tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90757981348097761742025-10-03T18:07:39.859+02:00The Viking Archaeology Blog is concerned with news reports featuring Viking period archaeology. It was primarily constructed as a source for the University of Oxford Online Course in Viking Archaeology: <a href="http://www.conted.ox.ac.uk/v400-24">Vikings: Raiders, Traders and Settlers</a>. For news reports for general European archaeology, go to <a href="http://archaeology-in-europe.blogspot.de/">The Archaeology of Europe News Blog</a>.David Beard MA, FSA, FSA Scothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04960863966432246464noreply@blogger.comBlogger1346125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075798134809776174.post-52667565584605628872025-02-05T10:02:00.001+01:002025-02-05T10:02:37.443+01:00<p>&nbsp;</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/02/04/6/28/Sandstone-fragment-engraved-with-runic-inscription.jpeg?quality=75&amp;width=640&amp;auto=webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="313" data-original-width="640" height="313" src="https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/02/04/6/28/Sandstone-fragment-engraved-with-runic-inscription.jpeg?quality=75&amp;width=640&amp;auto=webp" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>Archaeologists have pieced together the earliest stone fragments containing inscriptions of Germanic letters, revealing what the Norse language was like before the Viking era.</div><div><br /></div><div>Researchers from the University of Oslo found that the ancient fragments fit together “like a jigsaw puzzle” suggesting that the writing may have been “separated intentionally”.</div><br /><a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/oldest-runestone-norse-language-before-vikings-b2691713.html" target="_blank">Read the rest of this article...</a>David Beard MA, FSA, FSA Scothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04960863966432246464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075798134809776174.post-2663439661106076962025-02-05T09:27:00.001+01:002025-02-05T09:27:57.601+01:00<p>&nbsp;</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://medievalists.gumlet.io/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/mnet25020501-e1738730795253.jpg?format=webp&amp;compress=true&amp;quality=80&amp;w=720&amp;dpr=1.5" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="679" data-original-width="1080" height="251" src="https://medievalists.gumlet.io/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/mnet25020501-e1738730795253.jpg?format=webp&amp;compress=true&amp;quality=80&amp;w=720&amp;dpr=1.5" width="400" /></a></div><br />Archaeologists in Norway have pieced together fragments of what is now the world’s earliest known rune-stone, dating back to as early as 50 BC. The discovery at the Svingerud grave field offers new insights into the origins of runic writing, a script long associated with the medieval period but now revealed to have a much older history.<br /><br /><a href="https://www.medievalists.net/2025/02/earliest-known-rune-stone-discovered-in-norway/" target="_blank">Read the rest of this article...</a>David Beard MA, FSA, FSA Scothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04960863966432246464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075798134809776174.post-79671975249812317382024-12-11T11:33:00.001+01:002024-12-11T11:33:12.103+01:00<p>&nbsp;</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://medievalists.gumlet.io/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/vikingsurveywebbackground.jpg?format=webp&amp;compress=true&amp;quality=80&amp;w=720&amp;dpr=1.5" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="593" data-original-width="1000" height="237" src="https://medievalists.gumlet.io/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/vikingsurveywebbackground.jpg?format=webp&amp;compress=true&amp;quality=80&amp;w=720&amp;dpr=1.5" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: arial;">The University of Oslo’s Museum of Cultural History has launched a global study to uncover how people around the world perceive Viking warriors and the enduring legacy of the Viking Age. The Great Viking Survey invites individuals to share their thoughts on these iconic medieval figures and their influence in modern culture.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">The survey, part of the Making a Warrior research project, aims to map the ways contemporary media and academia shape public perceptions of the Viking Age. Led by a pan-Nordic network of scholars, the project explores the concept of Viking “warriorhood” and its representation throughout histor</span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><a href="https://www.medievalists.net/2024/12/what-do-vikings-mean-to-you-new-global-survey-seeks-answers/" target="_blank">Read the rest of this article...</a></span>David Beard MA, FSA, FSA Scothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04960863966432246464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075798134809776174.post-44556955416818105012024-12-11T11:19:00.000+01:002024-12-11T11:19:01.037+01:00<p>&nbsp;</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://medievalists.gumlet.io/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/mnet24121011.jpg?format=webp&amp;compress=true&amp;quality=80&amp;w=720&amp;dpr=1.5" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="757" data-original-width="1080" height="280" src="https://medievalists.gumlet.io/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/mnet24121011.jpg?format=webp&amp;compress=true&amp;quality=80&amp;w=720&amp;dpr=1.5" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: arial;">“Remarkable historical find at Sverresborg. Skeleton at the bottom of the old well. Could it be the Baglers’ victim, thrown into the well in 1197, as the saga claims?”