Oldest known ship burial discovered in Norway predates Vikings

An aerial view of the burial mound in central Norway. (Image credit: Geir Grønnesby)

A large, grassy hill in Norway known as the Herlaugshagen burial mound was likely the site of a pre-Viking ship burial, a new analysis finds.

Archaeologists have long wondered whether the oversize mound in Leka, a municipality in central Norway located along a known centuries-old shipping route, once housed a ship. This summer, researchers conducted surveys at the coastal site and discovered several large rivets that would have held the vessel together, as well as wooden remains that are likely from the ship, according to Norwegian SciTech News, a news outlet that provides coverage for the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and the Foundation for Industrial and Technical Research (SINTEF).

"The sizes of the ship's rivets and the preserved wood around several of the rivets show that the preservation conditions are good," Geir Grønnesby, an archaeologist at NTNU who led the surveys, told Live Science in an email. "This is the largest burial mound in Trøndelag (Central Norway) and one of the largest in Norway."

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Vikings Pillaged, Conquered And Cleaned Their Teeth With Toothpicks

A hole filed from the crown of a Viking tooth into the pulp to reduce toothache and infection. UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG

After a long, hard day of pillaging with axes and swords, Vikings likely celebrated their victories with a feast that included a roasted pig or ox and goblets overflowing with ale. In movies and books about the ancient seafaring conquerors, they don’t pause their revelry to remove gristle from their teeth with toothpicks. But in real life, they did, according to a new study.

And toothpicks are just one way they cared for their chompers.

The study, published in the journal Plos One, describes what scientists discovered when they analyzed human teeth from about 800 to 1,000 years ago to gain a better sense of everyday oral health and habits in one community of Swedish Vikings. The researchers describe the sort of bleak dental picture common to medieval Europe—frequent tooth decay, infections and tooth loss. In the Viking population studied, 49% had one or more cavities, due largely to a high intake of starchy foods combined with a lack of dental care. Adults lost an average of 6% of their teeth, excluding wisdom teeth, over the course of their lifetimes.

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Sutton Hoo Saxon ship reconstruction aims for 2025 sailing

The Sutton Hoo Saxon ship project, spearheaded by master shipwright Tim Kirk, is a remarkable effort to reconstruct the largest Saxon ship ever discovered.
Source: The Sutton Hoo Ship's Company

The treasures of Sutton Hoo in East Anglia are legendary, including the imprint left by the largest Saxon ship ever found.

Expert shipwright Tim Kirk has been leading a team of volunteers to create an authentic reconstruction of the vessel, with a view to it being sailed in 2025. 

With occasional references to the reconstruction activity at the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde, Tim talks at length to The Viking Herald about how the project came about, the pitfalls of using a unique Saxon burial site as an army training ground, and the quest to discover what the ship was used for 1,400 years ago. 

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Delve into the secrets of the runes with new course starting January

The third of our three short courses starting in January focuses on runes – a writing system that developed in western Europe in the first millennium AD.

Entitled Runology, the course is delivered online so open to anyone. It introduces students to reading runic inscriptions and provide them with an overview of the historical and geographical distribution of runic alphabets – with a particular emphasis on examples from Orkney and Shetland.

It will also give participants a basic understanding of the Old Norse language, necessary to read runic inscriptions.

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Rollo: Viking Sea Lord, Chieftain, Lone Wolf And The First Ruler Of Normandy

 

At the height of their glory, the Vikings formed many new Scandinavian dynasties. At first, they were considered foreigners, but they eventually integrated with local communities, even religiously.

One of them was Rollo (also known as Gånge-Rolf), an ancestor of the famous William the Conqueror, who led the conquest of Normans to England and became king of the country in 1066.

Believed to have lived between 846 and 931 AD, the first historical account of Rollo detailed his leadership of the Vikings during their siege of Paris from 885 to 6 AD.

Mentioned in Icelandic sagas, as a man of high social status, Rollo is often referred to as Rolf the Walker ("Ganger-Hrolf, "in Old Danish) because he had such an imposing figure that his horse could not carry him and was obliged to travel on foot

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Scandinavia's oldest known ship burial is located in mid-Norway

This summer, archaeologists and a metal detectorist conducted a small survey of Herlaugshagen, at Leka in the northern part of Trøndelag County. They found something amazing.

The goal was to date a burial mound and find out if it contained a ship. They carried out the surveys on behalf of the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage and in collaboration with Trøndelag County Authority.

The archaeologists were over the moon when they found large rivets confirming that this was indeed a ship burial, and their enthusiasm didn't subside when the finds were recently dated.

"The mound was constructed in approximately 700 CE. This is called the Merovingian period and precedes the Viking Age. This dating is really exciting because it pushes the whole tradition of ship burials quite far back in time," said Geir Grønnesby, an archaeologist at the NTNU University Museum.

