S tructural, sedimentological and isotope-geochemical investigations on thick, carbonate formations in the Uppermost Allochthon of the Norwegian Caledonides have provided the first direct indications of the Laurentian origins of these shelf and slope/rise successions.Chemostratigraphical ages for marbles mostly range from Vendian to Cambrian. The earliest tectonic deformation, involving NW-vergent thrusts and folds in one of the nappes, is considered to relate to Taconian orogenic development along the margin of Laurentia. Subsequently, during Siluro-Devonian, Baltica-Laurentia collision, these thick successions, and plutonic complexes farther south, were detached from their Laurentian roots and retransported into the higher levels of the Scandian orogenic wedge.

During the Viking Age, Arctic Scandinavia was a source of exquisite furs, down, walrus ivory, and other commodities that met with high demand in England and on the Continent. Hitherto, the earliest firm evidence of this trade has been Ohthere's account c. 890, but in light of this paper's findings, its history may be pushed further back in time. Geological analyses of whetstones retrieved in eighth-to early ninth-century Ribe, southwestern Jylland, in present-day western Denmark, demonstrate that the majority were quarried near the aristocratic manor Lade ('loading/storing place') in Trøndelag, present-day central Norway, some 1100 km by sea to the north. Because of their high numbers and durability, whetstones retrieved in Ribe and other urban sites may be regarded as a proxy for long-distance seaborne trade from the Arctic. The peak in this trade on the threshold of the Viking Age invites a reconsideration of the coinciding and conflicting interests of Scandinavian long-distance traders, kings, and Vikings. It is argued that coalitions and conflicts that arose from these interests, and new constraints and opportunities that emerged for these three types of agents, provide keys to understanding why and where Vikings raided overseas up to the mid-ninth century.

The pyramids and temples of the Egyptian Old Kingdom (early-mid-third millennium BC) are testament to an epoch of global significance in the evolution of monumental stone architecture. The basalt quarries of Widan el-Faras and gypsum quarries of Umm es-Sawan, located in the Northern Faiyum Desert of Egypt, were key production sites in the foreground of this transformation to largescale stone quarrying. Yet, the significance and value of these archaeological sites in shaping elements of the cultural landscape of the Northern Faiyum Desert, currently under nomination for World Heritage listing, remains largely in the background. This paper attempts to develop a methodology to articulate 'outstanding universal value' and to raise the significance of the largely mundane and non-monumental remains of these production sites. By deploying formulations in landscape archaeologies and key concepts used in the nomination of the Blaenavon industrial landscape in South Wales as a World Heritage Site, it argues for the cultural landscape of the Northern Faiyum Desert authenticating one of the world's oldest 'industrial' landscapes related to large-scale stone quarrying.

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Larvikite is a peculiar and unique monzonitic rock originating in the Carboniferous–Permian Oslo Rift, SE Norway. The blue iridescence in the feldspar crystals made the rock particularly attractive as ornamental stone, and since the start of industrial scaled production in 1884, the use of larvikite has reached every corner of the global community. With resources for hundreds of years, the region will produce larvikite blocks far into the future. The production of larvikite has changed significantly during the last decades, towards more sustainable production finding new applications and markets for excess rock in the quarries. The significance of larvikite in the global market has also created a wider appreciation of the rock in the Norwegian society, acknowledging the rich history of larvikite production and use.