</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">This was the headline in Adresseavisen on December 2, 1938. The manager of Sverresborg Folk Museum, Sigurd Tiller, and architect and self-taught archaeologist Gerhard Fischer found the skeleton while investigating the castle ruins. Three doctors were called in to confirm it was indeed a human skeleton. Despite the uproar caused by the discovery, Tiller was cautious with the press.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">“Thorough and lengthy investigations are required before science can provide definitive insights into the find’s true significance.”</span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><a href="https://www.medievalists.net/2024/12/who-was-the-man-in-the-well/" target="_blank">Read the rest of this article...</a></span>David Beard MA, FSA, FSA Scothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04960863966432246464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075798134809776174.post-70984630583969930842024-12-04T15:45:00.001+01:002024-12-04T15:45:51.983+01:00<p>&nbsp;</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://viking-herald.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/photos/shares/Funeral_of_ruthenian_noble_by_Siemiradzki.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="267" src="https://viking-herald.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/photos/shares/Funeral_of_ruthenian_noble_by_Siemiradzki.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: arial;">A compilation of essays may not necessarily be your first choice when you reach for a book on a library shelf or conduct a quick search on Amazon.&nbsp;</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">For many of us non-academics, essays are something that brings back pubescent horrors from schooldays. The type of thing that, as soon as you graduated from high school, you'd pledge to avoid for the remainder of your life... until you went to college or university.&nbsp;</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Yet one must, as Voltaire's Candide quips, "tend to one's garden," and part of this tending is surely reading both for pleasure and for a purpose.&nbsp;</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Muslims on the Volga during the Viking Age, thankfully, for a collection of essays, combines both pleasure and purpose as a series of famed historians and academics cast their gaze upon the multicultural interactions that took place on the Volga River during the 10th century CE.</span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><a href="https://thevikingherald.com/article/book-review-muslims-on-the-volga-during-the-viking-age-in-the-footsteps-of-ibn-fadlan/1075" target="_blank">Read the rest of this article...</a></span>David Beard MA, FSA, FSA Scothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04960863966432246464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075798134809776174.post-31805953378221124482024-12-04T15:38:00.001+01:002024-12-04T15:38:35.577+01:00<p>&nbsp;</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://viking-herald.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/photos/shares/Archeologists_in_field_1200x800.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="267" src="https://viking-herald.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/photos/shares/Archeologists_in_field_1200x800.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Viking burial ground at Tvååker revealed 139 graves, including ship-formed stone settings and a ship-formed mound. Photo: Arkeologerna</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Ship made of oak and stone&nbsp;<br /><br /></span></b></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">The latter appears to be the remains of a wooden ship burial that may have been relatively common in the local area.&nbsp;</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">"Scientists in the 1950s discovered a characteristic local grave type in Halland County known as 'oblong mounds,'" Nordin and Kjellin tell The Viking Herald.&nbsp;</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">"These have been interpreted to be the remains of a cremation in a ship site. The cremation here appears to have taken place in the ship."&nbsp;</span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><a href="https://thevikingherald.com/article/archeologists-share-new-findings-from-the-viking-graves-at-tvaaaaker-sweden/1058" target="_blank">Read the rest of this article...</a></span>David Beard MA, FSA, FSA Scothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04960863966432246464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075798134809776174.post-18340135661964500872024-12-01T10:44:00.001+01:002024-12-01T10:44:58.066+01:00<p>&nbsp;</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/65ca/live/d2074450-a8c5-11ef-b8a6-4917edb5ec9d.jpg.