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Viking-era graves found in the heart of Gothenburg, Sweden

A report just published by the Gothenburg City Museum confirms that the graves found in Burgårdsparken this summer date to the Viking era.

Two graves discovered this summer in the center of Gothenburg by archaeologists from the City Museum date back to the Viking era, according to a Swedish-language report the museum has just published.

A first for Gothenburg 

These are the first such finds in central Gothenburg, Sweden's second-largest city. The location, the pretty gardens of Burgårdsparken, is close to Gothenburg's main football stadium, the Ullevi, where the 1958 World Cup Final was played. 

The chief archaeologist on the dig, Ulf Ragnesten, suggests that further investigations are required. The remains are protected by Sweden's Cultural Environment Act. 

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Scandinavia’s Oldest Identified Ship Burial in Trøndelag “Rewrites History”

In Leka, a municipality in Norway’s Trøndelag county, archaeologists have uncovered Scandinavia’s oldest identified ship burial, dating back to around 700 AD.

This summer, archaeologists carried out a small survey of the 60-meter mound Herlaugshaugen, a site mentioned in Snorre’s royal sagas as the final resting place of King Herlaug.

Herlaugshaugen is one of the country’s largest burial mounds. In the late 1700s, it was excavated three times. According to reports, findings included a type of wall, iron nails, a bronze kettle, animal bones, and a seated skeleton with a sword.

“Unfortunately, these findings disappeared already in the early 1920s. The skeleton was once displayed at Trondheim Cathedral School as King Herlaug, but no one knows where it ended up,” explained Geir Grønnesby, project leader from NTNU Science Museum.

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Oldest Scandinavian Ship-Burial Identified Re-Writes History – Amazing Find That Predates The Viking Age

 

Under this mound at Leka in Trøndelag, archaeologists have found a ship grave from before the Viking Age. Credit: Robert Fry /NTNU Science Museum

Scientists took samples of the wood around the nails on the boat to date the shipwreck. Rogaland has some ship graves from the late 7th century, but this one is even older.

The ship is from the Merovingian period (550-800 C.E).

Geir Grønnesby, project leader from NTNU Science Museum, told NRK that the vessel predates the Viking Age, and challenges existing beliefs about the region's maritime and trading history.

Not only does the amazing discovery push the ship burial tradition quite far back in time, but it also offers evidence that the region was familiar with advanced maritime capabilities much earlier than previously thought. Obviously, people were in contact with foreign part of the world much earlier than one expected. "Because when one builds somewhat large ships, it is usually because one is going to travel a distance with them,” Grønnesby said.

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American Vikings?

For a thousand years, legends claimed that Vikings settled in North America. In my book American Vikings: How the Norse Sailed into the Lands and Imaginations of America, I explore the evidence for this in the literary sources and archaeology; and, also, in the way this idea has fed into the cultural DNA of North America and especially the USA.

What’s in a word?

First, a matter of terminology. “Viking” is something you did rather than what you were. In Old Norse, going “viking” involved taking part in muscular free enterprise. However today, in popular usage, “Viking” has come to describe both those involved in raiding expeditions, as Scandinavians originally used the term, and Scandinavians generally during the “Viking Age” (as it was never used in the past). Nevertheless, it is now the label-of-choice for most people. However, we need to remember that Scandinavian merchants and settlers would not have thought that it applied to them, since it was not what they did. Many modern experts prefer the term “Norse” to that of “Vikings” as a group term, but I have used “Norse” when describing the language or culture (as in “Norse mythology”), but “Viking” for the people and the period (as in the “Viking Age”) in reflection of popular usage.

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Viking Bracelet Made 1,000 Years Ago Found in Farmer's Field—'Real Shock'

The piece of a Viking Age silver bracelet was found in a farmer's field in Innlandet County, Norway, on October 28.
It is thought that the object may have been used as currency at the time.

The day before finding the silver bracelet, Strande uncovered the coin in the same field. The artifact was likely in circulation between the 10th and 11th centuries.

"I've found objects from the Viking Age before but nothing like these," he said.

After finding the artifacts, Strande took exact GPS coordinates and pictures, as well as notifying a local archaeologist. In Norway, the law requires people to hand over any objects older than the year 1537 to the government in exchange for a finder's fee.

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A Finnish Man Inspecting a Pipe Trench Discovered a Christian Burial Site Dating Back to the Swedish Crusades

Crusade-era mortuary is located in the yard of the house on the left.
Photo: Juha Ruohonen / University of Turku, archaeology.

A man who was inspecting geothermal pipes in Salo, Finland, unwittingly uncovered a Christian cemetery dating back a thousand years to the time of the Swedish Crusades.

The first discovery came in August, after days of heavy rain, when the local landowner spotted a shaft of iron sticking out of the ground. It turned out to be a 12th-century sword with a cross-guard and a three-sided knob, known as a pommel.

