- Written by Axel Christophersen

Many spoons have been found in the urban layers of Trondheim, but the vast majority are made of wood and decorated in one of the Viking Age's animal style traditions. Therefore, it was a great surprise when a different kind of spoon appeared in the deep, moist cultural layers at the top of Søndregate on a May day in 1971. The spoon was lying in the mud among discarded shoes, animal bones, and other household waste that people in the neighborhood had thrown into the street. What kind of spoon was this, and how did it end up here in the 1500s?

The spoon is made from a large piece of reindeer antler, the bowl is unusually large and pear-shaped, and the handle is strikingly short but finely carved. However, the most eye-catching feature was the spoon's precise, geometric ornamentation. The ornamentation is South Sámi, and the spoon is Sámi craftsmanship. This is not the only horn spoon of its kind. At least four other similar spoons have been found in the medieval urban landscape. Such horn spoons played a role in the interaction between Sámi people and Norwegians in pre-industrial times. The spoons were particularly popular among the Northern Norwegian farming population.

It is tempting to think that these spoons were brought by Sámi who had business or lived in the city. But that is not the only possibility, as the spoons could have come to the city in other ways: We know that horn spoons were brought by intermediaries who traded with Norwegians, from Sámi settlement areas to Finnish blacksmiths in cities such as Bergen, Trondheim, and others to be cast in silver. Stamps on some Sámi silver spoons reveal that silversmiths in Trondheim also cast such silver spoons using Sámi horn spoons as molds.