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 »
Björk, an Icelandic singer and actress, has a cute tattoo on her left upper arm. It is a Norse magic symbol called Vegvísir, which has a deep meaning. The Icelandic word literally means ‘guidepost’ or ‘direction sign’. In modern popular culture the Vegvísir is often called Runic Compass or See the Way. It is often [...]
The tilberi witchcraft can be only performed by women. Its goal is to steal milk from neighbors. In order to make a tilberi, a woman should go to a graveyard early on Whitsunday and dig a human rib there. Then this rib needs to be wrapped in grey wool and be preserved between breasts for [...]
Viking warlords led their armies under a banner (merki) or war flag (gunnefane). For instance, king Olaf Tryggvason had a dragon banner. However, raven was the most common image on such standards. Under the year 878 the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle mentions a viking banner called Hræfn (‘Raven’). Harald Hardrada’s banner called Landøyðan (‘Land-Waster’), mentioned in the [...]
Contrary to a widespread delusion, Viking helmets did not have horns. The only helmet that may be unmistakeably attributed to the Viking armor was found in 1943 in a burial mound near Gjermundbu, Norway. The mound contained many other artifacts of the Viking Age, such as swords, sheath fittings, chain mail and several tools. The [...]
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 [...]
Last fall an area near a church outside Stockholm, Sweden was excavated in order to lay some cables. The workers dug out some rocks, which were left on the plot. One of these rocks covered with mud and earth was thought to be quite fitting for use as a church parking lot border. Week after [...]