The landowner contacted an archeologist at the University of Turku who investigated the site alongside another archaeologist from the Turku Museum Center, responsible for assembling and conserving the region’s cultural heritage. Believing the sword was not an isolated object, the researchers began excavating the site in September with a team of archaeology students.

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Exploring the Mästermyr chest discovery and its Viking-era tools

Unearthed in a onetime peat bog near Gotland, Sweden, the Mastermyr chest is a cache of Viking artifacts showcasing advanced early medieval craftsmanship and technology. Source: The Swedish History Museum, Stockholm (CC BY-SA 2.0)

You know the scene. A horde of ravenous Vikings are rushing off their longship and about to destroy, burn, plunder, and pillage an unsuspecting medieval village. 

Whilst this scene has occurred multiple times throughout the world, from the Iberian Peninsula to the eastern shores of the Black Sea and everywhere in between, this is only part of the story of the Viking Age. 

The societies that produced Viking warriors also excelled in creating great works of art and advanced naval technology, bequeathing to us priceless cultural artifacts from runestones to the Norse sagas. 

Thanks to recent generations of historians, we are beginning to look afresh at people from Viking societies. 

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How the Vindelev Hoard changed our understanding of the worship of Odin

The Vindelev Hoard, a treasure trove of golden artifacts dating back to centuries before the Viking Age, was accidentally discovered by an amateur metal detectorist in Denmark in 2020. Source: Vejlemuseerne / Vejle Konserveringscenter (CC BY-SA 4.0)

What secrets about the spiritual beliefs of Viking societies did an unsuspecting metal detectorist uncover among the gold he found beneath the Danish soil?

I recently listened to a BBC History Extra podcast discussing archaeology. Both the host and the guest, a Professor of Archaeology from University College London, expressed their chagrin about the influence on archaeology in recent decades.

Much of this influence has been attributed to "the man in the hat with the whip" - the fictional movie character and swashbuckling archaeologist Indiana Jones, portrayed by Harrison Ford.

Throughout the podcast, much was made of the unrealistic depictions of archaeology in the Indiana Jones movies. 

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New Discovery Uncovers a Forgotten Viking Queen More Celebrated Than Kings

The runestone from Læborg is dedicated to Thyra as the dróttning, meaning “lady” or “queen.” NATIONAL MUSEUM OF DENMARK

WHEN YOU THINK OF VIKINGS, your mind may imagine the muscular Norse Gods: Thor, Odin, or Loki. Or perhaps you might picture fierce-looking bearded men aboard slender, symmetrical boats rowing oars in unison, commanded by feared war heroes like Ragnar Lothbrok.

Yet a recent investigation has found that, during the Viking Age, one of the most celebrated leaders was actually a woman. A recent study has found that Queen Thyra is honored on runestones far more than any male counterpart.

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Medieval Cemetery Discovered in Finland

(Riikka Saarinen / Turku Museum Center)

SALO, FINLAND—YLE reports that construction work to install geothermal pipes in western Finland’s Salonjoki River Valley turned up an iron sword dated to between A.D. 1050 and 1150. The sword has a straight cross guard and a three-sided pommel. Juha Ruohonen of the University of Turku determined that the weapon belonged to a burial in what could be a cemetery containing 200 Christian burials situated near a church.

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Thor's hammer part of Viking finds returning to Thetford

The Thor's hammer pendant, which could have been worn by one of the invaders, was found just outside South Lopham, about 11 miles (17km) from Thetford

A Thor's hammer and a pottery lamp are among Viking Great Army finds returning to the town where they were discovered.

Thousands of Scandinavians formed an army in England to raid and conquer between AD865-878, and Thetford in Norfolk was one of their winter camps.

The story of how this led to the town becoming a major Viking settlement will be told at its Ancient House Museum.

Curator Oliver Bone said the exhibits "show how important this area was in the Viking story".

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Thor's hammer pendant unearthed in Norfolk declared treasure

A silver pendant bearing the hammer of the Norse god Thor unearthed in Norfolk may be linked to the first Viking invaders of Britain.

The artefact, estimated to have been made in either the 9th or 10th century, is made largely of silver and is in the shape of the hammer symbol associated with the deity. 

During a treasure inquest into the find, a report from Gareth Williams, a curator at the British Museum, said the discovery - at an undisclosed location in Norfolk  - may have been linked to the Viking Great Army which invaded Britain in the 9th century.

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Crusader Era Cemetery and Sword Discovered in Finland

Crusader era sword found in Salo, Finland.

COURTESY RIIKKA SAARINEN

Crusader era burials have been found in a cemetery by archaeologists in Salo, Finland, according to Heritage Daily.

While a pipe trench was being dug near a medieval stone church, a local landowner noticed an iron object in the dirt earlier this year in August. The object, which was identified as a sword, was reported to archaeologists at Turku University and the Turku Museum Centre.

