Archaeologists Followed a 500-Year-Old Clue—and Found a Lost Town Hiding in Plain Sight
Years of searching for a lost medieval Norwegian town was finally rewarded with a discovery.
Crews used a 500-year-old legend to start the search, but used more modern georadar techniques to pinpoint the right spot for excavation.
The team discovered the lost town of Hamarkaupangen, the first ruin being a two-room home.
A 16th century tale of a Norwegian town just east of a bishop's castle turned out to be far more than ancient lore. Archaeological crews from the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research and the Anno Museum have revealed the discovery of Hamarkaupangen, the lost medieval town from the story.
The Chronicles of Hamar—a 16th century text—describes the settlement, believed to have originated in the 11th century, as east of the cathedral and the bishop's castle in Hamar, located in southern Norway. The only problem? Every time archaeologists looked, they found just trivial topsoil-level artifacts and no real evidence of an established medieval village.
Belief the city ever existed started to wane altogether, while others questioned if maybe the village was only a seasonal trading post.
That doubt has all for naught. Georadar was only first used in 2023, and that really helped move the project along. Crews used the technology—in 2023 and 2024—to search a field east of the cathedral and castle, locating the town just where the 16th-century text said it would be, confirming the legend. This summer, an excavation dug three feet below a layer of stone into what the team believes is a two-room home, according to a translated statement from the institute.
Buried under the masonry, the team exposed wooden structures they believe are walls and floors, confirming the findings from the georadar survey that showed the remains of wooden buildings that once made up the town. Researchers believe the radar shows the site as a two-room living area with logs and plank floors. The hunt is now on for the fireplace.
'We were very excited about what it looked like down below, because thick layers of quarries are a context that we have not worked with before,' Monica Kristiansen, archaeologist on the project, said in a translated statement. 'We therefore have no prior knowledge of how the stone-filled layers will affect the visibility of, for example, wood in the georadar data. In addition, there are poor preservation conditions for organic material in these areas, and any remains of wooden buildings was therefore assumed to be poorly preserved. Therefore, it is very gratifying that the georadar impetrations are successful.'
To get inside, the team opened a small peephole into what they believe is the living area. Already, through the 43-square-foot hole, the crew has identified wall logs and floors, 'and that bodes well for the rest of the field,' Kristiansen said.
As the search continues for the fireplace, Kristiansen is confident that the radar findings showing additional urban structures in line with Norwegian medieval architecture, groupings of buildings, narrow passages, and even street layouts will play out in excavations just as this site has.
The long-held legend of Hamarkaupangen is no longer just a legend.
You Might Also Like
The Do's and Don'ts of Using Painter's Tape
The Best Portable BBQ Grills for Cooking Anywhere
Can a Smart Watch Prolong Your Life?
Solve the daily Crossword
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Funding secures Iron Age Melsonby Hoard for the nation
A groundbreaking discovery of Iron Age artefacts found by a metal detectorist has been saved for the UK. The Yorkshire Museum has received £192,096 from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, along with public donations, to acquire the Melsonby Hoard, which dates back 2,000 years. Discovered in a farmer's field near the North Yorkshire village in 2021, the site gave up more than 800 Iron Age artefacts including chariot wheels, cauldrons and horse bridles. The variety of objects led archaeologists to make important breakthroughs in their understanding of Iron Age society, including how power and wealth were not exclusively held in the South. Detectorist Peter Heads made the find and reported it to the proper authorities, and a team of Durham University archaeologists, with advice from the British Museum, took great care to excavate the hoard from two ditches. Thanks to the National Memorial Fund, a public crowdfunder and other donations, the find has been secured by the Yorkshire Museum, based in York. This will allow more research, conservation and analytical work to be carried out. Kathryn Blacker, chief executive of York Museums Trust, said: 'Thanks to the incredible support of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, as well as generous donations from members of the public, the hoard will remain here in Yorkshire, to be made available for everyone to see and to enjoy. 'We remain committed to researching and conserving these unprecedented finds to improve our understanding of our shared past and securing them for future generations.' Simon Thurley, chairman of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, said: 'The Melsonby Hoard throws bright new light on Iron Age life in Yorkshire and beyond. 'We are pleased to support this acquisition which will keep the hoard intact, in the county in which it was buried and enable research to take place to gain a deeper insight into its origin and history. 'The memorial fund exists to save the UK's most outstanding heritage and make it publicly accessible, in memory of those who have given their lives for the UK. 'We are delighted to count the Melsonby Hoard as part of the growing and timeless collection of UK heritage that belongs to all of us forever.'


