Experts agree that the object is related to seafaring and fishing, but its function remains a mystery for the time being.
Roger Vassgård, a shark fisherman from Sveggesundet on Averøya, was the one to bring up the unusual catch to the surface in March of 2022.
He immediately realized that this was a rare object. He delivered the find to the head of the Averøy history team, Alf Røsand, who contacted Bjørn Ringstad, head of the section for cultural heritage in Møre and Romsdal County Municipality, the municipality website notes.
Section leader for cultural heritage in the county municipality, Bjørn Ringstad, photographed with the curious object. Photo: Møre og Romsdal County Municipality
Experts baffled by the find
Experts still don't know much about the object.
"I've never seen anything like it, and I still don't know what it is. Perhaps our local expert on boats and boat building in Valsøybotn, Jon Bojer Godal, could know something," Ringstad said.
He sent a photograph and description of the 27-centimeter-long and around three-kilogram-heavy object to professionals both in the north and the south of Norway without anyone being able to determine with certainty what it was or what it was used for.
The object is 27 centimeters long and weighs around three kilograms. Photo: Møre og Romsdal County Municipality
Elaborate and beautiful
The item is particularly elaborate. It is symmetrical in shape, smooth, with several holes and grooves, probably made to attach it to something with ropework.
The object is also decorated with a kind of checkered pattern at the widest end.
Ringstad believes the object is probably between three hundred and one thousand years old.
"We have sent information to the NTNU Science Museum in Trondheim but haven't gotten back anything more concrete, and we are waiting for a response from the Norwegian Fisheries Museum in Bergen," Ringstad added.
The object will eventually be sent to the NTNU Science Museum in Trondheim.
"Perhaps, in the long run, it can be exhibited at the Old Kvernes Rural Museum in Averøy. Then, in a way, it would return to its original environment. It would be fun," Ringstad noted.
The object has many interesting details. Photo: Møre og Romsdal County
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