Viking Archaeology Blog

The 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: Vikings: Raiders, Traders and Settlers. For news reports for general European archaeology, go to The Archaeology of Europe News Blog.

Thursday, 29 June 2017

First new church found on Holy Island, Northumberland, in over a thousand years

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The newly-excavated church on Holy Island (Photo: Handout) For the first time in more than a thousand years, a service will be held to...
Monday, 26 June 2017

1,000 year old Viking toilet uncovered in Denmark

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Is this Denmark’s oldest toilet? Here you can see the various preserved layers. The lowest dark layer is human waste  [Credit: Anna S B...
Saturday, 24 June 2017

Viking shield, spear points and human bones recovered from Viking boat burial in N. Iceland

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THE DYSNES SITE The exploration of the site has barely begun. Photo/Auðunn Archeologists working at a dig in Eyjafjörður fjord in North...
Sunday, 18 June 2017

Brewing Viking Beer — With Stones

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When archaeologist Geir Grønnesby dug test pits at 24 different farms in central Norway, he nearly always found thick layers of fire-crac...

Archaeologists in N. Iceland discover Viking age chief buried in ship with his sword and dog

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AT THE SITE Archaeologists at work excavating the Dysnes site. Dysnes translates as "Burial-ness". Photo/Auðunn Yesterday arc...

Second Viking Age ship burial found at archaeological site in N. Iceland

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Yesterday archaeologists discovered a second boat burial at an archaeological site at Dysnes ness in Eyjafjörður fjord in North Iceland. ...
Monday, 5 June 2017

Millions needed to save priceless archaeological remains from coastal erosion

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WAVES The advancing seas are eroding beaches along Iceland's coasts and imperiling archeological remains that have not yet been rese...
Wednesday, 31 May 2017

‘Agricultural Revolution’ In Anglo-Saxon England Sheds New Light On Medieval Land Use

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Researchers from the University of Leicester will be shedding new light on how an ‘agricultural revolution’ in Anglo-Saxon England fueled th...
Wednesday, 24 May 2017

Historians reveal AMAZING details about massive Viking Camp found in Lincolnshire

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Torksey AD 872/873 A 1,100-year-old camp the Viking Great Army at Torksey has been brought to life in stunning virtual reality based on...
Thursday, 18 May 2017

Ten of the Viking treasures on show in York for Viking – Rediscover the Legend

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The Ormside Bowl. Photography Anthony Chappell Ross. Image courtesy of York Museums Trust (Yorkshire Museum). A major new exhibition by...

Viking army camp uncovered by archaeologists in England

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A huge camp which was home to thousands of Vikings as they prepared to conquer England in the late ninth century has been uncovered by arch...

Virtual reality brings ninth century Viking invaders' camp to life

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VR exhibition is based on many finds from the Vikings’ camp. Photograph: Dalya Alberge Exhibition to feature scenes and artefacts fr...
Monday, 1 May 2017

Saint Edmund, the Saxon king, may be buried under town's tennis courts, experts believe

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Experts are set to start digging for another missing English king. After Richard III was found buried under a car park in Leicester, de...
Thursday, 27 April 2017

Iron-age Viking longhouses were burned and buried in funerals

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From the Bronze Age until the Viking Age, burial mounds could be placed on top of the remains of three-aisled longhouses. The internal ...
Friday, 7 April 2017

Why you should take your kids to Britain's smelliest attraction

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Scent is the most underrated element of travel. Consider: lavender-infused Provencal fields or sulphuric water in Iceland. Each smell evo...
Wednesday, 22 March 2017

The Fregerslev Viking From Outside Hørning

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Sensational find of chamber graves from the later part of the Viking Age at Fregerslev south of Hørning in Jutland in Denmark will hopefu...
Tuesday, 21 March 2017

Archaeologists make sensational Viking discovery in Denmark

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One of the beautiful, gilded fittings (photo: Museum of Skanderborg) In what is being described as one of the most important archaeolog...
Wednesday, 15 March 2017

Immigration to Denmark is nothing new … just ask the Vikings

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A Viking grave in Randers shows evidence of early globalisation Ernst Stidsing, an archaeologist and the curator at East Jutland Museu...
Wednesday, 8 March 2017

Norwegian theme park wants to be ‘Viking capital of the world’

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Theme park Thors Rike (Thor’s Kingdom) wants to attract Viking enthusiasts from all over the world. The theme park, in the western Norwe...