Gizmodo
2 days ago
- Gizmodo
Archaeologists Unearth 6-Foot-Tall Bronze Age Warrior Clutching a Spear
In a massive burial mound in the plains of western Azerbaijan, archaeologists discovered the remains of an ancient, towering warrior still clutching a four-pronged spearhead in his hand. The man's skeleton measures over six feet six inches (two meters) in height and dates back to the Middle Bronze Age, approximately 3,800 years ago. Scientists believe he may have been a prominent military leader, due to the way in which he was laid to rest. The discovery offers a glimpse into the social and religious beliefs and rituals of Bronze Age societies, according to a translated statement from the Azerbaijan Ministry of Culture. The burial mound was found near the Ceyranchol plain, in an area locally known as Yovsanlidere, near Azerbaijan's western border. Measuring more than 90 feet (28 meters) in diameter and over 6.6 feet (2 meters) in height, the mound contained 14 one-ton limestone slabs face-to-face just beneath its surface, along with a stone idol shaped like a bull and a circular limestone seal. Known locally as kurgans, burial mounds like this one were ceremonial structures often built by nomadic cultures, offering valuable insights into ancient societies' rituals and beliefs about the afterlife. At the center of the mound was a chamber, 6 feet (2 meters) wide and 20 feet (6 meters) long, divided into three sections. One section contained the human skeleton, another was filled with ceramic vessels, and a third was completely empty. The empty space may symbolize the 'resting place' for the deceased's spirit, according to the statement. The four-pronged bronze spearhead is an especially rare find, not just in Azerbaijan but throughout the broader South Caucasus region. Alongside the spear, researchers uncovered a variety of other valuable items, including bronze ankle adornments, obsidian tools, paste beads, and inlaid ceramic pottery, suggesting the individual held significant prestige. Inside the ceramic vessels, they found the bones of cooked animals, believed to be provisions for the afterlife. For the past five years, more than 2,000 academics and volunteers, both local and international, have conducted research on the Keshikchidagh reserve, an archaeological hotspot. Research on the Keshikchidagh site is ongoing, and plans for laboratory analyses—including carbon dating and isotope testing—are underway for the newly discovered burial mound, the researchers said in the statement.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Ancient site stirs heated political debate on India's past
The Keeladi village in India's southern Tamil Nadu state has unearthed archeological finds that have sparked a political and historical battle. Amid coconut groves, a series of 15ft (4.5m) deep trenches reveal ancient artefacts buried in layers of soil - fragments of terracotta pots, and traces of long-lost brick structures. Experts from the Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology estimate the artefacts to be 2,000 to 2,500 years old, with the oldest dating back to around 580 BCE. They say these findings challenge and reshape existing narratives about early civilisation in the Indian subcontinent. With politicians, historians, and epigraphists weighing in, Keeladi has moved beyond archaeology, becoming a symbol of state pride and identity amid competing historical narratives. Yet history enthusiasts say it remains one of modern India's most compelling and accessible discoveries - offering a rare opportunity to deepen our understanding of a shared past. Keeladi, a village 12km (7 miles) from Madurai on the banks of the Vaigai river, was one of 100 sites shortlisted for excavation by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) archaeologist Amarnath Ramakrishnan in 2013. He selected a 100-acre site there because of its proximity to ancient Madurai and the earlier discovery of red-and-black pottery ware by a schoolteacher in 1975. Since 2014, 10 excavation rounds at Keeladi have uncovered over 15,000 artefacts - burial urns, coins, beads, terracotta pipes and more - from just four of the 100 marked acres. Many are now displayed in a nearby museum. Ajay Kumar, leading the state archaeology team at Keeladi, says the key finds are elaborate brick structures and water systems - evidence of a 2,500-year-old urban settlement. "This was a literate, urban society where people had separate spaces for habitation, burial practices and industrial work," Mr Kumar says, noting it's the first large, well-defined ancient urban settlement found in southern India. Since the Indus Valley Civilisation's discovery in the early 1900s, most efforts to trace civilisation's origins in the subcontinent have focused on northern and central India. So, the Keeladi finds have sparked excitement across Tamil Nadu and beyond. William Daniel, a teacher from neighbouring Kerala, said the discoveries made him feel proud about his heritage. "It gives people