Archaeologists stunned by rare medieval shoes and bags hiding under capital city

Archaeologists in Norway s capital have unearthed thousands of leather artifacts that offer a rare glimpse into Oslo's past and the fashion of its medieval inhabitants The findings were in recent times informed by the Norwegian Maritime Museum Experts from the museum as well as others from the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research conducted excavations in the port district of Bj rvika over last winter and spring Bj rvika was originally underwater during medieval times but landfill across the centuries gradually turned it into dry land SURPRISED ARCHAEOLOGISTS UNEARTH ANCIENT GRAVES CAUGHT BETWEEN PAGAN CHRISTIAN RITUALS IN POLANDResearchers expected specific historic finds ahead of their work but they didn't know they'd find thousands of leather artifacts in such a relatively small area Archaeologist Marja-Liisa P Grue with the maritime museum informed Fox News Digital the excavators identified objects including pieces of leather This is in addition to around bones which are food waste she noted From specific of the layers we investigated we were just continuously picking bone and leather pieces RARE CHRISTIAN CROSS AMONG SPECTACULAR -YEAR-OLD VIKING TREASURES EXPOSED BY METAL DETECTORISTSHistoric leather is a rare gem as the material is quick to corrode The artifacts survived the centuries thanks to the clay soil beneath Oslo's city center the experts stated After the leather objects ended up at the sea bottom they were pretty hurriedly covered and have ended up lying in moist and oxygen-deprived masses for hundreds of years Grue noted These conditions are good for the preservation of organic material like leather limiting decay The impact is really well-preserved leather objects various with clear traces of decorations extensive repairs and so on The finds spanned a vast period of time The top layers held leather goods from the s but instead of uncovering traces from the s s and s like in nearby digs archaeologists jumped straight from the late th century to the Middle Ages VIKING-ERA BURIAL SITE WITH ELITE FAMILY TREASURES AND GIFTS DISCOVERED PLUS AN 'UNUSUAL CASKET' At the current excavated area we can follow the layers down to the late th century before we start finding artifacts typologically dated to the th to th century Grue added Now the scrutiny will start to determine why we appear to be missing around years of history in an area we know was used for expedition up the nearby river at least to the first part of the th century Grue noted that Oslo's conditions have made it practicable to preserve vital amounts of leather It is not very rare to find well-preserved leather because of good preservation conditions for organic material especially close by the city s old harbor area she mentioned UNEARTHED ANCIENT ROMAN SHOES DRAW 'IMPRESSED GASPS' AFTER BEING BURIED FOR YEARS Still the amount of leather objects compared to the size of the field is a lot more than we expected to find In contrast nearby fields tend to yield mostly ceramics and in much smaller numbers The objects seem to have been transported to the place we detected them by the nearby Alnaelva River Grue mentioned They were mostly made from materials that float well like leather bone and wood The discoveries Grue added appear to have belonged to upper-class medieval Osloans The items included decorated shoes purses sword sheaths and blades They also uncovered bags which were necessary since medieval clothes did not have pockets CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER This can help shed light on the fashion in the city at the time she disclosed Yet more thought-provoking is the everyday material that sheds light on everyday people and their habits The shoe material shows a society where nothing appears to have been thrown away before it was used he reported Items were repaired repaired again and then the parts reused that could still be used For more Lifestyle articles visit foxnews com lifestyleOf all the shoes revealed belonged to children the tiny shoes and boots offering a rare glimpse into medieval childhood The cutest stories are the small kids shoes down to the size of a one-year-old where we see the tiny shoes made in the same styles as the grownups and then the shoes are refitted for use by new children as long as attainable revealed Grue The leather finds follow other clothing-related discoveries in Scandinavia including the grave of a Viking in Sweden When inspecting the grave archaeologists unveiled that there were remnants of textile likely from a garment