Comments on: Top Ten Viking Hoaxes

By: James Litchfield

James Litchfield — Thu, 10 Feb 2022 00:42:44 +0000

I was born and raised on the Cherokee Nation and have visited the Heavener Runestone. I have been to actual Viking digs. I’d like to remind everyone of Occam’s Razor. Also known as the principle of parsimony or the law of parsimony (Latin: lex parsimoniae), is the problem-solving principle that “entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity”, sometimes inaccurately paraphrased as “the simplest explanation is usually the best one.” The idea is frequently attributed to English Franciscan friar William of Ockham (c. 1287–1347), a scholastic philosopher and theologian, although he never used these words. This philosophical razor advocates that when presented with competing hypotheses about the same prediction, one should select the solution with the fewest assumptions, and that this is not meant to be a way of choosing between hypotheses that make different predictions.
In science, Occam’s razor is used as an abductive heuristic in the development of theoretical models rather than as a rigorous arbiter between candidate models. In the scientific method, Occam’s razor is not considered an irrefutable principle of logic or a scientific result; the preference for simplicity in the scientific method is based on the falsifiability criterion. For each accepted explanation of a phenomenon, there may be an extremely large, perhaps even incomprehensible, number of possible and more complex alternatives. Since failing explanations can always be burdened with ad hoc hypotheses to prevent them from being falsified, simpler theories are preferable to more complex ones because they tend to be more testable.
“When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, stated by Sherlock Holmes
It is possible the Vikings sailed up the middle of North America. That may be the truth.

By: zeb brundrett

zeb brundrett — Sun, 12 Jan 2020 04:04:52 +0000

In reply to Dan Anderson. I couldn't agree more Mr Anderson. the Sagas of the Greenlanders and of Eric the Red when taken in the right context make a strong case of lengthy exploration deep up and down the North American continent

By: Paul

Paul — Sun, 27 Oct 2019 16:28:43 +0000

In reply to Patsy.

Interesting conjecture re Vikings. One statement that is absolutely true is “science shoots itself in the foot quite regularly”. Archaeology is a pseudo-science. It uses some scientific principles but makes unprovable claims based on it’s findings. How often do archaeologists come up with new theories based on a bone discovery, or a tool finding at a certain depth, and then declare “we thought xyz occurred 1.2 million years ago but now we realize it was 2.6 million years ago.” – as if either claim had convincing evidence to back it up. Science can’t even agree on the legitimacy of the dating techniques used in archaeology. A lot of what experts claim they know about man’s history is nonsense.

By: Lisa Davidson

Lisa Davidson — Sat, 29 Jun 2019 16:20:32 +0000

About the runes being “obsolete” at the time they were apparently written — that doesn’t mean a thing. People are always writing ancient characters because they look good. I used to draw little ankhs all the time, yet I have never been to Egypt.

By: John

John — Sat, 23 Mar 2019 05:05:50 +0000

I live about 12 miles from Hampton New Hampshire. It has yet to be proven that Thorad’s stone is a fake. As you said the judge whom owned the property and had been in his family for years signed a letter stating the Rick had been there since the 1600s.

By: Mary Patterson

Mary Patterson — Mon, 25 Feb 2019 18:20:30 +0000

In reply to Dan Anderson. Thank you! I totally agree.

By: James Breedlove

James Breedlove — Thu, 28 Sep 2017 03:27:29 +0000

Oklahoma Runestones, except the rune stone still exist, therefore there was no debunking, rather your interpretation requires greater research. If you are correct, then perhaps their symbol interpretations by the archaeological team were wrong. However, I think not.

By: Viking Rune

Viking Rune — Wed, 09 Aug 2017 10:58:55 +0000

In reply to Tracy McCauley. Sounds interesting, Tracy.

By: Phil Nielsen

Phil Nielsen — Tue, 28 Feb 2017 02:22:46 +0000

In reply to James P. Atwood. Futhark is the first six runes of the Elder Futhark, Fehu, Uruz, Thurisaz, Ansuz, Raidho, and Kenaz.

By: Pete Longstreet

Pete Longstreet — Sun, 12 Feb 2017 08:36:24 +0000

In reply to Dan Anderson. Dan, I think you can boil down everything you just said to one very simple sentence. "I don't have any evidence so it must be true." Sorry, science doesn't work that way.