from the south [of India] something to feel proud about, that our civilisation is just as ancient and important as the one in the north [of India]," he says. The politics surrounding Keeladi reflects a deep-rooted north-south divide - underscoring how understanding the present requires grappling with the past. India's first major civilisation - the Indus Valley - emerged in the north and central regions between 3300 and 1300 BCE. After its decline, a second urban phase, the Vedic period, rose in the Gangetic plains, lasting until the 6th Century BCE. This phase saw major cities, powerful kingdoms and the rise of Vedic culture - a foundation for Hinduism. As a result, urbanisation in ancient India is often viewed as a northern phenomenon, with a dominant narrative that the northern Aryans "civilised" the Dravidian south. This is especially evident in the mainstream understanding of the spread of literacy. It is believed that the Ashokan Brahmi script - found on Mauryan king Ashoka's rock edicts in northern and central India, dating back to the 3rd Century BCE - is the predecessor of most scripts in South and Southeast Asia. Epigraphists like Iravatham Mahadevan and Y Subbarayalu have long held the view that the Tamil Brahmi script - the Tamil language spoken in Tamil Nadu and written in the Brahmi script - was an offshoot of the Ashokan Brahmi script. But now, archaeologists from the Tamil Nadu state department say that the excavations at Keeladi are challenging this narrative. "We have found graffiti in the Tamil Brahmi script dating back to the 6th Century BCE, which shows that it is older than the Ashokan Brahmi script. We believe that both scripts developed independently and, perhaps, emerged from the Indus Valley script," Mr Kumar says. Epigraphist S Rajavelu, former professor of marine archaeology at the Tamil University, agrees with Mr Kumar and says other excavation sites in the state too have unearthed graffiti in the Tamil Brahmi script dating back to the 5th and 4th Century BCE. But some experts say that more research and evidence are needed to conclusively prove the antiquity of the Tamil Brahmi script. Another claim by the state department of archaeology that has ruffled feathers is that the graffiti found on artefacts in Keeladi is similar to that found in the Indus Valley sites. "People from the Indus Valley may have migrated to the south, leading to a period of urbanisation taking place in Keeladi at the same time it was taking place in the Gangetic plains," Mr Kumar says, adding that further excavations are needed to fully grasp the settlement's scale. But Ajit Kumar, a professor of archaeology at Nalanda University in Bihar, says that this wouldn't have been possible. "Considering the rudimentary state of travel back then, people from the Indus Valley would not have been able to migrate to the south in such large numbers to set up civilisation," he says. He believes the finds in Keeladi can be likened to a small "settlement". While archaeologists debate the findings, politicians are already drawing links between Keeladi and the Indus Valley - some even claim the two existed at the same time or that the Indus Valley was part of an early southern Indian, or Dravidian, civilisation. The controversy over ASI archaeologist Mr Ramakrishnan's transfer - who led the Keeladi excavations - has intensified the site's political tensions. In 2017, after two excavation rounds, the ASI transferred Mr Ramakrishnan, citing protocol. The Tamil Nadu government accused the federal agency of deliberately hindering the digs to undermine Tamil pride. The ASI's request in 2023 for Mr Ramakrishnan to revise his Keeladi report - citing a lack of scientific rigour - has intensified the controversy. He refused, insisting his findings followed standard archaeological methods. In June, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin called the federal government's refusal to publish Mr Ramakrishnan's report an "onslaught on Tamil culture and pride". State minister Thangam Thennarasu accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led federal government of deliberately suppressing information to erase Tamilian history. India's Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has now clarified that Mr Ramakrishnan's report has not been rejected by the ASI but is "under review," with expert feedback yet to be finalised. Back at the the Keeladi museum, children explore exhibits during a school visit while construction continues outside to create an open-air museum at the excavation site. Journalist Sowmiya Ashok, author of an upcoming book on Keeladi, recalls the thrill of her first visit. "Uncovering history is a journey to better understand our shared past. Through small clues - like carnelian beads from the northwest or Roman copper coins - Keeladi reveals that our ancestors were far more connected than we realise," she says. "The divisions we see today are shaped more by the present than by history." Solve the daily Crossword