragments, while the team next to us pulled up a whole sword and shield boss. The weather was sunny the whole time, yet it felt like we were digging in the wrong spot from the start. Has anyone else driven hours for a dig that just didn't deliver?

2 comments

2 Comments

grant_cooper15d ago

You're calling a dig that only produced two rivets and some burnt bone a waste? That's actually a solid haul for a lot of excavations I've been on. Those rivets can tell you about ship repair or construction, and burnt bone often means a feasting site or a cremation. The sword and shield boss from the other team are flashy, but they don't mean your spot was wrong. Sometimes the "boring" finds are the ones that actually tell the bigger story about daily life, not just warrior burials. Did you get to analyze any of the bone material yet?

the_kai15d ago

Hold on real quick, you might be mixing up a couple things there. Burnt bone from a feast site and burnt bone from a cremation look pretty different under a microscope, you know? Like, feast bones usually have cut marks from butchering and might be from animals, while human cremations show a whole different burn pattern and no cut marks. Not saying your point is wrong or anything, but it's worth keeping those separate when you're talking about what a site means. Either way, yeah, those little finds can tell a huge story if you know what to look for.