This April, researchers from the College Museum of Bergen excavated the stays of a small Early Iron Age grave cairn at Ytre Fosse, Western Norway. The placement is spectacular, overlooking Alversund and the “Indre Skipsleia,” part of the outdated delivery lane, Nordvegen, which gave Norway its title. The entire space is dotted with monumental grave mounds on each side of Alversund, symbols of an Iron Age political panorama and the ability and management of products and travels alongside the Norwegian coast.

The grave turned out to be a cremation patch containing three ceramic pots, a bronze pin, burnt glass and 18 gaming items and an elongated cube. The cube is of a really uncommon sort, unique for Roman Iron Age (AD 1–400). In Scandinavia, comparable cube are discovered within the well-known Vimose weapon-offering website at Fyn, Denmark. At Vimose, the gaming board was additionally preserved, giving a novel view into Early Iron Age board video games among the many Germanic tribes in Scandinavia. Board video games, impressed by the chess-like Roman game Ludus latrunculorum, appears to have been performed amongst the elite in Roman Iron Age Scandinavia. These video games are additionally the forerunner to the extra well-known Viking Age (AD 750–1050) technique board game, Hnefatafl.

The outcomes from the Ytre Fosse excavation will undoubtedly contribute with extra exact knowledge on the chronology of dice and gaming items in Early Iron Age Norway and the importance and social impression of gaming amongst throughout these occasions.