The Gokstad ship is a Viking ship excavated in 1880 not far from Sandefjord (Vestfold, Norway) by Nicolay Nicolaysen. The ship was buried in a trench. On board, it had a burial chamber of a wealthy chieftain. Above a large mound was raised. Along with the 24 meters long ship, its oars, pulleys, yards and [...]
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The Oseberg ship was buried in a trench dug into blue clay that preserved the oak almost intact for more than a millennium. The trench was filled with rocks and layers of peat, grass-side down. The Viking ship was tied to a rock, with its bow pointing towards the sea. It had an anchor, but [...]
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The Oseberg ship is perhaps the most exciting Viking ship ever found. August 8, 1903 Norwegian farmer named Knut Rom visited Professor Gabriel Gustafson of the University Museum of Antiquities in Oslo. There was a large mound within Rom’s farm Lille Oseberg located in Vestfold county, on the western coast of the Oslofjord, near Tønsberg. [...]
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Oseberg ship was found in a large burial mound in 1904 near Oseberg farm, Vestfold county, Norway. It is believed to be one of the best preserved and most exciting Viking ship finds, even though the burial (dating to 834 AD) was looted as early as in the Middle Ages. The ship’s prow and the [...]
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Early this month a team of divers discovered a wreck of a 20-metre long Viking ship at the bottom of Lake Vänern, Sweden’s largest lake. Several Viking ships had been unearthed in Sweden before, but all of them on dry land. This is the first find of such type in Swedish waters. One of the [...]
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As far as I was able to find out, at least eight important viking ship finds have been reported over the last twelve years.
In July 1997 a joint expedition of the Center for Russian Underwater Archaeology and Archeoclub d’Italia discovered a wreck of a 9th or 10th century Varangian ship in Dalnaja Bay near Vyborg, [...]
Last Monday Variety reported that Mel Gibson is going to direct a Viking movie with Leonardo DiCaprio set to star. The screenplay is by William Monahan. The project will be financed by Mel Gibson and Graham King.
The Viking film is expected to begin shooting in fall 2010. Before it happens, Gibson will star in How I Spent My Summer Vacation, a Mexican prison drama. Even earlier, we’ll see him in Edge of Darkness and Jodie Foster’s The Beaver. As for Leonardo DiCaprio, in 2010 he stars in Nolan’s Inception and Scorcese’s Shutter Island. Read the whole story »
Last Saturday, November 14, Roskilde Museum site published an article (in Danish), entitled “Odin fra Lejre” (“Odin from Lejre”). It tells about an exciting archaeological find, a small silver figurine discovered early in September at Lejre (municipality on the island of Zealand, Denmark). Amateur archaeologist Tommy Olesen was metal detecting near the site where archaeologists [...]
To the left is the mirrored image of one of the four cast-bronze dies from Torslunda, which were used for striking helmet-plates. It is mirrored advisedly, in order to get the actual image that appeared on the helmets when the matrice was applied to them. This die (dated to c. 600) was found at [...]
How many loanwords from Old Nose are there in the standard English language? Viking origin of the words ‘ransack’ and ’slaughter’ probably would not surprise anyone, but very “peaceful” words like ‘leg’, ’sky’ or ‘window’ are also of Scandinavian provenance. The verb ‘get’, one of the most used in English, was actually borrowed from Old [...]
The 13th Warrior was released in 1999. Rumored to be a loss of $100 million at the box office worldwide, it is not the best film by McTiernan (Die Hard, The Thomas Crown Affair) in any sense. However, it was rather entertaining to watch it again, taking a few notes in the process. From the [...]
In September 2008 Dr James H. Barrett, who is deputy director of Cambridge University’s McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, published a paper that provoked lively discussion. The paper was entitled “What caused the Viking Age?”. It was published in Antiquity v.82 n.317, pages 671-685 (available for subscribers here).
The Viking Age began dramatically in 793, when [...]
Climate, lifestyle and isolation: these three factors largely shaped Scandinavian cuisine. Lengthy, dark and cold winter has always been and still is one of the basic facts of life in the Nordic countries that have to be dealt with seriously. Surviving through the winter depended on food supplies stored during the short growing season. Lack [...]
Mjöllnir or Thor’s hammer is the weapon of the Norse god of thunder. Initially, Thor’s hammer was thought of as made of stone, but in the Eddaic tradition it is an iron weapon forged by Svartálfar (black elves, correlated with the dvergar, dwarves) named Sindri and Brokkr. In the Norse myths Thor’s hammer is often [...]
Some of the symbols treated in this article may be interpreted as pointing to Nazi ideology in certain contexts. Their use in the present article has nothing to do with it. Any such connotations are a recent development as compared to the long history of the most of these signs. Below both their original meaning [...]
What would you feel if you saw a guy with a runic tattoo? Many would probably feel uneasiness, including myself. The question is why. I perfectly know that ancient Germanic peoples used the Elder Futhark not because they were white supremacists. I realize that vikings used the Younger Futhark not because they were racist skinheads. [...]
Triquetra is a Norse Viking symbol closely connected with the Valknut and Horn Triskelion. Artifacts with Triquetra ornaments are found in all parts of the Viking world, ranging from the comb found in Gnezdilovo (near Suzdal, Russia) to the saddle bow from Coppergate (York, England). In Latin triquetra means ‘triangular’ (feminine singular). Initially this word [...]
Three interlocked drinking horns is an important Norse Viking symbol. It seems to be closely related the Valknut and Triquetra and is often referred to as the Horn Triskelion. A triskelion (or triskele) is a symbol with threefold rotational symmetry (such symmetry means that a figure, which has it, looks the same after a certain [...]
