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The ski from Reinheimen

In the autumn of 2014, a unique find was unearthed in Reinheimen National Park. It had been a long, hot summer. The snow cover in the mountains receded continuously and the old ice had started to melt. The glacial archaeology response team in Oppland county was on high alert. Having lain protected for centuries by the ice, a ski gradually became exposed, and the archaeologists were there.

Well-preserved remains of the binding on the ski from Reinheimen. Photo: Vegard Vike, Museum of Cultural History

The ski

After painstakingly wrapping it up and transporting it the long distance down from the mountains, the archaeologists from Oppland County Council took the ski to the Museum of Cultural History for a closer examination. It was discovered that the ski was an extraordinarily well-preserved find from Norwegian pre-history, no less than 1300 years old (radiocarbon dating 670-775 AD). In Norway, some twenty skis dating from the period from the Palaeolithic to the Middle Ages have been found. The ski from Reinheimen is the only complete ski that has a well-preserved binding. The ski measures 170 cm in length and is 15 cm wide, with an elevated footstep in the middle. This elevated section has a horizontal hole through which the binding was threaded. The binding was made of a wicker twig that ran over the skier’s ankle and was secured with leather straps around the heel.

The ski from Reinheimen after conservation. Museum number C59805/1. Photo: Vegard Vike, Museum of Cultural History

The ski testifies to its close kinship with modern skiing traditions in deep  powder snow. It is short and wide, resulting in good movement ideal for powder snow and providing stability when moving through the landscape.

Alpine finds at the glacier’s edge

Ever since the Stone Age, people have been drawn to high-altitude snow during summer, since this was a predictable hunting ground. On hot summer days, the reindeer would gather on patches of snow left in the mountains to escape the heat and insects. Hunters have known how to take advantage of this behaviour and lay in wait near high-altitude snowdrifts in late summer. During the reindeer hunt, people lost objects and arrows missed their mark never to be retrieved. Luckily for us, the hunters frequently missed and the ice has preserved the objects well. Wood, leather and textiles that otherwise would have disappeared within a few years have remained intact for millennia. Since the ice that has served as a protective freezer around these objects is now rapidly receding, we are provided with unique insights into both the climate and cultural history of Norway.

Runar Hole, archaeologist, with the ski at the site of the find. Photo: Aud Hole, Oppland County Council

Around 1300 years ago Norway was hit by a cold period; it was colder and snowier than during the preceding Roman era or later during the Viking Age and medieval times. Most likely, high snow was left in the mountains well into summer. This provided good opportunities to move quickly through the barren landscape. Walking on foot high in the mountains through the rocky talus in leather shoes without stiff, thick soles, like those we use today, was a far greater challenge than gliding elegantly along on the snow. The figure below shows the variations in the size of glaciers and snow patches at Lake Juvvatnet near the Galhøpiggen peak.

Size variations in glaciers and snowdrifts in Jotunheimen give clues to the climate conditions at the time when the ski was lost. Drawing from Nesje et al. 2011.

When the curve indicates high activity, it means that the glaciers were large and there was thus more snow and the snowy patches were larger. We can see that the ski stems from the end of a long, snowy period. Objects that went missing during a period with increasing snow volumes on the glaciers were covered and ended up deep down in snow that gradually turned into ice.

We have not found any obvious damage to the ski, so we have no good explanation of why it was left on the glacier. Nor do we know whether the other ski of this pair was lost, or whether it too will soon appear out of the melting ice.

Dag Inge Bakke from 'Klimapark 2469' out skiing with a reconstruction of the ski found in Reinheimen. Photo: Espen Finstad, Klimapark 2469.

References

Oddmund Farbregd (1972): Pilefunn fra Oppdalsfjella. Miscellenea 5. Det kongelige norske videnskabers selskab, Trondheim.

Espen Finstad, Julian Martinsen, Runar Hole og Lars Pilø (in prep) Prehistoric skis from glaciers and ice patches in Oppland, Norway.

Atle Nesje, Lars Holger Pilø, Espen Finstad, Brit Solli, Vivian Wangen, Rune Strand Ødegård, Ketil Isaksen, Eivind N. Støren, Dag Inge Bakke and Liss M Andreassen (2011, 2012): The climatic significance of artefacts related to prehistoric reindeer hunting exposed at melting ice patches in southern Norway. The Holocene 22(4):485-496.


 

Read more

The Reinheimen ski (Secrets of the ice)

Glaciers, ice patches and archaeology (Secrets of the ice)

Want to experience more?

The ski is currently on display at the Norwegian Mountain Center in Lom. Here you can get a closer look at how people moved across the ice and snow in prehistoric times. Many exciting and unique finds from the ice in Oppland are exhibited together with the ski from Reinheimen and the exhibition is a good starting point for a trip up to Juvfonne and the Climate Park 2469. Juvfonne is a place where much hunting equipment from the Iron Age have been found, and a tunnel has been dug deep into the ice there. A guided tour in this unique setting provides an insight into the story of climate and hunting in this open alpine landscape and into the depths of the ice.

Video

A reconstruction of the ski has been designed and tested, but how did they go skiing in prehistoric times? To learn more Norwegian archaeologists and skiers headed to the northwest of the Altai Mountains where there is a strong skiing tradition with roots far back in time.

By Julian Martinsen
Published Mar. 26, 2020 10:25 AM - Last modified June 1, 2022 9:25 AM