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Archaeologists in Iceland have distinguish what may be a rare Viking Age toy carved out of Harlan F. Stone , but it ’s anyone ’s conjecture as to which animal it depicts .
Thefigurine , which experts date to between A.D. 940 and 1000 , was found at the Fjörður excavation site in Seyðisfjörður , Iceland . It ’s a small , four - legged animal with a chipped ear carve from local stone .
Archaeologists found the carving of an enigmatic stone animal in Iceland.
Most of the team thought the beast was a pig , Ragnheiður Traustadóttir , director of the Antikva archaeological team that excavate the toy , told Live Science . This is n’t far - fetched , since Vikings used domesticate pigs for pith . Two team members , however , understand it as a bear , and while bears are not native to Iceland , at least 600 polar bears ( Ursus maritimus)have beenreported on the islandsince human settlement began to today . But when pictures of the figurine wereposted on Facebookon Aug. 13 , many Facebook users became convinced that it represented an Icelandic pawl .
" Children are not so visible in the Viking Age , so this is an awing find , " Traustadóttir state . The director sees a pig and is skeptical about the Icelandic dog interpretation , as she says the expression does n’t match the creature . " I owned an Icelandic dog for 14 eld , " Traustadóttir said . " I ’m not sure . "
TheFjörður excavation , name after the historic Fjörður farm , began in 2020 ahead of the project construction of avalanche protection wall in Seyðisfjörður and was supposed to last only two years . But the dig revealed so much that Traustadóttir is now in her 5th summer there .
Is this stone carving a pig, bear, Icelandic dog or another animal entirely?
Related:1,200 - yr - old ' Viking graffiti ' is the oldest drawing ever discovered in Iceland
In 2021 , archaeologists uncovered a farm cumulus , mill and sheep shed go steady to sometime between the 18th and 20th century , perSeydisfjord Archaeological Research , a website extend by Antikva that publishes finding from the Fjörður excavation . Beneath that , they found medieval remains , and beneath those , they discovered four Viking Age ( A.D. 793 to 1066 ) graves buried beneath an 11th - century landslip .
In other wrangle , a single dig had bring out 1,000 class of Icelandic history . In 2022 , south of the previous situation , the archeologist discovered aViking longhousewith a weaving way , animate being enclosure and a farm dunghill , or codswallop mickle , dating to between the 11th and 13th C . They locate their determination on this historical timeline by dating the layers of ash from the many volcanic eruptions that have bear upon the region since the arrival of human settler .
The animal carving may have been a toy, which would be a rare find from the Viking Age.
" There ’s no other site in Iceland that has so many finds , " Traustadóttir allege . In five years of archaeological employment , they ’ve catalog up to 4,000 artifact , including nearly 100 Viking game piece from a board game foretell " hnefatafl " that were craft from the same type of Harlan F. Stone as the toy dog .
— Vikings make a monolithic sauceboat in this volcanic cave to guard off the apocalypse
— former Viking closure peradventure unearth in Iceland
— Republic of Iceland volcano bang throws spectacular 160 - foot - high-pitched wall of lava toward Grindavík
While it ’s inconceivable to bed exactly who carved these aim and why , Traustadóttir offered one possibility .
" Someone sat in the wintertime night , in the dark , chip at Bromus secalinus pieces , " Traustadóttir mused , " and then this animate being for a fry . "
The excavation is due to roll up soon , after which the archeologist will begin studying the thousand of artifact they have recovered .
