![]() The bones the Museum of Archaeology in Stavanger uncovered in the Asheims’ home. What the experts do know is that the polar bear “sank to the seabed, under about 25 metres of water, and was quickly buried in clay.” The bear was 28 years old, 1,322 pounds (600 kilograms), and lived in Rogaland during the Ice Age. They found seal and sculpin fish remains in the bear’s stomach. It’s not clear how the Finnøy polar bear died, but according to museum experts, it died well-fed. “When we found it, there were only nine other finds of polar bears from the Ice Age in the entire world.” Thomsen added, “this is still the most complete Ice Age polar bear from so far back in time.” The clay preserved the bones from oxygen exposure and other elements, making the skeleton a rare find. It took a bit of digging “through 70 cm of sand and silt,” but they found the polar bear skeleton, including a thigh bone, ribs, and stomach remains, “encased in a 15 cm layer of clay.” In 1982, Thomsen assembled a crew of archaeologists and zoologists from the museum to dig into the Asheims’ laundry room floor. Terje Tveit, Museum of Archaeology, University of Stavanger Hanne Thomsen and zoologist Rolf Lie excavating the polar bear remains in the Asheims’ basement. According to the University of Stavanger, the couple told her there were more bones, and if Thomsen wanted, she could exhume them. Thomsen traced the box’s origin to the Asheims’ house and contacted the couple. She consulted her fellow co-workers at the museum about the contents and through further analysis, found the remnants were bones from an ancient polar bear. Six years later, geologist Hanne Thomsen came across the box at the Museum of Archaeology. During the excavation process, the builders uncovered mysterious bones in the ground and placed them in a box-never to be opened. In 1976, builders laid sewage pipes for a new house that would later become the Asheims’ home. The polar bear skeleton, nicknamed Finn, is on main display in a new exhibit at the Museum of Archaeology in Stavanger, Norway, decades after it was discovered. That second scenario is exactly what happened to Sverre and Reidun Asheim, a couple from the Norwegian island of Finnøy. ![]() Now, imagine finding a 12,400-year-old polar bear skeleton in your laundry room. Terje Tveit, Museum of Archaeology, University of Stavanger / Public Domain Finn the polar bear is now on display at the Museum of Archaeology in Stavanger, Norway.
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