The sword was found with a bent blade, a straight hilt, and a three-sided oval pommel. It dates between 1050–1150 CE or the Crusader era, during which time the Swedish brought Christianity to Finland.

The team also found part of the scabbard, additional pieces of blade, iron objects, and human remains in the same area.

A leather belt with 30 square rosette-patterned bronze ornaments is among the most notable finds, along with a buckle, several end and animal head buckles, strap dividers, and leather pieces.

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Norwegian Archaeologists Are Salvaging Priceless Artefacts From Melting Glaciers—Before It’s Too Late

The arrow found by Glacier Archaeology Program. Image: Espen Finstad/secretsoftheice.com.

There is surely little upside to the environmental changes posed by global warming, but nevertheless, a group of Norwegian archaeologists is seizing the opportunities presented by the country’s rapidly melting glaciers.

That group is Glacier Archaeology Program—snappy internet alias: Secrets of the Ice—and since receiving permanent government funding in 2011 it has been responsible for 90 percent of Norway’s glacial finds.

Granted, the group’s success is partly tied to the topography of Innlandet. The county boasts many of Norway’s highest peaks, and the team has pursued salvaging artefacts from remote locations in a comprehensive and systematic manner. To date, it has made 4,000 finds across 66 sites

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Varangian Guard, the Vikings of the Byzantine Empire

Depiction of the Varangian Guard,the Vikings of the Byzantine Empire.
Image: Joannis Scylitza, 12th century. Credit: Public domain

The Vikings were seafaring from Scandinavia. They most famously raided in and around the British Isles and the western coasts of Europe. However, what many people do not know is that they were active much further east, too. They played a surprising yet significant role in the Byzantine Empire, where they formed the Varangian Guard. What do we know about the Varangian Guard, the Vikings of the Byzantine Empire?

The Origin of the Varangians

The Varangians were Vikings from Sweden. In the ninth century, a group of them settled in Northwest Russia, where the city of Novgorod is located today. A man named Rurik was the legendary leader of this group. He was referred to as the Rus’, and the settlement, established in the year 862 according to a twelfth century chronicle, was likewise referred to as such.

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1,000-Year-Old Viking Runes May Finally Solve Mystery of an Ancient Queen

Jelling 2 with runes chosen for analysis. (3D-scanning by Zebicon, drawing by Laila Kitzler Åhfeldt.)3D-scanning by Zebicon, drawing by Laila Kitzler Åhfeld

A team of archaeologists from the National Museum of Denmark has used 3D scanning technology to analyze runes carved in stone that date back to more than 1,000 years ago. Their study of the ancient texts, published in the peer-reviewed journal Antiquity, has revealed new details about a mysterious Danish queen, Thyra, which together suggest she played a significant role in the emergence of the Scandinavian nation as a political force.

The discovery was made by re-analyzing two sets of runestones which were carved by Vikings in Denmark in the 10th century C.E. The first set, the Jelling Stones, was linked to Harald Bluetooth, a 10th century Danish King who is widely-regarded as the creator of Denmark. Bluetooth was the son of King Gorm and Queen Thyra — but historians had scant information about the couple or their reign. 

But the second set of runestones, called the Ravnunge-Tue Stones after its rune-carver, sheds a little more light on royals, and some historical analyses had theorized that several stones were inscribed in honor of Thyra on Bluetooth’s orders.

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Viking Queen Thyra’s Power And Position Revealed On Famous Jelling Runestones

New research not only reveals who carved the runes into the Jelling stones, but also hints at how important Queen Thyra was.

Image credit: auralaura/Shutterstock.com

Today we recognize that handwriting is unique to each person. From the way we form our letters to the amount of pressure we place on pen and paper, the details of our individual writing can be used to identify us. The same, it seems, is true for ancient runesmiths, which has allowed archaeologists to finally identify the person who carved the amazing Jelling stones in Denmark and reveal the power of a 10th-century Viking queen.

The Jelling stones are located in the town of Jelling, near the eastern coast of Denmark. They consist of two massive stone monuments that date back to the 10th century CE. The oldest was erected by King Gorm the Old to honor his wife Thyra, while the second stone was raised by his son, Harald Bluetooth (of hands-free fame) to commemorate his parent’s memory. This second stone also contains intricate carvings that describe Harald’s achievements. It celebrates his conquest of Denmark and Norway and how he converted the Danes to Christianity. 

The markings on these stones are beyond impressive. They contain both runic inscriptions as well as carved images – one side of the youngest stone displays the oldest known image of Christ in Scandinavia. 

