How far south the Sami extended in the past has been debated among historians and archeologists for many years. The Norwegian historian
Yngvar Nielsen, commissioned by the Norwegian government in 1889 to determine this question to settle contemporary questions of Sami land rights, concluded that the Sami had lived no farther south than
Lierne in
Nord-Trøndelag county until around 1500, when they started moving south, reaching the area around Lake
Femund in the 18th century.
[29] This hypothesis is still accepted among many historians, but has been the subject of scholarly debate in the 21st century. In recent years, several archaeological finds indicate a Sami presence in southern Norway in the Middle Ages, and southern Sweden,
[22] including finds in
Lesja, in
Vang in
Valdres and in
Hol and
Ål in
Hallingdal.
[30] Proponents of the Sami interpretations of these finds assume a mixed population of Norse and Sami people in the mountainous areas of southern Norway in the Middle Ages.
[31]