Vikings

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Viking Burial Ground Yields Clues to 10th Century

More than 50 skeletons in Denmark are incredibly well-preserved

(Newser) - In a village in central Denmark, archeologists made a landmark discovery that could hold important clues to the Viking era: a burial ground, containing some 50 skeletons. "This is such an exciting find because we found these skeletons that are so very, very well preserved," says archeologist...

'Big News' From DNA: Probable Viking, Inuit Encounters

Walruses brought to Europe by the Norse traced to Baffin Bay, home of the Thule Inuit

(Newser) - The idea that Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas long ago moved from the history books to the garbage can, but if you need more disputing evidence, you can find it in a new study on the Vikings, whose quest for ivory is believed to have led them into the path...

US Archaeologist Named as Viking Voyage Victim

Replica boat sank in rough seas off Norway

(Newser) - The American woman who died when a replica Viking boat sank off the coast of Norway has been identified by Norwegian media as Karla Dana, a 29-year-old archaeologist. She was a resident of Orlando, Florida, according to Norwegian broadcaster KVF . The US State Department confirmed to the BBC that an...

American Woman Dies While Re-Creating Viking Voyage

The 30-foot Naddoddur ran into rough seas off Norway

(Newser) - An American woman has died after the boat she was in—a replica of a Viking-type ship—capsized off Norway's west coast late Tuesday. The BBC reports she was one of six people aboard the Naddoddur, a 30-foot long boat that encountered rough seas while traveling from the Faroe...

Student Stumbles Across Some Stunning Viking Silver

Archaeology student in Denmark finds 7 'spectacular' arm rings

(Newser) - An archaeology student unearthed seven "spectacular" Viking-era curled silver arm rings earlier this year north of Denmark's second-largest city, a Danish museum said on Monday, adding that the finding has ties to Russia, Ukraine, and the British Isles. The Moesgaard Museum , located south of Aarhus where the relics...

King Bluetooth Lies at Center of an Archaeological Dispute

Archaeologist and researcher say he was buried in Poland, but they don't agree on where

(Newser) - More than 1,000 years after his death in what's now Poland, a European king whose nickname lives on through wireless technology is at the center of an archaeological dispute. Chronicles from the Middle Ages say King Harald "Bluetooth" Gormsson of Denmark acquired his nickname courtesy of a...

Vikings Were in North America Exactly 1K Years Ago

Cosmic ray event provided firm date for settlement in what is now Newfoundland

(Newser) - Researchers have long known that a Viking settlement existed in North America centuries before Christopher Columbus was born—and they now have a firm date for it for the first time. Scientists who looked for the impact of a solar storm in tree rings from wood at the Newfoundland site...

Yale: Our Viking Treasure Is 'Fake'
'The Vinland Map Is a Fake'
Sep 30, 2021 12:02 PM CDT

'The Vinland Map Is a Fake'

Analyses suggest storied map was forged in 20th century, isn't an ancient relic

(Newser) - It was once considered the oldest known map depicting North America. But the Vinland Map, credited to early Viking explorers, is not what it initially seemed, according to Yale University, which acquired it in the 1960s. For one thing, the calfskin parchment map of the North American coastline southwest of...

Surprise Discovery of Coins May Be Old Viking Ransom

Money was paid to avoid a sack of Paris, and the coins were found in a Polish field

(Newser) - Last fall, metal detectorists turned up some old coins in a Polish field. Now, what had at first seemed like a not-so-surprising find has the potential to be quite the opposite, reports the New York Times . Archaeologists have since found nearly 120 silver coins at the location near the town...

World's Deadliest Virus Found in Viking Remains
Vikings Had Early Version
of the 'Deadliest Virus'
new study
Jul 25, 2020 2:00 PM CDT

Vikings Had Early Version of the 'Deadliest Virus'

Turns out smallpox dates back at least 1,400 years

(Newser) - Those Vikings just keep making history. Not only did they settle North America and have female warriors , they apparently suffered from an early kind of smallpox—the disease the killed off hundreds of millions of people in the 20th century, the New York Times reports. The now-extinct strain turned up...