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Mysterious Viking queen may have helped unify Denmark in the 900s

The Læborg runestone has an inscription that mentions Queen Thyra

Queen Thyra, the mother of King Harald Bluetooth, was commemorated on four runestones in different parts of Denmark – suggesting she was a powerful figure

A mysterious queen named Thyra who lived during the Viking era may have been one of the founders of what is now Denmark. Multiple commemorative “runestones” mention her by name, suggesting she was a central figure.

“Because of the many runestones erected in honour of Thyra, we can conclude that she must have been very powerful and that she came from a very powerful family,” says Lisbeth Imer at the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen.

Denmark’s Viking Age lasted from around AD 800 to 1050. A key figure was Harald “Bluetooth”, who was king from about AD 958 until his death in 987. The Bluetooth wireless technology standard is named after him. Harald’s parents were King Gorm, who came to power in around 936, and Queen Thyra.

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'Denmark’s salvation'? Runestones hint at Viking queen's power

New research on 1,000-year-old inscriptions suggests that the wife and mother of two Viking rulers may have been much more powerful in her own right—perhaps even a leader of the early Danish realm.

In a study published today in Antiquity, scientists provide a new analysis of Denmark’s Jelling runestones—inscribed stone monuments carved more than a millennia ago to commemorate the Viking king Gorm the Old, his wife Thyra, and the actions of their son, king Harald Bluetooth.

The Jelling Stones, located in the eastern Jutland town of Jelling, contain the earliest mentions of Denmark as a political entity. The smaller and older runestone, with an inscription written in the runic alphabet, was erected by Gorm around A.D. 950; the inscription on the larger Jelling Stone, commissioned by son Harald Bluetooth, also records Denmark’s conversion from Norse paganism to Christianity in 965 and is considered by many to be Denmark's "birth certificate."  (Harald Bluetooth’s name is best known today as a networking standard for wireless communications.)

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Glass windows could be found in Viking-Age Denmark and Sweden, study finds

New research has revealed that the Vikings had windows with glass panes as early as the 9th century. While glazed windows are associated with medieval churches and castles, we have plenty of examples from Viking-age Denmark and Sweden.

A research team led by a conservation expert from the National Museum of Denmark makes the claim in an article just published in the Danish Journal of Archaeology. They did so by re-examining over 61 glass fragments found from six Viking-age sites.

“Several fragments of glass windows found on important Viking Age sites in South Scandinavia, made us wonder if it was just a mere coincidence that they were there,” says Torben Sode, the study’s lead author who first noticed the special find material. “And it wasn’t, they can be dated to the Vikings Age and most likely must have been in use in that time-period as well.”

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How the Great Heathen Army slaughtered all before them during the Dark Ages

The Great Heathen Army, a coalition of Norse warriors, stormed the shores of England in the late 9th century, forever altering the trajectory of the island nation's history.

Originating from the rugged landscapes of Scandinavia, these Viking invaders were driven by a combination of ambition, revenge, and the lure of England's riches.

Their arrival posed a formidable challenge to the fragmented Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, which were ill-prepared for the scale and ferocity of the Viking onslaught.

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Vikings had windows, another shift away from their image as barbaric Norsemen, Danish museum says

Mads Dengsø Jessen, a senior researcher at the National Museum of Denmark, holds a glass fragment from the Viking Age.
John Fhær Engedal Nissen / The National Museum of Denmark via AP

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Vikings had windows — usually only associated with medieval churches and castles — meaning Norsemen dignitaries sat in rooms lit up by apertures with glass, Danish researchers said Thursday. The glass panes can be dated from long before the churches and castles of the Middle Ages with which glazed windows are associated, they said.

“This is yet another shift away from the image of unsophisticated barbaric Vikings swinging their swords around,” said Mads Dengsø Jessen, a senior researcher with the National Museum in Copenhagen.

Over the past 25 years, archeologists have found glass fragments in six excavations in southern Sweden, Denmark and northern Germany.

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1,400-year-old gold figures depicting Norse gods unearthed at former pagan temple

Known as "gullglubber," the gold-foil figure depicts the god Frøy and the goddess Gerd.
(Image credit: The Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo)

Archaeologists in Norway unearthed dozens of tiny gold-foil figures at a former pagan temple.

Archaeologists have discovered 35 miniature gold-foil depictions of Norse gods tucked inside the remnants of a pagan temple in Norway.

The gold foils, which are flat and as thin as a piece of paper, contain etched motifs depicting the god Frøy and the goddess Gerd and date to the Merovingian period in Norway, which began in 550 and continued into the Viking Age, according to Science Norway. The foils may have been used as sacrificial offerings.

The gold pieces lack holes, so it's unlikely that they were worn as jewelry. The first gold foils were discovered in Scandinavia in 1725 and were eventually labeled as "gullglubber," which translates to "golden old men."

