On Wednesday 13 June, 30 UrbNet employees went on an excursion to Ribe. The purpose was to visit the large-scale excavation that is conducted within the framework of the project "Northern Emporium", directed by Professor MSO and Deputy Centre Director Søren M. Sindbæk. The project is funded by the Carlsberg Foundation as one of its prestiguous Semper Ardens projects.

The Northern Emporium project aims to explore the evolution and dynamics of the earliest urban network in Scandinavia and the transition to the maritime-based network society in the Viking Age. It issues from new, significantly improved data based on a comprehensive, stratigraphic excavation of settlement and workshop layers in a central part of the earliest Ribe, one of the richest archaeological sites of the North Sea trading world, which emerged in the eighth century CE.

Over the past couple of months, the excavation has uncovered significant concentrations of beads, indicating the presence of bead-making workshops in the 8th century. A number of leather finds have also been unearthed, some of which are very well preserved.

The excavation was initiated 13 June 2017, which means yesterday marked the excavation's 1st birthday. To celebrate this occasion, Director Søren M. Sindbæk greeted his UrbNet colleagues with birthday cake. 

After the visit to the Northern Emporium excavation, Morten Søvsø (Museum of Southwest Jutland) gave a tour at Ribe Cathedral and the excavation that has been undertaken there.