Prehistory

Archaeological evidence shows the first signs of human activity, in present-day Norway, approx 4000 years before our era. A similar age of the first human settlements is dated to nearby Sweden, which in those days along with Norway, formed one, common, an area that doesn't belong to anyone.

The transition to the era of agricultural development took place in 4000-3000 p.n.e, in the area surrounding the Oslo Fjord. Shortly before entering the Bronze Age (1500-500 p. n. e), agriculture spread to what is now southern Norway, but archaeological finds unearthed in northern Norway, dated for the same period, indicate the still unwavering domination of the hunter-gatherer lifestyle in this area.

In the early years of the first millennium AD, there was already highly developed trade with the countries to the south. Archaeologists have discovered a multitude of small ships, filled with silver, bronze and glass. Additionally, early runic inscriptions were found in most of them, indicating an advanced level of the art of writing, practiced in the Nordic countries at that time. The existence of farms in less fertile regions, shortly before a year ago 500 neither, reassured scientists, that settlement in the fertile valleys of western Scandinavia has already reached its maximum saturation point. For the next few centuries, increased competition in the capture of land, it was striving inevitably for militarization, hardening the ground for the coming Viking Age.