Three-thousand-year-old axes found in farmer's field in mid-Norway

[Judi Lynn]

Date:
May 2, 2017
Source:
The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)


Some 3,000 years ago, 24 axes were cached in Stjørdal municipality, about 44 km east of Trondheim. They're now seeing the light of day once again.

In late April, a sensational discovery was made in a field in the village of Hegra, not far from the Trondheim International Airport in Værnes. Numerous axe heads, a knife blade and some fragments were lifted out of obscurity. The objects date back to the Late Bronze Age, approx. 1100-500 BCE.

Archaeologists from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology's (NTNU) University Museum and Nord-Trøndelag County Council unearthed the findings with the help of with six private metal detector hobbyists from the area.

Found with metal detectors

Brothers Joakim and Jørgen Korstad from Stjørdal municipality made the first discoveries on this field in January this year. They found nine socketed axes (also called Celts), a spearhead, a casting mould, and a fragment of a possible bronze lur. The metal detector hobbyists contacted county archaeologist Eirik Solheim, who says that the brothers did everything right in the process of informing him about the finds.

More:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170502084628.htm

[democratisphere]

1. Amazing find.

Thank you for this info.

[Brother Buzz]

2. I don't think there are any religious reasons for burying the hoard

The makers of these axe heads were in the business of selling them, and I can totally believe they buried their surplus inventory before entering an 'unknown' village so they wouldn't get ripped off, only, they got killed for what they were carrying and never returned to the hoard.

I would love to see a photo of the casting mold. I suspect it was made of soapstone, but casting a socket into the head is no easy feat.

[Thor_MN]

3. One branch of my family tree came from that area.

I'm currently digging through the thousands of links that Ancestry DNA has given me of cousins. The majority of people that I have been able to positively link trees with are from that area of Norway.

Thanks for posting this.