Med geofysisk blikk på Ørlandet – en undersøkelse av den marine tilknytningen til jern- og middelalderbosetningen på Vik

During 2015 and 2016, the NTNU University Museum has carried out large-scale excavations at the farm called Vik (English: “Bay”) in Ørlandet Municipality in Trøndelag, Norway. While exposing intense settlement activity, the investigations did not reveal any traces of burial monuments, and it is also expected that the settlements should have had some form of harbour facilities somewhere nearby. A large-scale geophysical investigation using both magnetic susceptibility mapping and ground penetrating radar was initiated in an area east of the excavations, towards what has once been a bay. Remains of a long barrow, as well as a possible cairn, was positively identified. No clear indications of boat-houses or a harbour were found. This confirms that it the area once was used for prehistoric burials, and in turn that it was important for the people living at Vik in the past to show their presence in the landscape and in the bay in this manner.