Vikings' Collapse Had a Lot to Do With Walruses
Vikings' Collapse Had a
Lot to Do With Walruses
in case you missed it
Jan 11, 2020 2:30 PM CST

Vikings' Collapse Had a Lot to Do With Walruses

Decline in walrus ivory left Vikings with little to trade: researchers

(Newser) - The Vikings' disappearance from Greenland in the 15th century came not in an epic battle but with a decline in the walrus ivory trade, according to researchers, who may have cracked "one of history's big mysteries," per Newsweek . Walrus ivory was a hot commodity in medieval Europe....

Iceland Trying to Undo What the Vikings Did

The reforestation effort is a slow-moving one

(Newser) - That Iceland is the most lightly forested country in all of Europe is the doing of man, not nature—long-since-deceased man. The AFP reports more than 25% of the island was covered in trees, mostly birch, when the Vikings reached its shores in the late 800s. A century later, only...

Chess Piece in a Drawer for 55 Years May Sell for $1.3M

Piece has been identified as one of the famous Lewis Chessmen from the Viking era

(Newser) - A chess piece purchased for $7.50 by an antiques dealer in Scotland in 1964 has been identified as one of the 900-year-old Lewis Chessmen, among the greatest artifacts of the Viking era. Sotheby's auction house said Monday the chess piece is expected to bring between $670,000 and...

Archaeologists Find Viking-Era Ship

It will remain buried near Oslo

(Newser) - Norwegian officials say they have found a ship buried in the ground west of Oslo that they think dates to the Viking era. The ship was found using geo-radar, the AP reports. Archaeologists say they have no immediate plans to unearth it, but they will use non-invasive methods to find...

Girl Describes Finding Iron Age Sword in Swedish Lake

Saga Vanecek says people are calling her the country's new queen

(Newser) - The 8-year-old girl who made sensational headlines after finding a pre-Viking sword in a Swedish lake has given her side of the story to the Guardian . In a first-person take, Saga Vanecek says she was in search of rocks to skim from the bottom of Lake Vidostern in the southern...

From Viking Clothing Fragments, a 'Staggering' Find

The word 'Allah' opens the possibility that some Vikings were Muslim

(Newser) - Is it possible some Vikings were Muslim? That's a question the National Post is asking following the discovery of Viking funeral garb embroidered with ancient Arabic characters spelling "Allah." Annika Larsson of Uppsala University tells the BBC she was examining fragments of clothing discovered in 1,000-year-old...

Hunters Find Ancient Sword Still Ready for Action

Viking artifact, found on mountain, is just a little rusty

(Newser) - A Norwegian archaeologist says a well-preserved, if rusty, iron sword dating to the Viking era has been found in southern Norway. Lars Holger Piloe says the nearly 3-foot-long sword was found slid down between rocks with the blade sticking out, and may have been left by a person who got...

High-Ranking Viking Warrior's Remains Yield a Big Surprise

'Ultimate' grave was long thought to have held a man, but belonged to a woman

(Newser) - Ancient tales of fierce female Vikings fighting alongside men appear to be rooted in truth, according to archaeologists in Sweden. One of the most impressive graves in a burial ground near Birka, a major Viking settlement, has turned out to be that of a woman believed to have been a...

Viking Ship on Epic Journey Hits $400K Snag

It's a good thing Leif Eriksson didn't run into the US Coast Guard

(Newser) - It was an epic journey that was to end with the world's largest Viking ship making a tour of the Great Lakes. Now the ship might have to make a U-turn. The Draken Harald Harfagre—which made stops in the Shetland Islands, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, and Newfoundland while...

Huge Discovery About Vikings Just Came From Space

They may have made it further into America than we ever knew

(Newser) - A "high-tech Indiana Jones" may have just done what no one else has been able to for 55 years: find a second Viking settlement in North America, the Washington Post reports. "Typically in archaeology, you only ever get to write a footnote in the history books, but what...

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