The ladies wrang their fingers white,
The maidens tore their heair,
All for the sake of their true loves,
For them they'll see nae mair.
Posted on 04/30/2010 7:37:23 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
A team of Irish archaeologists is puzzled by the "bizarre" discovery of a 1,150-year-old Viking necklace in a cave in the Burren.
Besides being the largest by far -- up to 12 times longer than previous finds -- the team is puzzled by how such a "high-status" Viking treasure came to lie in the Burren, an area never settled by the Norsemen.
The site where the necklace was found at Glencurran Cave was described by team leader Dr Marion Dowd of Sligo IT as a "treasure trove" for archaeologists.
The necklace is one of a number of major items discovered in the dig, funded by the Department of the Environment and the Royal Irish Academy.
Dr Dowd said yesterday: "The necklace is the largest Viking necklace to have been found in Ireland. Normally, Vikings necklaces that have been found have five to six glass beads, but this has 71 glass beads covered with gold foil."
A leading expert on Irish cave archaeology, Dr Dowd was puzzled by how such a "stunning piece of jewellery" came to rest in the Burren.
"There is no parallel for it in Ireland and it is puzzling on a number of fronts," he said.
Dr Dowd said that the Vikings never settled in the Burren, but that Limerick was one of the Irish cities that they did settle in and speculated that the necklace -- dating from the mid 9th century -- could have been the result of a trade with Vikings from Limerick and Gaelic chieftains in the Burren.
(Excerpt) Read more at irishexaminer.com ...
:’) Thanks sig226.
Couldn’t some Irish lads have beaten the tar out of some Vikings and made off with the booty, stashed it in a cave, and forgotten about it? Or put it there as a tribute to their God/s as thanks for being able to prevail?
Instead, we are supposed to be puzzled because the location does not match the currently delineated GPS/Google Map locations ‘confirmed’ by the ‘scientific community’?
Sometimes, I just have to shake my head...
There was travel and trade during the Dark Ages??? Well, I’m gobsmacked!
Is that one of those Unclean leprechauns?
LOL. Read the epic 13th century ballad of Sir Patrick Spence.
The ladies wrang their fingers white,
The maidens tore their heair,
All for the sake of their true loves,
For them they'll see nae mair.
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