Quoted by ISNA; Archaeologists have discovered nearly three medieval monumes in the Bjørvika port area of Oslo, Norway, which prese unprecedeed views of daily lives of people who lived in the city five to five years ago. These findings, which mainly include leather items such as shoes, bags and knives, create a rare look at the Norwegian personal assets and customs.
This remarkable collection consists of more than 5 pairs of baby shoes, some of which are very small and are suitable for children of about one year. Given that these objects remain significaly healthy, they show detailed details of industrial skills, daily routines, and value routines that Scandinavian people in the Middle Ages have for their personal belongings.
What does medieval shoes reveal?
The set of shoes, from simple designs to long boots, encompasses decorative roles and shows the variety of shoes covered among differe social classes. Evidences such as cracking leather, abrasive floors and recurre repairs show that the shoes were valuable and carefully kept by their owners.
Archaeological analysis shows that these shoes were used for a long time and then discarded, indicating that the shoes were an importa investme for families in the Middle Ages. The discovery of many childish shoes provides rare information about childhood and family life at that time; Because children related to children are usually discovered in less archaeological records.
Marja-Liisa Petrelius Grue, an archaeologist at the Norwegian Maritime Museum, said:
We think these objects are probably thrown near the Alna River. Many of them have been used for a long time. This can be understood from their repairs. They are then discarded in a mass of waste in the Middle Ages.
Beyond the shoes, the archaeological group has found at least two pieces of leather bags, with a few similar structure. This diversity shows that the bags were custom -made for various applications and reflect the differe needs of everyday life in the Middle Ages. Medieval Norwegians were depende on these leather bags because of the lack of pockets in their clothes, hanging on their belt or tied to their clothes.
There are also pieces of knife and sword pods that show how much personal knives were esseial in medieval life. These multipurpose practical tools, from dining tools to public tools, were used and were esseial for individuals in all social classes.
The process of discovering these objects shows that they have been accumulated for ceuries through natural processes. The garbage mass near the Alna River probably remained in the same place for several ceuries, and the severe spring floods gradually washed and moved to their final location in Biuroka.
These discoveries provide valuable information on the evolution of the city of Oslo in the 5th and 5th ceuries; Because this period was accompanied by significa urban growth and increased trade communication, this was reflected in the diversity and quality of the discovered objects. The stay of organic objects such as leather is very rare in urban archaeological fields, so this discovery is of particular importance for better understanding of European cities in the Middle Ages.
The gradual process of accumulation and preservation of objects explains the reason for their curre exceptional status.
This discovery coributes to our understanding of material culture in the Middle Ages and the importance of personal assets in pre -industrial societies. Unlike today’s consumer culture, these historical objects show how much people value their belongings in the Middle Ages and kept them for a long time before they finally throwing them away.
This extraordinary collection of medieval works in Oslo provides archaeologists and historians with a tangible evidence of everyday life in the Middle Ages. The careful maienance of these everyday objects provides insights that cannot be achieved solely through written documes and show the importance of urban archeology in understanding the lifestyle, work and individual expression of ordinary people through their material assets.
