Sem: A Viking Age metalworking site in the southeast of Norway?

Abstract

Evidence pertaining to Viking Age industry and trade is rarely encountered in the Norwegian archaeological record, although recent evidence suggests that sites of this character are more common than previously thought. Systematic metal detecting and large-scale geophysical surveys carried out in Øvre Eiker in the southeast of Norway between 2014 and 2016 revealed a multiphase and complex settlement area, consisting of large pits potentially associated with metalworking. The evidence so far points to a site with far-reaching contemporary connections, where objects were worked and exchanged. This short report aims to present the results from the work undertaken so far and to demonstrate how the complementary use of geophysical surveys and metal detection can add cultural-historical depth to the site itself and to a little understood aspect of Early Medieval history.