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="1024" height="225" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/65ca/live/d2074450-a8c5-11ef-b8a6-4917edb5ec9d.jpg.webp" width="400" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Galloway hoard is set to be on display in Adelaide in Australia next year</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">One of the UK's most important archaeological finds this century is set to go on show for the first time outside the UK early next year, as it begins its international tour.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">The Viking-age Galloway Hoard - buried about AD 900 - was unearthed in a south of Scotland field by metal detectorist Derek McLennan in 2014.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">It contains a variety of objects and materials, including a rare Anglo-Saxon cross, pendants, brooches, bracelets and relics.</span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c748yrd7n8do" target="_blank">Read the rest of this article...</a></span>David Beard MA, FSA, FSA Scothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04960863966432246464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075798134809776174.post-71651622819079866602024-12-01T10:15:00.000+01:002024-12-01T10:15:02.453+01:00<p>&nbsp;</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/4260rz/picture295607719/alternates/LANDSCAPE_1140/MixCollage-15-Nov-2024-09-53-AM-7160.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="641" data-original-width="1140" height="225" src="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/4260rz/picture295607719/alternates/LANDSCAPE_1140/MixCollage-15-Nov-2024-09-53-AM-7160.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Archaeologists excavated the Myklebust ship mound and found a 140-year-old message in a bottle left by the site’s discoverer, photos show. Photo from the University of Bergen</span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />When researchers began reexcavating a Viking burial mound in Norway, they knew they were following the footsteps of an influential archaeologist. What they didn’t know was that he’d left them a note 140 years ago. The Myklebust Ship is the one of the largest Viking ships ever found in Norway, reaching about 100 feet long in its original form. Archaeologist Anders Lorange unearthed the burnt ship in a large burial mound in Nordfjordeid in 1874, according to the Sagastad Viking Center dedicated to the find. The massive treasure-filled grave — likely belonging to a Viking king — was “only halfway excavated” before being filled in, the museum said.</span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><div><a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/article295574774.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: arial;">Read the rest of this article...</span></a></div></div>David Beard MA, FSA, FSA Scothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04960863966432246464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075798134809776174.post-33286701357873280302024-10-28T09:24:00.001+01:002024-10-28T09:24:52.447+01:00<p>&nbsp;</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://viking-herald.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/photos/shares/Viking_ship_Shutterstock_Anetlanda_1200x800.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="267" src="https://viking-herald.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/photos/shares/Viking_ship_Shutterstock_Anetlanda_1200x800.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: arial;">When, in season four of the hit television series Vikings, Ragnar Lothbrok exhorts his fellow Norsemen to pull their ships out of the water and over the hills to attack Paris, it seems like an impossible feat – made for TV.&nbsp;</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Certain written records, however, suggest that the act of dragging a ship across land – known as portage – is not so outlandish.&nbsp;</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Both the 10th-century Byzantine text De Administrando Imperio and the 12th-century Rus text Nestor Chronicle describe instances of Vikings hauling ships over land. Now, a study taking place in Scotland could be about to provide further confirmation of this seemingly remarkable feat.&nbsp;</span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><a href="https://thevikingherald.com/article/portage-will-archeologists-find-proof-of-viking-ship-hauling-in-scotland/1043" target="_blank">Read the rest of this article...</a></span>David Beard MA, FSA, FSA Scothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04960863966432246464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075798134809776174.post-34748007990204297952024-10-28T09:20:00.000+01:002024-10-28T09:20:04.167+01:00<p>&nbsp;</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://viking-herald.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/photos/shares/Gjellestad_Viking_ship_1200x800.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="267" src="https://viking-herald.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/photos/shares/Gjellestad_Viking_ship_1200x800.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Sindre Martinsen-Evje, the mayor of Østfold County Municipality in Norway, has called for urgent action to help preserve the Gjellestad Viking ship burial site.&nbsp;</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Although the site was only excavated in 2020 and 2021, time is already ticking as archeologists seek to save the remnants of the first Viking ship burial to be found in Norway in over a century.