Crossing the ice: an Iron Age to medieval mountain pass at Lendbreen, Norway

Abstract

Mountain passes have played a key role in past mobility, facilitating transhumance, intra-regional travel and long-distance exchange. Current global warming has revealed an example of such a pass at Lendbreen, Norway. Artefacts exposed by the melting ice indicate usage from c. AD 300–1500, with a peak in activity c. AD 1000 during the Viking Age—a time of increased mobility, political centralisation and growing trade and urbanisation in Northern Europe. Lendbreen provides new information concerning the socio-economic factors that influenced high elevation travel, and increases our understanding of the role of mountain passes in inter- and intraregional communication and exchange.