In the cold of January, archaeologists carried out dives in Øygarden outside Bergen to document remains of ancient hunting installations.
On the bottom of Grindasundet in Televåg, they found traces of a hunting method that likely dates back at least a thousand years.
Large amounts of rocks forming a band more than 25 metres long are visible at the bottom of the strait.
Historical sources from the 1500s also report that a gate once stood in the same area, used to trap whales inside the bay.
"The newly discovered underwater archaeological site is very unusual," says Elling Utvik Wammer.
Annonse
He explains that this is the first time this type of physical cultural evidence has been found underwater and linked to a tradition described in the Gulating Law, the oldest record of Norwegian law.
Wammer is a marine archaeologist at the Norwegian Maritime Museum.
Marine archaeologist Anders Schouw leaves the surface to investigate the structures in Grindasundet.(Photo: Elling Utvik Wammer / IRMAS)
Whales driven into the bay
Archaeologists have received funding to study coastal hunting and trapping installations, a type of cultural heritage site that Wammer says is poorly documented.
About the research project
The R&D project Coastal trapping facilities is a collaboration between the IRMAS museums (interregional marine archaeological cooperation) and is supported by the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage.
Project leaders are Elling Utvik Wammer at the Norwegian Maritime Museum, Anders Schouw at the Bergen Maritime Museum, and Svein Vatsvåg Nielsen at the Stavanger Maritime Museum.
The University of Bergen has a parallel project called Coastal heritage under pressure, where they investigate cultural heritage sites on land.
"These locations contain structures, often underwater but sometimes partly on land, showing that people hunted both whales and schooling fish," he says.
Øygarden outside Bergen stands out as the region with the highest number of such sites, Wammer says.
Skogsvågen on Sotra is the most well-known. Photographs and detailed descriptions exist of a form of whaling practiced there as late as the 20th century.
Minke whales were trapped inside the bay and killed with crossbows and arrows infected with bacteria.
Telavåg is another area where hunting of minke whales took place.
"Up until more recent times, people have trapped whales in the bay, killed them, and used the meat and bones," says Wammer.
Driving whales into bays is mentioned in the Gulating Law, which applied in Western Norway in the 900s.
Through this project, Wammer and his colleagues hope to uncover sources about these hunting practices that go beyond the written records.
The strait in Telavåg. The inlet is divided by a small islet called Stekholmen. The name comes from Old Norse and derives from stika, which means to block with stakes. To the left lies Grindasundet, where a gate once stood.(Drone photo: Christopher F. Kvæstad / IRMAS)
Hoping to find remains of the barrier
Wammer and his colleagues have now conducted underwater investigations in Telavåg.
Annonse
There are two inlets to the bay, separated by a small islet.
Historical sources say that on one side there was a permanent barrier made of timber and rope, weighed down with stones. The other entrance was closed off with a whale net.
"We were very curious to see whether any remains of the barrier might still be there," says Wammer.
In the 1700s, the priest Andreas Christie wrote that attempts were made to replace the barrier with a stone wall, since maintaining the original structure required a great deal of work. The plan was abandoned because it was considered 'too large an undertaking.'
"That makes sense when you consider that the strait is 60 metres wide and 15 metres deep. It would have required enormous amounts of rock," he says.
A rescue diver and line handler aboard the dive boat in Telavåg.(Photo: Elling Utvik Wammer / IRMAS)
"A large concentration of stones"
The researchers surveyed the area by boat and mapped the seabed using sonar. Most of the seabed consisted of clean sand.
"That changed when we reached the southern end of Grindasundet. Suddenly a large concentration of stones began to appear," says Wammer. "We saw a distinct belt of stones that ran across the strait. It was exactly what we had hoped for."
The researchers also noticed a somewhat mysterious structure: a large raised mound of rocks beside the belt.
Photogrammetry/oblique photo of the rock structures that were discovered. The mound is on the left and the stone belt is on the right.(Photo: Christopher F. Kvæstad, 3D model: Beatrice Frabetti / IRMAS)
Dives confirmed the findings
Divers then entered the water to examine the structures more closely.