&nbsp;</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Will it be gone forever?&nbsp;</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">With the help of ground-penetrating radar, Gjellestad was discovered more than 100 years after the Oseberg ship was excavated in 1904.&nbsp;</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">The Gjellestad dig, which took place near the town of Østfold on the Viksletta Plain, revealed the remains of both a large Viking ship burial and several other interesting finds, including horse teeth, a large amber bead, and a Viking axe.&nbsp;</span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><a href="https://thevikingherald.com/article/gjellestad-viking-ship-in-danger-of-disappearing/1044" target="_blank">Read the rest of this article...</a></span>David Beard MA, FSA, FSA Scothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04960863966432246464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075798134809776174.post-4967879919157269282024-10-27T09:58:00.001+01:002024-10-27T09:58:12.562+01:00<p>&nbsp;</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/10/29/multimedia/25SCI-WELLMAN-01-mhwv/25SCI-WELLMAN-01-mhwv-superJumbo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1366" data-original-width="2048" height="267" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/10/29/multimedia/25SCI-WELLMAN-01-mhwv/25SCI-WELLMAN-01-mhwv-superJumbo.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Well Man was little more than a myth until 1938, when archaeologists excavated an abandoned well in the ruins of Sverresborg, outside Trondheim in central Norway.<br />Credit...Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">In the dying days of the 12th century, with Norway in the grip of civil wars, the Baglers, a faction aligned with the archbishop, laid siege to Sverresborg, the castle stronghold of King Sverre Sigurdsson. The monarch was away, so the besiegers pillaged the castle, burned down houses and poisoned the water supply by heaving the corpse of one of the king’s men headfirst down the well and filling the shaft with stones.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">This early biological warfare is recorded in “Sverris Saga,” a contemporaneous biography of the king, who reigned over much of Norway from 1184 to 1202. Scholars have long debated the chronicle’s reliability as a historical document, but a study published Friday in the journal iScience recounts how researchers unearthed the body of the “Well Man” and, with the help of ancient DNA, have provided fresh details about who he was.</span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/25/science/archaeology-norway-sverresborg.html#" target="_blank">Read the rest of this article...</a></span>David Beard MA, FSA, FSA Scothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04960863966432246464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075798134809776174.post-66408610882903316132024-10-21T10:50:00.002+02:002024-10-21T10:50:48.081+02:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="833" data-original-width="1250" height="267" src="https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/10/14/13/Denmark_Excavation_55185.jpg?quality=75&amp;width=1250&amp;crop=3%3A2%2Csmart&amp;auto=webp" width="400" /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Skeletons and skulls sit in graves at an excavation site of a 10th century Viking burial ground in Aasum, Denmark (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">The discovery of 50 “exceptionally well-preserved” skeletons in a village in central Denmark could hold important clues to the Viking era.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Archaeologists made the landmark discovery that included a burial ground and the skeletons.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Experts hope to conduct DNA analyses and possibly reconstruct detailed life histories, as well as looking into social patterns in Viking Age, such as kinship, migration patterns and more.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">“This is such an exciting find because we found these skeletons that are so very, very well preserved,” said archeologist Michael Borre Lundø, who led the six-month dig. “Normally, we would be lucky to find a few teeth in the graves, but here we have entire skeletons.”</span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/denmark-rare-vikings-skulls-graves-archaeologists-b2632607.html?utm_source=flipboard&amp;utm_content=topic/archaeology" target="_blank">Read the rest of this article...</a></span>David Beard MA, FSA, FSA Scothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04960863966432246464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075798134809776174.post-46869427794771208252024-09-30T10:06:00.003+02:002024-09-30T10:06:55.132+02:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="527" data-original-width="790" height="267" src="https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/2472431/viking-silver-treasure-hoard.webp?w=790&amp;f=3c67cc77f4b4940af24982ed0aaa50ac" width="400" /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Viking treasure discovered in Årdal, Norway. The hoard consists of silver bracelets that are thought to be more than 1,000 years old.<br />Volker Demuth/Museum of Archaeology, University of Stavanger</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">"This is undoubtedly the most significant event of my career," Demuth told ScienceNorway.