An 8-year-old girl in Norway stumbled upon a startling discovery when she was playing outside her school. Her discovery was not a rock nor a tiny ball but actually a Stone Age flint dagger from roughly 3,700 years ago.
8-year-old Girl Stumbles on Stone Age Dagger in School
8-year-old girl unearths Stone Age dagger by her school in Norway https://t.co/Gol85JsdPS
— All About History (@AboutHistoryMag) May 8, 2023
According to Live Science, the young girl, identified as Elise based on a translated statement, found it in a rocky terrain close to her school situated in Vestland County. Elise explains that she was going to get a glass piece when the stone was within her sight.
The young girl then showed the stone to Ms. Karen Drange, her school teacher. Ms. Drange observed the ancient features of the stone and contacted the county council. The item was then further examined by county archaeologists.
Louise Bjerre Petersen, an archaeologist from the county municipality of Vestland, explains that the nearly 12-centimeter flint item is quite a rare discovery. Live Science adds that flint is not naturally sourced out from Norway. Because of this, the item could have been all the way from Denmark's North Sea.
Yahoo! News reports that the archaeologists proceeded with excavations in the site where the dagger was spotted, considering how this kind of dagger is usually spotted with sacrificial items. However, they were not able to find any Stone Age remnants.
ALSO READ: Viking Ship Discovered in Norway Using Ground-Penetrating Radar
Unique New Stone Age Dagger
Live Science adds that, with the dagger's appearance, it is likely to be from the Neolithic, or New Stone Age, period. This was a time when ancient humans shaped and sculpted tools made of stone. They also started depending on domesticated animals and plants, developing crafts, and constructing permanent villages.
Across Norway, the entire Stone Age, covering the Neolithic, Mesolithic, and Paleolithic periods, went on from B.C. 10,000 to B.C. 1800. Live Science also adds that several hunter-gatherers had permanently settled for farming at roughly B.C. 2,400.
For its safekeeping, the dagger was turned over to the University Museum in Bergen. It will also be cataloged and used for other research.
Stone Age Discovery Across Norway
While this recent flint dagger discovery may come across as extremely rare and unique, it is not the only recent Stone Age discovery across Norway. The Smithsonian Magazine reported last January that an ancient runestone was discovered in Norway. What made the discovery strikingly unique was that it could possibly pass as the oldest datable runestone across the entire world.
According to NBC News, the runestone made of brownish sandstone was embedded with 2,000-year-old inscriptions that brought archaeologists back to the infant days of runic Scandinavian writing.
RELATED ARTICLE: World's Oldest Runestone, Found in Norway and Believed To Be 2,000 Years Old, Contains the Earliest Scandinavian Writings
Check out more news and information on Archaeology in Science Times.
