Rare 1,100-year-old structure — with mysterious purpose — found in Norway, photos show

An archaeologist stayed late at work to study the radar scans of some large mounds in Norway. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed something that gave her chills.

It turned out to be a rare 1,100-year-old structure.

Stine Grøvdal Melsæther spotted the ruins on a LiDAR scan of Øksnes taken by archaeologists ahead of a construction project, the Nordland County Council said in a Sept. 16 news release. The circular shape probably didn’t look like much to the untrained eye, but Melsæther knew it was something special.

She and her coworkers found a rare ring-shaped yard from the Iron Age, at least 1,100 years old, officials said.

Iron age communities built their homes in circular arrangements with an open space in the middle, a photo shows. This central shared space, known as a ring yard, was an important place but its purpose remains unclear.

Some experts think ring yards were used as ancient political meeting places, Melsæther said.

Archaeologists found six to eight houses around the ring yard in Øksnes and located 20 cooking or other pits. A photo shows them scanning the buried ruins.

Ancient ring yards are rare finds for archaeologists, Melsæther said. This is the first such structure found in Øksnes.

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Analysis of the site is ongoing.

Øksnes is in Nordland County, along the northeastern coast of Norway and about 600 miles northeast of Oslo.

Google Translate was used to translate the news release from the Nordland County Council.

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