S脴FTEN, Denmark (AP) 鈥� Archaeologists have discovered a huge Viking Age textile production site in that dates back more than 1,000 years and underlines the .
Experts from the Moesgaard Museum said this week that the sprawling 100,000-square-meter (more than 1 million-square-foot) site features an area for processing flax as well as more than 80 pit houses 鈥� semi-buried huts that were used as workshops and dwellings in Viking times.
It’s located in S酶ften, 10 kilometers (6 miles) north of Denmark鈥檚 second-largest city, Aarhus, on the Jutland peninsula. The site dates back to the late Iron Age and early Viking Age, sometime between A.D. 600 and 950.
Archaeologist Liv Stidsing Reher-Langberg, who led the 10-month dig, said that 鈥渨e have a clear focus on textile production, which makes this settlement different from other kinds of settlements of this period.鈥�
鈥淲e have spindle whorls, we have weight looms; that tells us about what has been going on in the pit houses,鈥� said Reher-Langberg, adding that archaeologists had also discovered silver coins, glass beads and pottery.
Experts found separate areas for production and crafts, plus a single residential home, which suggests work was overseen by a powerful individual with control over resources and production.
Reher-Langberg said that, over the last three decades, people with metal detectors had unearthed several silver coins in the area. A trial excavation 1陆 years ago, before the start of construction work on a new road and industrial area, then piqued archaeologists鈥� interest.
鈥淲e could see in the trenches that it just keeps on going, with these houses and pit houses and textile production features,鈥� Reher-Langberg said.
Moesgaard Museum historian Kasper Andersen said that the discovery at S酶ften is 鈥渁nother piece in the puzzle鈥� to understanding the local economic, cultural and political structure at the time.
During the Viking era, Aarhus 鈥� then known as Aros 鈥� functioned as a center for royalty and international trade. And last year, archaeologists discovered another Viking site in Lisbjerg, just 4 kilometers (2陆 miles) away, that was likely home to members of the nobility.
Goods and resources were likely brought from the countryside and settlements like S酶ften, before entering an extensive international trade network, Andersen said.
鈥淲hen you have a production site of this scale, it cannot be only because of the local area. It needs to be understood as part of a greater network, a much bigger international perspective,鈥� Andersen said.
Reher-Langberg hopes future carbon dating and pollen analysis might answer some lingering questions, for instance about what kind of textile production went on at the site.
During the Viking Age, considered to run from A.D. 793 to 1066, Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raids, colonization, conquest and trade throughout Europe, even reaching North America.
Andersen said that the discovery at S酶ften shows that Vikings were 鈥渘ot just simple, uncivilized, barbaric hordes, rambling about Europe.鈥�
鈥淭o have a place like S酶ften, you need a very well-organized society with a production line, and you also need a market to have the production,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he textiles from S酶ften go into a market that鈥檚 much bigger than just the local area.鈥�
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