Radiographic analysis of dental development used in age determination of infant and juvenile skulls from a medieval archaeological site in Norway

Age determination based on radiographic examination of teeth and tooth development stages was performed on the infant and juvenile skeletons from St Olav's churchyard in Trondheim. All the 248 skulls with jaws and teeth were radiographed. Based on the apical closure of the second molar, 198 skulls were determined to be older than 15 years. In 38 of the remaining skulls the age could be determined radiographically based on tooth development stages. The age was below 8 years in 25 individuals (66 per cent). The correlation between the radiographic and a direct inspection age determination method was 0.969. The greatest discrepancies between the two methods were found in the age group 12–15 years.     

“One Man's Foolishness Led to the Death of 14 Men”. Norwegian Reactions to Umberto Nobile and the “Italia” Disaster

In the summer of 1928, the dirigible “Italia” with the Italian navigator and constructor Umberto Nobile and his crew crashed in the polar ice north of Spitzbergen. The accident triggered not only the then most extensive rescue operation ever, it also resulted in a national grievance in Norway, when the national hero Roald Amundsen vanished in the sea on his way from Norway to Spitzbergen. Amundsen was flying north to help to find his old companion. With his disappearance the Norwegian attitude towards Nobile and his fellow Italians turned from bad to worse. This unkind attitude was also strengthened when Nobile came out of the ice safe and sound after 1 month. One Norwegian paper called Nobile “a goldgallooned fascist fool”, whose “insane venture had caused the whole tragedy” (Friheten 8 June 1928). Now Nobile was in safety, while Amundsen was gone forever. When the Italian shipwrecked men came to the coastal town of Narvik in Norway to dock for the waiting train to Italy, the locals met them with hostility. Why had the usually friendly and calm Norwegians suddenly become so hostile and unkind?