The water was extremely cold, and local residents helped the team break through ice so they could reach the site. One advantage of winter conditions, Wammer explains, is that the water becomes crystal clear because there is very little algae.
What the divers saw matched the sonar images well: a broad belt of rock spread relatively evenly across the seabed, along with a large pile of stones.
The diver carried a pole with two GoPro cameras that took pictures every second. By swimming slowly in a systematic pattern over the formations, photographs were taken from many different angles. These are used to create a 3D model through a technique called photogrammetry.
"This documentation method has been revolutionary, especially underwater, since dive time is so limited," says Wammer.
Christopher F. Kvæstad with a pole fitted with GoPro cameras.(Photo: Anders Schouw / IRMAS)
Evidence of a major effort
The stone belt the researchers found is over 25 metres long and up to 9 metres wide. The stones lie partially on top of one another.
The mound is a very different type of structure. It has a circular shape, measuring 15 metres across and 4 metres tall.
"It's clear that both structures were created by humans. The challenge now is determining which historical events they can be connected to. That's the stage of interpretation we're currently working through," says Wammer.
The researchers are fairly certain that the mound is evidence of the attempted infilling mentioned in sources from the 1700s.
"What's surprising is the sheer amount of rock. They must have brought boats to the site and dumped stones over the side," says Wammer. "It shows how much effort people were willing to invest to avoid building the barrier. It also reflects how much work the barrier itself must have required, which in turn says something about how important whaling must have been."
Several clues also indicate that the stone belt may be the remains of the barrier. At the same time, the researchers are considering whether it might represent another attempt to fill in the strait.
"What's clear is that we have at least located the place where the infilling attempt was made, and probably also the exact position where the barrier stood in the Middle Ages. This is new information that can help us understand how this trapping facility was designed and built," says Wammer.
Whaling with a crossbow in Skogsvågen.(Photo: Unknown photographer. Published in an article in Naturen 1887 vol. 11 / University of Bergen Library)
It could take several days for the whales to die
How exactly did whaling take place in Telavåg?
Accounts from the 1700s describe the hunting in Skogsvågen, which is believed to have been carried out in much the same way as in Telavåg.
"It was an archaic form of hunting in which people from the entire village participated," says Wammer.
When whales were spotted, someone would shout, 'whale in the bay!' The first priority was then to block the strait.
"After that, they began to shoot the whales with crossbows and arrows infected with bacteria from spoiled meat," the researcher explains.
Once the whales were exhausted, they were harpooned, pulled to shore by dozens of rowing boats, and finally killed.
An eyewitness in 1885 reported that many harpoons were torn out while the whales were being hauled to land. Some wounded animals swam around for several days before they were finally killed, according to Stories of Coastal Norway (link in Norwegian).
"All forms of historical hunting and trapping involved some level of suffering for the animals that were killed. What may be unusual about this practice is that it could drag on for several days," says Wammer.
At the same time, he notes that attempting to harpoon large whales more quickly from small boats would have been dangerous.
Likely has deep historical roots
After being killed, the whales were butchered at Kvalvollen within a rock-lined enclosure.
"The meat was divided among everyone who took part, according to a complex system with many rules," says Wammer.
Some of the rituals suggest that the practice may have roots far back in time.
"For instance, the whale’s eyes were removed and thrown back into the water. This was believed to ensure that future generations of whales would find their way back into the bay," he explains.
The barrier in Telavåg is mentioned in sources from the 1500s. But the whaling probably began even earlier. In the Middle Ages, Nonneseter Monastery in Bergen held rights to the bay, and whaling may have been an important reason for this.
Wammer and his colleagues expect to have a scientific article about the new finding ready by autumn.
They plan to return to Øygarden in June for further fieldwork. During that visit they will also examine fishing sites where nets and underwater stone walls were used to trap large numbers of fish.
