AR App: The Past Comes Alive
Published 3 June 2025
Recently, an “Augmented Reality” app developed by Gunnar Liestøl and students at Media Studies at the University of Oslo, which shows former settlements at Skipssand in Øksnes, was tested.
15 September 2025
On Thursday 11.9, students in the 6th grade got a trip back in time when they walked along the Queen’s Route and saw old traces of human activity.
At Skipssand, traces of human activity are disappearing, due to erosion that is slowly eroding the landscape. Photo: Øksnes museum.
This is an annual walk with Bø and Øksnes museum, from Stø to Skipssand, where the students learn about how to recognize old traces of people in nature; For example, in the form of burial mounds, settlements, or rock formations from where they would pull the boats onto land. These are traces you may not notice otherwise, unless you know what to look for.
Skipssand is facing northwest, not far from Stø. Excerpt taken from Norgeskart.
During the trip, the students learn about how people settled in Øksnes through the ages, all the way from the Stone Age (3000 BCE – 1800 BCE), when nomads had settled on Melkarstøa, until the Viking Age when people lived by the sand, and buried their loved ones where they had a great view of the sea. At the very end, we come to 1349, when the Black Death most likely led to Skipssand being vacated for good.
Julien at Øksnes Museum talked about the cultural monuments in the landscape. Here the settlement mound Enge which was vacated in 1349. Photo: Susanne Pettersen, Øksnes municipality.
This day we experienced an unusually pleasant September weather. It was a nice walk with many great questions and input from the students. Thanks for the trip!
The students look at Melkarstøa. Here the settlement was sheltered from the wind, and there are remains of a formation where they pulled the boat up onto land. Photo: Susanne Pettersen, Øksnes municipality.
Here are some pictures of the cultural monuments, from the walk this spring. The first picture shows the remains of two associated boathouses, the second picture (left) shows a looted burial mound from the Viking Age. There is a pile with a sink in it (in a “donut shape”). The third picture (right) shows the settlement mound Enge.
Cultural monuments along the Queen’s Route. Photo: Øksnes museum