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Archeological evidence shows the violence of Viking raids on the coasts of Scotland

Iona Abbey, situated on the remote Scottish island in the Inner Hebrides, was a central religious site that experienced multiple Viking raids. Source: Heartland Arts / Shutterstock

It is today fashionable among historians and commentators to recast the Vikings as a more peaceable group of settlers who came to places like the British Isles to trade valuable goods, swap farming tips, and exchange cultural niceties. 

There is some truth to this, of course – a considerable number of Norse people did indeed integrate and settle abroad without any undue trouble. 

At the same time, the Vikings (or, more specifically, the seafaring marauders who regularly ventured overseas) didn't establish a fearsome reputation as brutal raiders for nothing. 

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A Norwegian Man Stumbled Upon a Trove of Gold Dating to the Early Middle Ages, Including a Rare Pendant Depicting the Norse God Odin

Amateur archaeologist Erlend Bore posing with a gold treasure photographed shortly after he found them in the ground with a metal detector on the island of Rennesøy in Stavanger. Photo by ANNIKEN CELINE BERGER/NTB/Arkeologisk museum, UiS /AFP via Getty Images.

Archaeologists say the find is Norway's most significant discovery of gold treasures in over a century.

A Norwegian man who took up metal detecting as a hobby accidentally discovered a trove of gold treasure that date from around 500 C.E.

Erlend Bore, aged 51, from the city of Stravanger, was going for a walk on the island of Rennesøy when his metal detector began beeping. Although his first thought was that he’d chance upon foiled chocolate coins, Bore alerted archaeologists who managed to locate and unearth three gold rings as well as nine gold medallions and ten gold pearls that were originally strung together on a necklace.

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Norwegian family finds Viking-era relics while looking for earring

One expert concluded that the buckle dates from between 780 and 850

A family in Norway were searching for a lost gold earring in their garden when they decided to get their metal detector out.

They did not find the earring but did stumble upon something else: artefacts dating back more than 1,000 years.

The Aasvik family dug up a bowl-shaped buckle and another item that appear to be part of a Viking-era burial.

Experts believe the artefacts were used in the ninth-century burial of a woman on the small island of Jomfruland.

The discovery was made under a large tree in the centre of the family's garden on the island, off Norway's south coast.

"We congratulate the family who found the first safe Viking-time find at Jomfruland," the Cultural Heritage of Vestfold and Telemark County Council wrote in a Facebook post.

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Shimmering item in dirt turns out to be rare 1,200-year-old treasure in Norway.

Thirty years ago, while driving along a highway in Norway, Harald Jacobsen noticed some peculiar-looking soil — and stumbled upon the ruins of an ancient pagan temple. 

Since then, archaeologists have uncovered 30 gold foil pieces at the temple of Hov in Lillehammer, but there has never been a full excavation. Now, due to construction on the road, an extensive survey of the remains is taking place.

Despite the success of previous archaeologists, the team conducting the current excavation prepared itself for the possibility that there could have been no more gold figures at the site. 

But their preparation was for naught. While on the site, archaeologists spotted something shimmering from the dirt and unearthed five more gold foil pieces, according to a Sept. 19 article from Sciencenorway shared by the Kulturhistorisk museum, which is overseeing the excavation.

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Impressive Textile Reconstruction Shows What Viking Age People Dressed Like

 

The finished outfits in the Viking Age exhibition, The Raid, at the National Museum of Denmark. Credit: Charlotte Rimstad

Some historical movies can give us a surprisingly accurate image of the ancient past. Still, when we want to gain a solid knowledge of ancient history, most prefer to rely on archaeologists, historians, and other specialized experts rather than movie producers. This brings us to the subject of this article – How did Viking Age people dress?

How Did Scientists Reconstruct Viking Age Clothing?

The impressive Viking Age project led by the National Museum of Copenhagen gives us an outstanding view of the Viking Age society.

The museum has collaborated with the Centre for Textile Research (CTR) at University of Copenhagen and leading Scandinavian textile experts from several universities to recreate the fashion of the Viking Age.

Scientists have successfully produced clothes our ancestors wore by analyzing archaeological finds of textile tools, textiles, skins, and fibers from graves and settlements.

Textile samples were taken from Hedeby, and the male and female cloth reconstruction was based on the content in two famous Danish Viking Age inhumation graves

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British Museum asks public and experts to help recover stolen artefacts

The British Museum has asked the public to help identify and recover ancient artefacts that have gone missing from its collection.

Last month a member of staff was sacked and police launched an investigation after around 2,000 treasures were reported "missing, stolen or damaged" over a "significant" period of time.

The museum has now said most are Greek and Roman gems and jewellery, and shared pictures of similar items.

Sixty objects have been returned.

In a statement, the museum added that 300 more had been "identified and [are] due to be returned imminently".

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VOTIVE GOLD HOARD FOUND IN PAGAN TEMPLE

IN A PRESS ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE UNIVERSITY OF OSLO’S MUSEUM OF CULTURAL HISTORY, ARCHAEOLOGISTS HAVE DISCOVERED A VOTIVE GOLD HOARD DURING ROAD DEVELOPMENT WORKS SOUTH OF LILLEHAMMER ON THE SHORES OF LAKE MJØSA, NORWAY.

