Gavel 2 Gavel: The Compass: Norway

PHOTOGRAPH BY MARIUS DOBILAS, ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

Medieval fishing houses that line the harbors, narrow fjords that slice between sky-high peaks, ice floes where polar bears roam: Norway brims with wonder. Long before Norway was named one of the happiest places on Earth by the United Nations, travelers have been humbled by its powerful natural realm. In this ediiton, discover a lost Viking ‘highway’ revealed by melting ice, see how Norwegians are building boutique hotels for threatened Arctic birds, and meet the artists making music with ice.

Let's explore Norway.

HISTORY & CULTURE

A baby boom in Nordic nations comes as many other wealthy countries are seeing declining birth rates. Drífa Hrund Guðmundsdóttir, a molecular biologist, and her husband decided to have a third child during the pandemic and ended up with twins. “During the pandemic, in the middle of lockdown, things just kind of slowed down a lot,” Guðmundsdóttir says. Baldur Logi, a boy (left), and Brynja Lill, a girl, were born in March 2021.

PHOTOGRAPH BY NORA LOREK

The pandemic delivered a surprise to Nordic countries: a baby boom

The long, dark winters may be great for making babies, but financial incentives play a bigger role.

The Lendbreen ice patch in Norway, pictured here in 2019, is melting, revealing horse dung left by travelers who crossed the area centuries ago.

PHOTOGRAPH BY ESPEN FINSTAD, SECRETS OF THE ICE

Lost Viking ‘highway’ revealed by melting ice

1,000-year-old horseshoes, sleds, and tools are emerging from a shrinking ice patch in Norway, telling the story of the rise and fall of a mountain pass and the people who traveled along it.

SCIENCE

Archaeologist holding a c. 1400-year-old arrow, lost reindeer hunting in the high mountains of Oppland, Norway, during the Late Antique Little Ice Age.

PHOTOGRAPH BY JULIAN MARTINSEN, SECRETS OF THE ICE OPPLAND COUNTY COUNCIL

Melting glaciers could reveal how our ancestors dealt with changing climates

While some archaeologists dig with trowels and shovels, others use a warming planet to their advantage.

Black-legged kittiwakes set up house in a Norwegian town. A combination of factors is causing the gulls to leave their nesting cliffs and head to cities to raise families.

PHOTOGRAPH BY S.E. ARNDT,
PICTURE PRESS / REDUX

Norwegians are building boutique hotels for threatened Arctic birds

A changing ecosystem is driving nesting kittiwakes out of their habitat and into coastal Norwegian towns. Can “Kittiwake hotels” help these gulls and humans co-exist?

A researcher examines a wooden arrow shaft that emerged from the Langfonne ice patch in Norway. Radiocarbon dating is used to determine the age of many objects once trapped within the now-melting ice.

GLACIER ARCHAEOLOGY PROGRAM,
INNLANDET COUNTY COUNCIL

6,000 years of arrows emerge from melting Norwegian ice patch

The record-setting discovery of 68 projectiles from the Neolithic to the Viking Era also upends ideas on how ice both preserves and destroys archaeological finds.

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Arctic panoramas often look flat and desolate, but this Norwegian archipelago features a mountainous landscape with 2,000 miles of coastline.

PHOTOGRAPH BY ACACIA JOHNSON

Explore a place where polar bears outnumber people

Here’s how to travel and what to do in the remote archipelago of Svalbard, Norway.

The Oseberg ship is on display in the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo. Built of oak around A.D. 820, the craft is especially noteworthy for its spiral-shaped prow, carved in the form of a serpent’s head. There are no signs that the vessel ever went to sea, so it is believed that its sole use was funereal.

PHOTOGRAPH BY UNIVERSITY OF OSLO

Viking ship's buried clues may reveal identities of mystery women

Found buried on a farm in Oseberg, Norway, an ancient Viking ship held sleighs, tapestries, silken bands, and the bones of two unidentified women.

TRAVEL

DREAM NOW, GO LATER

There's plenty to discover in Norway outside the country's popular ski resorts and modern urban centers.

PHOTOGRAPH BY TOMÁŠ HAVEL, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC YOUR SHOT

15 bold adventures in Norway

Explore this Nordic nation's greatest adventures with National Geographic Your Shot photographers.

Sognefjord runs 127 miles from the Atlantic Ocean to the small village of Skjolden and is best explored at the pace of a sea kayak.

PHOTOGRAPH BY MODROW, LAIF / REDUX

Explore Norway's wild landscapes

This pristine countryside is peppered with endless waterfalls, towering cliffs, and coastal Viking burial grounds.

Discovering wild beauty and epic solitude on a cruise to Norway’s arctic Svalbard Islands.

ILLUSTRATION BY CHRISTOPH NIEMANN

North: an illustrated travelogue by Christoph Niemann

Ice music pioneer Terje Isungset, who started his own All Ice Records label, makes a recording on Baffin Island, Canada, during a -42°F day.

PHOTOGRAPH BY EMILE HOLBA

Playing it cool: these artists make music with ice

Using frozen drums, horns, and harps, an emerging art form takes its cues from nature.

WHERE WILL WE JOURNEY TO NEXT?

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Gavel 2 Gavel

2.12.2022

The Compass: Norway

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