20 October 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Was Stavanger Cathedral Built on a Viking Settlement?

Archaeologists have discovered animal bones and habitation evidence underneath the northern part of Stavanger cathedral that they believe date from the Viking Age. This might finally resolve the question of what existed on the site before the church was erected.

Stavanger Cathedral is Norway’s oldest cathedral. The gray, stone church was built in a long church style around the year 1125 using designs by an unknown architect. It has been in continuous use since it was built.

Archaeologists are investigating the crawl space in Stavanger cathedral. The work is being done in conjunction with the cathedral’s restoration in preparation for the city’s centennial festivities in 2025.

The project was carried out by archaeologists from the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU) and the Archaeological Museum of the University of Stavanger (UiS).

The crawl space in Stavanger Cathedral is being examined before a new floor is laid in the church. Photo: Kristine Ødeby / NIKU
The crawl space in Stavanger Cathedral is being examined before a new floor is laid in the church. Photo: Kristine Ødeby / NIKU

Pig bones and settlement traces

“In the northern chambers of the church we have found thin, dark soil layers with a completely different character than in the rest of the areas we have investigated so far,” said excavation leader Kristine Ødeby.



📣 Our WhatsApp channel is now LIVE! Stay up-to-date with the latest news and updates, just click here to follow us on WhatsApp and never miss a thing!!



Animal bones were found within the soil layers, most notably skeletal remains of a pig. Archaeologists believe they date the find to the first half of the 11th century, or older. This is before the cathedral was built.

Pig bones from before the cathedral was built. Photo: NIKU.
Pig bones from before the cathedral was built. Photo: NIKU.

“What we have found is the bones of a pig, which were clearly placed with meat and skin intact. They have been lying there until now,” said UIS’s Sean Denham.

Helps to prove a Viking settlement

The construction of the church started in the second half of the 11th century. Archaeologists believe it would have been very unlikely that the pig bone was placed in the church after this.

Denham explained that there is no tradition of placing relics into Norwegian medieval churches: “Everything indicates that the bones must have ended up exactly where we found them before the  present church was built.”

NIKU’s Halldis Hobæk said the theory of a Viking Age settlement at the site corresponds well previous findings. During the 1960s, UiS conducted archaeological research under the church.

“In 1968, they found a layer of burnt wood under the altar area. This was dated to Viking times, and is interpreted as a remnant of a burnt down building,” she said.

The finding confirms that the cathedral was not built in an uninhabited and desolate place, but rather a place where there was already human activity.

medieval-graves-in-stavanger
Archaeologists have found far more graves than expected.

Archaeologists have also found far more graves than expected. There’s also evidence that much archaeological material was removed in the 19th century.

Kristine Ødeby said that the preliminary results are very exciting: “We knew that we would find graves under the floor in the cathedral, but the number and extent of them is currently greater than we imagined.”

There were graves in all chambers examined so far. The graves have not yet been formally dated but the team already has a good idea of when they are from.

“The tombs we assume are both from the Middle Ages and from the 16th to 18th centuries. Some may be older than this,” said Ødeby.

The grave finds go well beyond skeletons. In addition to bones, the graves include fragments of wooden coffins, iron nails assumed to be from coffins and some objects including remnants of jewellery and bronze needles.

“A particularly interesting find is several blue, white and black pearls. We wonder if these came from a rosary, and if so it is reasonably certain that it is from the period when the church was still Catholic, ie before the Reformation in 1537,” said Ødeby.

In the six chambers examined so far in the study, the so-called “cultural layers” are  not particularly deep. Cultural layers refer to areas in which remains of human activity are found.

The cultural layers discovered so far are no more than 15cm deep, which leads archaeologists to believe a lot of material was dug away in the Middle Ages.

Source: Life in Norway

Related Articles

China’s ancient water pipes show people mastered complex engineering 4,000 years ago without the need for a centralized state authority

16 August 2023

16 August 2023

A system of ancient ceramic water pipes, the oldest ever unearthed in China, shows that neolithic people were capable of...

The circular-shaped structure unearthed in Uşaklı mound may point to the holy Hittite city of Zippalanda

27 December 2022

27 December 2022

Italian-Turkish team of archaeologists led by the University of Pisa unearthed a mysterious circle-shaped structure from the Hittite era at...

Rare waka unearthed from New Zealand River, after being hidden for 153 years

16 June 2023

16 June 2023

A waka -the traditional canoe of the Maori people- believed to be over 150 years old has been salvaged from...

Tomb of a Roman doctor buried with unique surgical tools unearthed in Hungary

28 April 2023

28 April 2023

Hungarian archaeologists discovered the tomb of a Roman doctor 1st-century man buried with high-quality surgical tools near the city of...

Copious Copper Supplies Made Cyprus a Trading Center in the Bronze Age

23 March 2023

23 March 2023

Cyprus was a surprisingly busy trading hub during the early period of international trade in the Mediterranean region. Its awe-inspiring...

An Unusual Artifact Points to Roman Britain Rituals Linked to Fertility, Painted Dog Penis Bone Found in England

9 January 2025

9 January 2025

In a Roman quarry shaft in Surrey, England, archaeologists have discovered one of the most unusual human and animal remains...

An important Gallo-Roman worship complex was discovered near Rennes, France

13 June 2022

13 June 2022

An essential Gallo-Roman worship complex was unearthed by Inrap  (National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research) archaeologists at Chapelle-des-Fougeretz (Ille-et-Vilaine), near...

Structures in Turkey’s Panaztepe pointing out a 5,000-year-old settlement found

8 November 2021

8 November 2021

In the 5000-year-old Panaztepe settlement located in the Menemen district of Izmir, structures thought to belong to the oldest period...

New Study shows Early Native Americans in Alaska were freshwater fishermen 13,000 years ago

15 June 2023

15 June 2023

A team led by the University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers has discovered the earliest known evidence that Native Americans living...

Scottish Archaeologists unearth ‘missing’ Aberdeenshire monastery linked to first written Gaelic

19 November 2023

19 November 2023

One of the biggest mysteries in Scottish archaeological history has been solved with the discovery of the monastery site where...

Montenegro’s Unique Church With Two Altars is Disappearing

11 December 2023

11 December 2023

In the Spich plain, where the modern town of Sutomore in Bar, Montenegro is located, there were churches that served...

Japan’s Oldest Multiplication Table Discovered in Nara, Dating Back 1,300 Years

7 September 2024

7 September 2024

A strip of wood discovered in the ruins of Fujiwara Palace in Nara Prefecture turned out to be part of...

First Trilobite Fossil Amulet from Roman Early Empire (1st–3rd Century CE) Found in Spain

22 July 2025

22 July 2025

In a discovery that may reshape our understanding of how ancient Romans perceived the natural world, archaeologists have uncovered a...

A 4000-Year-Old Trading Port was Discovered in Istanbul

4 May 2021

4 May 2021

Archaeological excavations carried out on a peninsula in the middle of Istanbul Küçükçekmece Lake unearthed a very important 4,000-year-old trade...

2000-year-old passage found after Latrina at Smyrna Theater

28 January 2022

28 January 2022

Archaeologists discovered a 2,000-year-old passage that was 26 meters long and constructed in an “L” form in the theater part...