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">The treasure was first spotted by UiS field archaeologists Mari Krogstad Samuelsen and Ola Tengesdal Lygre. The researchers were part of a team, alongside Demuth, who were brought in to survey the site before the construction of a tractor road on the mountainside by a local farmer, who owns the land.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">"At first I thought it was a question of some twisted copper wires that you can often find in agricultural land, but when I saw that there were several lying next to each other and that they were not copper at all, but silver, I realized that we had found something exciting," Lygre said in the press release.</span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><a href="https://www.newsweek.com/archaeologist-reveal-viking-treasure-buried-1000-years-unique-1954497" target="_blank">Read the rest of this article...</a></span>David Beard MA, FSA, FSA Scothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04960863966432246464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075798134809776174.post-57600190768522439442024-09-29T10:39:00.002+02:002024-09-29T10:39:59.200+02:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="525" data-original-width="790" height="266" src="https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/2480533/hardangervidda-national-park-norway.webp?w=790&amp;f=893d42f904138a524d089e22a48f3f29" width="400" /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A lake in Hardangervidda National Park, Norway. The shelter used during the Viking Age was found in the Hardanger Plateau, much of which is protected as part of the park.<br />Pascal Goetzinger/iStock/Getty Images Plus</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />Archaeologists have found a remote mountain shelter used by travelers during the Viking Age.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">The team identified the rock cabin along an ancient transport route across the Hardanger Plateau, a mountain plateau in central southern Norway, ScienceNorway reported.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">The historic transport route, known as the Nordmannslepa, was long used to move goods and animals between eastern and western Norway.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">In this mountainous landscape, weather conditions are harsh, making it difficult for ancient travelers to find shelter. As a result, people in ancient times constructed stone huts at suitable distances so that travelers could seek shelter and rest after a long day's journey.</span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><a href="https://www.newsweek.com/remote-ancient-mountain-shelter-viking-age-travelers-found-1959380" target="_blank">Read the rest of this article...</a></span>David Beard MA, FSA, FSA Scothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04960863966432246464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075798134809776174.post-6819785298211783522024-09-28T16:28:00.002+02:002024-09-28T16:28:49.562+02:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="602" data-original-width="1082" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKqqiPRyBiBJWihZzOn3lRDaN102YiXozVg9CfFEiM4sGa1QdgoPmMBI_lnF12WaOIVmWq5EaWVfq0sFk3p8JmbRA7ZchdakbhIwyrIhCjfnYKowNtYlMuJswN2HqbJb01PIGCzhiN_8yYLcsIUfjVAMrH_a9iIvVhVuf9_rnfc8VGUP1e-5-h/s320/Danish%20Graves.jpg" width="320" /></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />The excavation of a large Viking-era burial site in Denmark has unearthed 50 unusually well-preserved skeletons that archaeologists expect will help shed light on the lives of the Nordic people best known for their seafaring exploits in the Middle Ages<br /><br /><a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/video-danish-archaeologists-unearth-50-viking-skeletons/" target="_blank">Read the rest of this article...</a></span>David Beard MA, FSA, FSA Scothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04960863966432246464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075798134809776174.post-47784471414652188632024-08-11T09:52:00.002+02:002024-08-11T09:52:15.406+02:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="690" data-original-width="1200" height="230" src="https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/lanse-aux-meadows-vikings.jpg?width=1200&amp;quality=70" width="400" /></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: arial;">In the 1960s, Anne and Helge Ingstad discovered an 11th-century Viking settlement in L’Anse aux Meadows, Canada, proving that the Vikings made it to North America.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">For years, people passed on their legends orally before eventually writing them down. The Greenlanders’ Saga and The Saga of Erik the Red immortalized the tales of the Vikings’ westward voyages featuring Leif Erikson. Leif, born around 970 CE in Iceland to Erik the Red and Thorhild, led the expeditions. According to the sagas, Erik the Red discovered Greenland, setting the stage for Leif’s own explorations. He assembled a team of thirty men and embarked on the journey. Discovering an environmental paradise with lush meadows, forests, a serene lake, and abundant salmon, Erikson and his crew chose to settle there. They established camp and made it their home. Centuries before Christopher Columbus, the Vikings had reached a New World, if the sagas were accurate. Finally, evidence confirming their arrival was discovered at L’Anse aux Meadows, Canada.