Excavations have found five tiny pieces of rectangular sheet gold decorated with motifs and stamped imagery depicting a man and a woman. The objects were discovered in the remains of a pagan temple, where previous excavations have uncovered thirty similar stamped gold objects in the vicinity over the past three decades.

The building measures around fifteen metres in length and was likely used for ritual drinking, however, it is unlikely that any feasting took place due to the lack of domestic archaeological evidence.

The latest objects were found beneath the structure in the wall runs and in adjacent postholes, suggesting that they were ritually placed as votive offerings in the form of a sacrifice or a religious act to protect the building before it was constructed.

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1400-year-old gold foil figures found in pagan temple

Archaeologists have discovered a votive gold hoard during road development works in Vingrom, south of Lillehammer on the shores of Lake Mjøsa Norway.

The 5 gold pieces are tiny, about the size of a fingernail. They are flat and thin as paper, often square, and stamped with a motif. Usually, they depict a man and a woman in various types of clothing, jewelry, and hairstyles.

The objects were discovered in the remains of a pagan temple, where previous excavations have uncovered thirty similar stamped gold objects in the vicinity over the past three decades.

Archaeologist Kathrine Stene was the project leader for the excavation, which has been ongoing along the road here all summer and into autumn, due to the upgrade of the E6 highway between Mjøsa Bridge and Lillehammer.

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Vikings: Raiders, Traders and Settlers

The 2013 Michaelmas Term of the University of Oxford online course “Vikings: Raiders, Traders and Settlers” will begin on Wednesday, 27 September.

You can find further details of this course here…

What Viking Funerary Flatbread Teaches Archeologists About Ancient Baking

When most people think of the Vikings, they probably envision what the Vikings did way before picturing what they ate. But if food is fuel, then it's safe to say that the nomadic and infamously chaotic lifestyle of the Vikings needed lots of it. Most of what culinary archaeologists know about the Viking diet has been compiled from a combination of dig sites, the foods eaten by heroes in Norse sagas, and even a limited selection of ancient cookbooks. The Vikings as a people left behind precious few records and accounts. But one momentous archeological dig site uncovered a historical gem: Viking Funerary flatbread.

The loaves were uncovered in graves at Birka — a large, formerly hopping Viking trading post near Stockholm — earning this flatbread the name "Birka bread". Miraculously, the loaves were charred and therefore remained preserved through time. Whether the loaves were intentionally charred as a culinary choice or if they were burned in funeral pyres remains unclear.

The flatbread loaves found at Birka were made from a simple combination of salt, eggs, and flour, specifically barley and wheat. Other types of Viking bread used oats or spelt flour. For closest replication, curious home cooks should make their Birka bread over a campfire. But today's foodies don't value the loaves just for their recipe; the bread tells a much larger story than the sum of its parts.

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The Norse and the Sea: the Maritime Cultural Landscape of Scandinavian Scotland

The Norse and the Sea: the Maritime Cultural Landscape of Scandinavian Scotland

Paper by Alex Sanmark and Shane McLeod

Given at the Archaeological Research in Progress Conference 2023 of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland on May 27, 2023

Abstract: This paper presents early results of the ongoing research project The Norse and the Sea with particular emphasis on the fieldwork carried out on the Isle of Eigg in September 2022. The project investigates the maritime cultural landscape in Scandinavian Scotland (c. AD 790-1350), through an interdisciplinary approach using archaeological, written and toponymic evidence and address the overarching questions of connectivity and communication in Norse Scotland.

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Vikings Were in America Before Columbus, Study Claims

Vikings from Greenland were living in North America before the arrival of Christopher Columbus, according to a recent study.. Credit: Helgi Halldórsson, CC BY-SA 2.0/Wikipedia

Vikings from Greenland were living in North America’s Newfoundland 1,000 years ago according to evidence from a recent study.

Newfoundland is located in Maritime Canada. Scientists have suspected for years that Vikings had settled in the area, but had not been able to assign a precise date to this encampment until now.

The authors of the research were able to trace the Vikings to trees they had cut down in order to build their shelter in Newfoundland. The trees indicate that the settlers were in the area as early as 1021 — 470 years before Christopher Columbus had arrived on the continent, and exactly one millennium ago.

“This is the first time the date has been scientifically established,” said archaeologist Margot Kuitems, a researcher at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands who also led the study.

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International Medieval Congress 2024

The Viking Society is proposing to organise sessions at the International Medieval Congress in Leeds in 2024. The dates of the Conference are 1-4 July. N.B. Participation is not limited to Viking Society members.

You can find further details here...

