One of the largest-known Norse longhouses discovered near Viking ship burial

[Judi Lynn]

By Tom Metcalfe published about 10 hours ago

The huge longhouse was likely used as a ceremonial hall during the Iron Age.



The newly-found longhouses were discovered by ground-penetrating radar, which can reveal buried objects and where the earth was disturbed in the past. (Image credit: Lars Gustavsen, Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research)

Archaeologists in Norway have discovered the remains of a cluster of Norse longhouses, including one of the largest of these structures ever found.

The investigations of farmland at Gjellestad, in southern Norway about 50 miles (85 kilometers) southeast of Oslo, have revealed the underground remains of at least five longhouses. The buildings were about 1,640 feet (500 meters) northeast of a Viking ship burial discovered in 2018 with radar scans, according to a statement by the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU).

Archaeologists haven't dated the buildings yet, but the ship burial nearby is thought to be from the late Iron Age in the region, about A.D. 750 to 850.

The largest of the uncovered longhouses is almost 200 feet (60 m) long and 50 feet (15 m) wide. Lars Gustavsen, an archaeologist at the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU) who made the discovery with ground-penetrating radar (GPR), thinks the longhouse probably wasn't inhabited but rather served as a ceremonial hall.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/norse-longhouse-discovered-viking-ship-burial