</span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><a href="https://www.thecollector.com/lanse-aux-meadows-vikings/" target="_blank">Read the rest of this article...</a></span>David Beard MA, FSA, FSA Scothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04960863966432246464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075798134809776174.post-81251670370474289862024-06-25T17:44:00.002+02:002024-06-25T17:44:47.068+02:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="800" height="250" src="https://allthatsinteresting.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/viking-ship-burial.jpeg" width="400" /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The flat fields surrounding Jarlsberg Manor contain numerous boat burials</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Museum of Cultural History / University of Oslo</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">In 2018, a metal detector survey started turning up rivets at Jarlsberg Manor, the historic seat of the Wedel-Jarlsberg family and the Count and Countess of Jarlsberg, who led the County of Jarlsberg. Archaeologists quickly realized that the metal detectors were finding hundreds — if not thousands — of rivets, suggesting that a Viking ship was buried there.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Ship burials are an important part of Viking funerary traditions, and archaeologists suspect that this site could contain the remains of a Viking king named Bjørn Farmann.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">After the initial metal detector survey in 2018, archaeologists arrived to thoroughly investigate the site at Jarlsberg Manor. After two weeks of digging, they knew exactly what lay beneath the rolling green fields.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">“We’ve found a place for a ship burial,” excavation leader Christian Løchsen Rødsrud told Science Norway. “We can now say for certain that yes, here lie the remains of a Viking ship. This discovery adds a new landmark to the map, once a significant site during the Viking Age.”</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">The archaeologists uncovered 70 rivets during their dig, but the metal detector pinged so often that they believe that the grounds contain hundreds, if not thousands, of rivets. These rivets would have been capable of holding together planks that were about an inch thick, which suggests that they were part of a large ship — a Viking ship.</span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><a href="https://allthatsinteresting.com/viking-ship-jarlsberg-norway" target="_blank">Read the rest of this article...</a></span>David Beard MA, FSA, FSA Scothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04960863966432246464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075798134809776174.post-89902190724905161532024-06-05T16:55:00.002+02:002024-06-05T16:55:35.679+02:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="546" data-original-width="970" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj-W-Is3Of9riCunWw1GCGyErpXinPcMt4mSINrUD0aSGc2behcazxrxb2eWq82crhZsSg268Ef5FvmSwXhzusE6YXQZHcCEmsIr9Ay9ydnAoGy1mz18N05Tp_adgcB1KNLvlaYrsQmbGga6suEnxczcJEdyqcJrYcNXOBcQA2wNzvWnH6JQ3O6" width="320" /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A farmer in Norway's southwestern Rogaland district found the clay-encrusted remains of the Viking Age sword in a field he was clearing. (Image credit: Rogaland County Council)</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">While clearing a field on his farm, a Norwegian man discovered a rare Viking Age sword that's thought to be 1,000 years old.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">"We were about to start sowing grass on a field that has not been plowed for many years," Øyvind Tveitane Lovra, who found the weapon, said in a translated statement.&nbsp;</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">When a piece of old iron turned up, he was about to throw it away. But a closer inspection revealed that it was most of a centuries-old sword, so he contacted archaeologists with the local government, as Norwegian law requires.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">"I quickly realized that this was not an everyday find," said Lovra, who is a part-time farmer, ferry engineer and local politician in the Suldal municipality of Norway's southwest Rogaland county. "It's about our history, and it's nice to know what has been here before."</span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><a href="https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/vikings/viking-sword-with-very-rare-inscription-discovered-on-family-farm-in-norway" target="_blank">Read the rest of this article...</a><br /></span>David Beard MA, FSA, FSA Scothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04960863966432246464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075798134809776174.post-74103625019142951972024-04-09T12:28:00.001+02:002024-04-09T12:28:42.026+02:00<p>&nbsp;</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZIzXsqkg21zA41TnCPndzPopqq9qPCprziKybuAm2AiAFEuiob4sTvn2D8nuXZZIgmquXKDWFxvf6PblR_QenFnxbwi-xlatll53WHrc2KH1Eyg6Y5aQ5qwD5sMrdflvVvjjdMgVDxaaamRZdxCQHUDS5BtdWGpag8EYx8d5hyMnFrM_d6p9J/s1049/Visings%C3%B6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1049" data-original-width="700" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZIzXsqkg21zA41TnCPndzPopqq9qPCprziKybuAm2AiAFEuiob4sTvn2D8nuXZZIgmquXKDWFxvf6PblR_QenFnxbwi-xlatll53WHrc2KH1Eyg6Y5aQ5qwD5sMrdflvVvjjdMgVDxaaamRZdxCQHUDS5BtdWGpag8EYx8d5hyMnFrM_d6p9J/s320/Visings%C3%B6.jpg" width="214" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: arial;">A large trove of coins dating back to the formation of Sweden in the 1100s has been discovered at Brahe Church on Visingsö, the island with rich history and many treasures related to Swedish history.