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An dig in Oslo ’s former harbour has yielded the remains of a rare Fe gauntlet , in all likelihood lose by a gothic horse in the 14th century . Archaeologists with the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research ( NIKU ) discovered the piece of armor while alloy discover as part of their investigation of the old haven area .
Oslo was set up as a mediaeval city and harbor around 1050 . But in 1624 , after a firing ravaged the city , the Norwegian king Christian IV moved Oslo across the true laurel . In the centuries since , development of the old harbor , include the construction of piers and warehouses , steadily exposit outward into the bay laurel as the sea withdraw .
Remains of a medieval iron gauntlet discovered at Bispekiva South in Oslo, after removal from the archaeological site.
Archaeologists have undertaken two major excavations of the old harbor region of Oslo , first between 2019 and 2020 and then from 2022 to 2023 . harmonise to NIKU archaeologistHåvard Hegdal , their discoveries admit many discarded object from the medieval andRenaissanceperiods , including shipwreck , ceramics , footwear , Mexican valium , the remains of butchered animals and a large act of weapons .
" The gauntlet was find some 40 meters [ 131 feet ] out in the harbor , " Hegdal told Live Science in an e-mail . " So it could only have been dropped from a ship , though we have no good account how something like that could have happened . "
normally made out of iron , these metallic element boxing glove , which were used to protect a person ’s hands and articulatio radiocarpea , were forge in the early 14th century , when European soldier and knights upgraded from chain mail to plate armor . But archaeological discoveries of gantlet are rarefied , particularly early examples , because alloy corrodes apace and easy in the reason and because Fe was often reuse and remodel in the Middle Ages . However , a well - preservedright - handed gauntletfrom the fourteenth century was recently find in Switzerland .
The gauntlet impression as it was found at the Bispekiva South excavation.
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The Oslo gauntlet may date to the same hundred . " It was found more or less flat below an expanse - panoptic level of blue stiff which must have come in from a pregnant fast Lucius Clay slide which we have date to about 1380 , " Hegdal suppose . " The gantlet might have been lost in intercourse to the landslide itself and the resulting wave . "
Little of the Oslo gantlet remains , however . It is mostly an imprint of the armor , with remnants of small nails and a possible warp that the archaeologists were able-bodied to see inX - ray . And it is unknown whether the gauntlet was new or old at the time it was lost . Immediately following theBlack Death , commercial-grade goods that were antecedently scarce — such as dental plate armor — became more commondue to the decimation of the universe , Hegdal said . " The gauntlet might simply have been corrode and interrupt from neglectfulness and dispose away . "
NIKU archaeologists excavate a dagger at Bispevika South.
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But NIKU ’s excavations have also revealed many weapons — daggers and knives for the most part , but also sword , spears and axes . " Our hypothesis is that these were discarded due to a forbiddance on weapon or foresighted blades , based on interchangeable regulations in other medieval cities , " Hegdal said , which might be an indication of a form of custom control in the harbour .
full understanding medieval Oslo , though , is complicated . Many Norwegian documents were lost in afire in 1728 , and Oslo ’s medieval city laws are not preserved . But NIKU ’s archaeologicalexcavation , which is due to wrap up in November of this year , may shed new luminosity on Oslo ’s medieval yesteryear .
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