How to Fight Like a Viking

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Courage, camaraderie, and a lack of chivalry made the Norse fearsome fighters. From the day in 793 when Viking warriors descended on a...
Tuesday, 7 March 2017

Why Did Greenland’s Vikings Vanish?

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Newly discovered evidence is upending our understanding of how early settlers made a life on the island — and why they suddenly disappeared...
Monday, 6 March 2017

How to Eat Like a Viking

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It's no surprise that the fearsome raiders relished wild boar meat. But yogurt? Participants at the Slav and Viking Festival ...

The toy boat that sailed the seas of time

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Some child likely played with this carved wooden boat a thousand years ago. It was found in an abandoned well during an extensive archaeo...
Sunday, 5 March 2017

New study reignites debate over Viking settlements in England

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The Danish Viking King Sweyn Forkbeard conquered what is modern day England in 1013. But very little trace of the Danish Vikings is found...
Sunday, 26 February 2017

Danish Vikings could have been economic migrants to Britain

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T he Viking invasion of Britain  in the ninth century may have been the result of economic migration, a study has found. Jane Kershaw,...
Wednesday, 15 February 2017

Viking VIP: Grave Belonging to 'Warrior of High Status' Uncovered

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Archaeologists found several grave goods within the Viking burial, including a sword (top), the remains of fabric that was wrapped around...
Wednesday, 8 February 2017

Revealed: the secrets of rare Viking boat burial uncovered in Swordle Bay on Ardnamurchan peninsula

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IT was the first intact Viking ship burial to be unearthed on the UK mainland, with two teeth the only remains of the person who was lai...

Face of Orkney's St Magnus reconstructed

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Forensic artist Hew Morrison used specialist computer software for his  reconstruction of St Magnus A facial reconstruction has been...
Wednesday, 1 February 2017

Shetland celebrates the Up Helly Aa Viking fire festival

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The annual Up Helly Aa Viking fire festival has been celebrated in Shetland. Some 60 "Vikings" paraded through Lerwick, tra...
Monday, 30 January 2017

How Much Viking Lore Is True?

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Archaeologists have confirmed key details in Norse oral histories (but not the dragons, elves, and trolls). In TV series from  V...

Spectacular Viking manor discovered near Birka

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A large Viking manor has been found near the ancient town of Birka in Lake Mälaren. Birka, on the island of Björkö in Lake Mälaren, 40...

'Warrior Of High Status' Was Buried At Scottish Viking Boat Burial Site

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The excavation of a rare, intact Viking boat burial in western Scotland has been set out in detail for the first time. The boat burial...
Wednesday, 25 January 2017

Scientists divided over whether 'Furku.Al' rock inscription is genuinely the work of Vikings

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When a resident on the Isle of Eigg decided to clean his drains, he had no idea that he would stumble upon a mystery that would baffle ar...
Thursday, 12 January 2017

Bringing Vikings Back to the East Midlands

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The Centre for the Study of the Viking Age is pleased to report that we have been awarded a substantial grant from the  Arts and Humanitie...
Tuesday, 20 December 2016

Dressed up with bling stolen in Viking raids

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When a female Norwegian Viking died some time during the 9th century, she was buried wearing a status symbol: a beautiful piece of bronz...
Sunday, 11 December 2016

Viking gold discovered in Denmark – on live TV

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The new find was made in the same field that yielded these seven bracelets over the summer. Photo: Nick Schaadt, Museet på Sønderskov ...

Rare 1,500 Year Old Odin Amulet Found In Denmark

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A local treasure hunter named Carsten Helm, along with his 10 and 12-year-old sons, discovered a trove of gold on the island of Lolland tha...
Tuesday, 6 December 2016

Somerset skeletons are oldest evidence of monks found in UK

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Carbon dating of remains unearthed in Beckery chapel near Glastonbury indicate monastic life dating back to fifth or early sixth centuries ...
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About Me

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David Beard MA, FSA, FSA Scot
I am a freelance archaeologist and Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland specializing in the medieval period. I have worked as a field archaeologist for the Department of Environment (Northern Ireland) and the Museum of London. I have been involved in continuing education for many years and have taught for the University of Oxford Department for Continuing Education (OUDCE) and the Universities of London, Essex, Ulster, and the London College of the University of Notre Dame, and I was the Archaeological Consultant for Southwark Cathedral. I am the author of and tutor for an OUDCE online course on the Vikings, and the Programme Director and Academic Director for the Oxford Experience Summer School.
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