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">At that time, this island was a key battleground between the Houses of Sverker and Erik - the two strongest royal dynasties. Experts believe that the coins could potentially be among the oldest ever minted in Sweden.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">A bracteate (from the Latin word 'bractea') means a thin metal piece, ands refers to a slim, one-sided gold medal. This piece of jewelry was primarily manufactured in Northern Europe during the Germanic Iron Age's Migration Period, including Sweden's Vendel era. It was typically worn as an adornment.</span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><a href="https://www.ancientpages.com/2024/04/08/trove-of-coins-dating-back-to-the-1100s/" target="_blank">Read the rest of this article...</a></span>David Beard MA, FSA, FSA Scothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04960863966432246464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075798134809776174.post-19394389643796171322024-04-09T09:20:00.002+02:002024-04-09T09:20:43.440+02:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="700" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghMMYk8FybV-8P2LwRMPJOCfgdw_9bL8ZUSYIjQblIGbHxGTJG7h-yOcyOKBX_09qEDY6jfBGDSp_spAfzMGFMdX53vmb1TR_Olptprdkc3gutQzPJzMK7n4qyPd6sWAmkwuik0B83iyEMq1j8p5j-xq_hn__hZBMM09DNC_1iP9PiiZ4-kJfl/s320/Haraldsk%C3%A6rkvinnan.jpg" width="320" /></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Scientists have long tried to unravel the mystery of the bog body today known as Haraldskærkvinnan (Haraldskærwoman). With the help of historical records, archaeological investigations, and modern technology, it has been possible to shed a more comprehensive picture of events that took place more than 2,000 years ago.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><b><span style="font-family: arial;">The Discovery Of The Haraldskærkvinnan</span></b></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Everything started on October 30, 1835, when two ditch diggers discovered a well-preserved preserved female body in muddy water in Haraldskær bog, just outside Vejle, Denmark. Tree hooks and branches held the naked, dead body under the water. A furrow around the neck may indicate that she was strangled before being placed in the bog.</span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><a href="https://www.ancientpages.com/2024/04/08/haraldskaerkvinnan-bog-body/" target="_blank">Read the rest of this article...</a></span><br /><br /><br /><br />David Beard MA, FSA, FSA Scothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04960863966432246464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075798134809776174.post-13155559906056253742024-04-09T09:14:00.002+02:002024-04-09T09:14:44.199+02:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/zpL2_73RaReuCQs4_kxr6drccpY=/1000x750/filters:no_upscale():focal(1000x752:1001x753)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/56/aa/56aa76a2-51d9-4af2-82a8-79c9f6bb873d/viking.jpg" width="400" /></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Examples of artificially altered bones belonging to island-dwelling Vikings may be examples of purposeful body modifications, according to a study published in the journal Current Swedish Archaeology. Researchers think they may have been part of social rituals of initiation.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">For many years, historians had assumed that tattooing was the only form of body modification used by Scandinavians in the Viking Age. However, evidence of two other forms is beginning to change that narrative: filed teeth and elongated skulls.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Tooth modification from this period was first described around the 1990s, while skull modification is “a rather newly discovered phenomenon that requires intensive research,” write co-authors Matthias Toplak and Lukas Kerk, Germany-based archaeologists at the Viking Museum Haithabu and the University of Münster, respectively.</span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-viking-trade-guilds-standard-uniform-carved-up-teeth-180984080/" target="_blank">Read the rest of this article...</a></span>David Beard MA, FSA, FSA Scothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04960863966432246464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075798134809776174.post-49687862663374401112024-04-07T16:35:00.002+02:002024-04-07T16:35:14.735+02:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="451" data-original-width="800" height="226" src="https://medievalists.gumlet.io/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/mnet24040503.jpg?format=webp&amp;compress=true&amp;quality=80&amp;w=768&amp;dpr=1.5" width="400" /></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: arial;">A conversation with Monica White about the earliest contacts between Constantinople and the first Rus’-Varangian raiders, traders, and mercenaries to cross the Black Sea. Who were these people, what did they want, and how did contact with East Roman culture change them?