MEMBERS OF the Iron Age team at the Scottish Crannog Centre at Kenmore, Loch Tay have set out on a voyage of discovery to the Lofoten Islands off Norway.

The group will be participating in a living history conference at the Lofotr Viking Museum at Borg.

The trip is the third of eight learning journeys for the crannog crew involving archaeological open-air museums in Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden in addition to Scotland as part of a European cultural exchange project called liveARCH.

This latest visit will involve seminars on living history, interpretation, marketing for open-air museums, and training.

The crannog crew are particularly interested in how the Viking centre interprets and presents important archaeological discoveries to the public.

Focal point of the museum is an authentic reconstruction of a chieftain’s longhouse, together with farm buildings, smithy and Viking long-boat houses.

The chieftain’s house is based directly on the archaeological excavations at Borg of the largest building ever to be found in the Viking realm—in Norway or anywhere else in Europe.

Borg was one of the original 10-15 chiefdoms in Norway that thrived during the Iron Age.

One of the high-points of the week-long study tour will be a trip out in the Viking longboat, despite the sub-zero temperatures.

The reconstruction is an accurate copy of the 23-metre-long Gokstad ship from the 9th century that was found near the Oslo fjord.

Following their trip, the crannog Celts re-open for their own season on the March 15.

The next liveARCH learning journey will take place in September when the crew travel to Latvia.