Viking House The Size Of Two Tennis Courts Discovered In Norway

 

It was in this rural field it once all went down, from the Bronze Age to around the 18th century. Thanks to discoveries made by metal detectorists, even more traces of the historical power centre at Sem in Norway have now been uncovered.
(Photo: Fylkeskommune / Frank Rødberg)

Archaeologists in Norway report they have discovered what seems to be a massive Viking house that has the length of almost two tennis courts.

The discovery was made when scientists excavated at an ancient royal estate site where they also unearthed an exquisite sword and many remnants of lavish parties.

“A finely ornamented handle for a knife or fork was found here during a metal search a few years ago,” says Christian Løchsen Rødsrud, the leader of the nearly three-month-long excavation at Sem in Eiker this summer.

The knife or fork is associated with King Christian IV, who was the king of Denmark and Norway from 1588 to 1648. He stayed at the royal estate at Sem several times.

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Unique Female Viking Grave In Swedish Mountains Reveals Its Secrets

 

Archaeologists have found a rare female Viking grave in the Swedish mountains.
Credit: Adobe Stock - Fotokvadrat

"My first thought was that I had found a mine, but then when I had dug around, I understood that it can't be, Nyström told TT.

Nyström took the brooch home and asked around, but no one knew what it was or where it came from. One year later, he came in contact with the museum Jamtli in the city of  Östersund and understood the archaeological and historical value of the brooch he had found.

At the site in Jämtland, Anders Hansson, chief archaeologist at Jamtli, also found another oval brooch which is not much of a surprise because such pins are usually unearthed in pairs.

"What has been established is that it is a cremation grave from the Viking Age and "most likely" a woman's grave, Hansson says. Previously, only five other Viking graves have been found in the mountains, and all have belonged to men.

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Norwegian couple found a Viking Age Grave And Sword in their garden

While trying to expand their home, a Norwegian couple found a Viking Age grave and sword in their garden.

It’s not always necessary to travel far to make a remarkable archeological find, but few of us anticipate discovering something of historical significance in our homes. However, this rather strange scenario does occur on occasion. A Norwegian couple was expanding their home when they noticed something strange sticking up from the ground. Sword-like in appearance, and it was exactly that.

Oddbjørn Holum Heiland and his wife Anne were digging behind the Setesdalshouse from 1740, which they wish to extend on June 30.

“I wasn’t going to dig a lot, just a little bit in the slope behind the house, to get some more space between the house and the land,” Heiland told to Science in Norway from Setesdal in Southern Norway.

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Ancient Scandinavians wrote encrypted messages in runes 1500 years ago

The Ellestad stone, inscribed between AD 500 and 700, appears to include encrypted runes

Unknown/Creative Commons

People living in Scandinavia may have written encrypted messages in runes – the alphabet later used by the Vikings – several centuries earlier than previously thought.

In runic writing systems, each rune can represent both a sound and a word. For example, in an early runic system called the Elder Futhark, the rune that corresponds to the letter S also means “sun”.

It is generally possible to translate runes into modern languages. But we have long known that in the Viking period, starting in roughly AD 800, runes were sometimes encrypted, so the text isn’t decipherable. One of the most famous examples is the Rök runestone in Sweden, which was erected in the late 800s and contains a lengthy, encrypted runic text. No one has been able to convincingly decipher it.

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The Norn Language: Scotland’s mysterious Viking tongue that can be found in modern Scots

 

Dubbed the “sixth Scandinavian language” Norn was spoken by Scots for centuries prior to its extinction, but echoes of this past can still be heard as remnants of the Viking tongue exist in modern Scottish words.

Broadly speaking, Etymologists divide Scandinavian languages into two historical branches; Western and Eastern. Danish and Swedish account for the Eastern examples while the Western includes Norwegian, Icelandic and Faroese.

Just as Iceland and the Faroe Islands were largely settled by Norwegian Vikings, regions of Scotland like the Shetland Islands also underwent this Norse invasion which led to the birth of another Western Scandinavian language; Norn.

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How to Make a Viking Warrior?

"Making a Warrior: the Social Implications of Viking Age Martial Ideologies” is the title of a new research project, which was recently granted substantial funding from Nordforsk. Partners are the Universities in Oslo, Copenhagen, Uppsala, and Reykjavik.

Archaeologist Marianne Moen, who has also recently taken over the position as Head of Department of Archaeology at the Museum of Cultural History, will be the project manager for the upcoming research project “Making a Warrior: the Social Implications of Viking Age Martial Ideologies” that is starting up in the fall of 2023.

– The Viking Age often evokes associations with violence and war, with images of tough men enacting scenarios of violence and war. At the same time, we know that the truth was much more complex. This project is based on the premise that Viking warriors were not a uniform group of people, and that warrior ideals moreover had socio-political and ritual aspects that were as important as the actual war and violence in itself, she tells us.

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