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Monica White is an Associate Professor in Russian and Slavonic Studies at the University of Nottingham.The conversation is based on a number of Monica’s recent publications, including ‘Early Rus: The Nexus of Empires‘; ‘The Byzantine “Charm Defensive” and the Rus”; and ‘Leo VI and the Transformation of Byzantine Strategic Thinking about the Rus”.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Byzantium &amp; Friends is hosted by Anthony Kaldellis, a Professor at the University of Chicago. You can follow him on his personal website. You can listen to more episodes of Byzantium &amp; Friends through Podbean, Spotify or Apple Podcasts</span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><a href="https://www.medievalists.net/2024/04/byzantium-and-the-early-rus-with-monica-white/" target="_blank">Read the rest of this article...</a></span>David Beard MA, FSA, FSA Scothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04960863966432246464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075798134809776174.post-80379325243652361062024-04-02T11:29:00.002+02:002024-04-02T11:29:28.081+02:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="225" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/8790/production/_133040743_untitled-6.jpg.webp" width="400" /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Most of the combs were made from red deer antler, although some were made from bone</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">An unearthed collection of Viking combs is "extraordinary and unique in the UK", according to archaeologists.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">The antler and bone finds were discovered in Ipswich, Suffolk, during 40 excavations over the course of 20 years.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Authors Ian Riddler and Nicola Trzaska-Nartowski said they included "an extraordinary sequence of Viking combs unmatched elsewhere in the country".</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">They indicate the presence of Vikings in Ipswich in the late 9th Century.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Riddler and Trzaska-Nartowski are among the authors of a recently published analysis of 1,341 finds and 2,400 fragments of waste unearthed during digs between 1974 and 1994.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">"It was always our intention that the book had a European outlook and placed Ipswich in the centre of a developing early medieval world for one particular craft," they said in a statement about the analysis.</span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-suffolk-68685682" target="_blank">Read the rest of this article...</a></span>David Beard MA, FSA, FSA Scothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04960863966432246464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075798134809776174.post-7146632796541058002024-03-28T08:22:00.003+01:002024-03-28T08:22:15.568+01:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="791" height="400" src="https://allthatsinteresting.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/lewis-chessmen.jpg" width="396" /></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: arial;">Viking berserkers existed as mercenaries for hundreds of years during the Scandinavian Middle Ages, traveling in bands to fight wherever they could get paid. But they also worshiped Odin and were associated with mythological shapeshifters.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">And eventually, Norse berserkers became so fearsome that they were entirely outlawed by the 11th century.</span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><a href="https://allthatsinteresting.com/viking-berserkers" target="_blank">Read the rest of this article...</a></span>David Beard MA, FSA, FSA Scothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04960863966432246464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9075798134809776174.post-18833585595262363082024-03-20T09:06:00.002+01:002024-03-20T09:06:36.602+01:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="520" data-original-width="800" height="260" src="https://medievalists.gumlet.io/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/mnet24031901.jpg" width="400" /></span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: arial;">A recent study delves into the discovery of three women from Viking-Age Gotland who underwent skull elongation. This investigation sheds light on the fascinating tradition of body modification prevalent among the Norse and Vikings.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">The study, authored by Matthias Toplak and Lukas Kerk and published in the journal Current Swedish Archaeology, investigates archaeological findings from Gotland, where half of all documented cases of male teeth filing have been discovered. Alongside the intriguing possibility of Viking tattoos, these practices represent the known forms of body modification taking place in early medieval Scandinavia.</span></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><a href="https://www.medievalists.net/2024/03/skull-modifications-viking-women/" target="_blank">Read the rest of this article...</a></span>David Beard MA, FSA, FSA Scothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04960863966432246464noreply@blogger.com