VESTLAND COUNTY, NORWAY—Live Science reports that a 1,500-year-old reindeer trap and unusual wooden objects have been recovered from melting ice in western Norway’s Aurlandsfjellet area, some 4,600 feet above sea level. “These are items we would never find in ordinary excavations, including a pine oar and an [ax-shaped] clothing pin made of antler,” said Leif Inge Åstveit of the University Museum of Bergen. The deer trap was made with hundreds of tree branches placed into two wooden barriers. Reindeer antlers bearing cut marks were found near this structure, suggesting that the deer may have been processed at the site as well. The iron spears, wooden arrows, and three bones uncovered at the site were probably also used during the hunt. It is unclear why the intricately carved wooden oar was in such a mountainous area, however. For more on artifacts emerging from ice in Norwegian mountain ranges, go to "Melting Season."
