Controversy arises over ancient stone site

The controversy over Ale's Stones (Ales stenar), a sandstone monument in the form of a ship, in Skåne in southern Sweden has taken a new turn.

The county administrative board has taken a decision to charge amateur archeaologist Bob G. Lind a fine of 20,000 kronor per day if he puts up signs at the popular tourist destination, reports Skånska Dagbladet newspaper.

Lind's previous signs at Ale's Stones, which has been called the "Stonehenge of the Nordic region", have been removed by the county board. They describe Lind's theories about the origins of the monument, which differ from those of professional archaeologists.

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The Viking Ship Museum will be 40 years old on 20 June

There will be free admission when the Viking Ship Museum opens its doors for a birthday celebration with many opportunities to look back over the first 40 years of the museum.

On Saturday 20 June it will be 40 years since King Frederik IX inaugurated the Viking Ship Hall in Roskilde. The day will be celebrated with special guided tours, open access to the Sea Stallion, publication of a book, the boatyard will be open to the public etc. There will also be free admission all day for both adults and children.

There will be plenty of opportunities to get close to the work with the Viking ships, past, present and future. The high-points of the day are listed in the programme below.

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New Viking movie in production in Iceland

Baltasar Kormakur, Iceland’s best known film director, has started work on a new high-budget Viking movie. This will be the most expensive film ever made in Iceland with an estimated budget of 60 million dollars.

Baltasar, who is probably the most popular movie director in Iceland, became famous for directing “101 Reykjavik” some years ago. His new movie is partly based on the stories of Njal (”Njals saga”), a Viking herse and his family living in Norway and Iceland. The sagas are full of dramatic stories, and they are a very important part of the history of the Icelanders.

“I’m really looking forward to this movie, and I’m sure it will be a hit internationally, it’s so full of excitement and adventure,” the director said.

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The Viking and Anglo-Saxon Landscape and Economy (VASLE) Project

In the last fifteen years the role of metal-detected objects in the study of Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Scandinavian England has greatly increased through reporting to the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) and the Early Medieval Corpus (EMC). There are now thousands more artefacts and coins known than a decade ago which, in conjunction with fieldwork, have the potential to revolutionise our understanding of the early medieval period.

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