Posted on 02/04/2005 4:17:20 PM PST by blam
Ancient church found
The site of a nearly 1,000-year-old church has been found in Skien, making it likely Norway's oldest. Norway may have been converted to Christianity far earlier than believed.
This hole indicates that the site boasted a post church nearly 1,000 years ago.
PHOTO: KJELL-HENRIK SEMB
Christianity in Norway
Christian influence gradually came to Norway via trade, marriage ties, Viking raids, Christian Celtic slaves and eventually missionaries.
Olav the Holy (Olav Haraldsson, St. Olav), who lived from 995-1030, officially introduced Christianity to Norway.
The first churches in Norway were stave and post churches. The only remains of post churches are the holes in the ground where the poles stood, so no one has an exact idea of what they looked like. So far traces from posts of about 30 wooden churches from before the year 1100 have been found.
The remains were found in 2001 but have only now been dated radiologically. Experts believe the find strengthens theories that Norway was Christian in several spots long before Håkon the Good, Olav Tryggvason and Olav Haraldsson began their missionary raids.
"It is fun to see confirmation of what we have long believed, that there was a Christianization of Norway long before the two Olavs came," said Jan Brendalsmo, archeologist at the Foundation for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU).
Associate Professor Jon Vidar Sigurdsson at the Medieval Center at the University of Oslo said that new finds in recent years would likely push the date of Norway's conversion to Christianity to the 800s.
Archeologists believe the post church may be the "Hakastein" mentioned in writing from 1354.
Researchers have also found two Christian graves from 885-990 at the same site.
"The two graves may mean that there is another church on the site. In addition, there can be about 1,100 people buried here over a period of 400 years. So we believe that there is absolutely unique information still buried at the site," said Brendalsmo. Nevertheless, the site is currently destined to become a park.
Ko.
Uff da!
I bet if they keep digging they'll find some still edible lutefisk too.
Olav Tryggvason, sounds like something out of a Monty Python movie.
I want to know if they can find evidence of Ludefisk. I have no idea how to spell that.
You're mistaken. It really was a mosque.
I could have sworn that I saw a church reputed to be at least that old on Bomlo almost twenty years ago. That would make it about 1020 years old.
Lutfisk: The piece of cod that passes all understanding.
I don't see how finding one church confirms this observation anymore than finding one muslim temple in the USA in the 1800's would confirm the conversion of America to Muslim in the 1800's. It seems more like wild speculation than a supportable theory.
GGG Ping.
You could dig to China and still not find edible lutefisk. It's probably why the Viking stayed drunk most of the time, because lutefisk was always on the menu.:)
I saw that article earlier, sir.
Christianity must have been especially expansionist circa 950-1050, both northward and eastward, because this was about the same time Ukraine and Russia saw the light.
Though I have been to Sweden, I never made it to Norway. Would love to see the Stave churches.
Anglos at it again
Recently learned trivia: St. Olav (Olaf) attacked London in 1009 and pulled down London Bridge. The song "London Bridge is falling down" may date from this time. "Tooley Street" in London is named after St. Olaf. Over the centuries the name changed as follows: St. Olave, St. Oley, Stooley, Tooley.
St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota is a fine Lutheran school founded by Norwegian immigrants.
I don't understand...
What else besides churches was at the time built using stave and post construction? What they found is not a church per se, but some holes in the ground and some (not much, probably) wood in these holes. Thus a church is a conjecture, unless there is more to it, like fragments of church ornaments, vestments and so on.
You mean like when they find a piece of bone the size of a thumbnail and extrapolate an entire prehistoric human being from it???
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