Scandinavian trade 'triggered' the Viking Age

EurekAlert! ^ | May 7, 2015 (bravo, Cameron!) | David Garner, University of York

[SunkenCiv]

Archaeologists from the University of York have played a key role in Anglo-Danish research which has suggested the dawn of the Viking Age may have been much earlier -- and less violent -- than previously believed.

The study by Dr Steve Ashby, of the Department of Archaeology at York, working with colleagues from York and Aarhus University, identified the first signs of the Viking Age around 70 years before the first raid on England.

Previously, the start of the Viking Age has been dated to a June 793 raid by Norwegian Vikings on Lindisfarne. But the new research published in the European Journal of Archaeology shows that Vikings were travelling from Norway to the vital trading centre in Ribe on Denmark's west coast as early as 725.

The researchers say that long voyages were underway early in the 8th century AD, with the establishment of a marketplace in Ribe. What were to become history's Viking expeditions can be directly linked to the development of Ribe as a town and commercial centre.

Using a biomolecular technique developed at York's BioArCh laboratory, the research team studied bone/antler objects and fragments of manufacturing waste from the archaeological remains of Ribe's old marketplace. A number of samples --including some from very early levels -- turned out to be reindeer antler, which is not local to Denmark, and was probably brought in from Norway. The researchers say that the antlers are proof that Vikings visited Ribe, the oldest town in Scandinavia, well before their infamous pillaging. Those trips gave the Vikings the seafaring skills that would be used some 70 years later to strike England.

Deer antlers were central to one of the key industries of the Viking Age: the manufacture of hair combs.

[SunkenCiv]

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[SunkenCiv]

Other than the written documentation from all over Europe and the ruins of places sacked by the Vikings, what evidence is there that they were any more violent than the Fuller Brush man? /s

[nickcarraway]

Trigger warning

[SunkenCiv]

Fashionable Vikings loved colours, fur, and silk
May 6, 2015
http://sciencenordic.com/fashionable-vikings-loved-colours-fur-and-silk

800-year-old rune stick unearthed during excavation of Danish city
April 30, 2015 - 06:25
http://sciencenordic.com/800-year-old-rune-stick-unearthed-during-excavation-danish-city

Archaeologists Believe They Have Found Lost Cloister [Iceland]
By Alex Elliott
May 07, 2015
http://icelandreview.com/news/2015/05/07/archaeologists-believe-they-have-found-lost-cloister

[dp0622]

I’d like to think that my blond Sicilian mother’s hair that I inherited came from Viking Blood!!

What I’d love to see is, given the same weaponry, who the best fighters ever would have been.

Americans Marines, Roman soldiers, the best Gladiators, Vikings, Huns, Spartans, Mongols, etc.

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

Nobody remembers when my ancestors were docile. They just focus on the more aggressive period.

[blueunicorn6]

The Vikings.....like AMWAY with swords.

[blueunicorn6]

I don’t know who the best fighters ever were, but I went a few rounds with this little Japanese woman one time on a cruise ship, and, pound for pound, I’d give the medal to her.

I had to swim pretty hard to catch the ship at the next port.

[tumblindice]

[Hugin]

A lot of times the traders and the Vikings (raiders) were the same people. Pillage one town and sell the stuff in another. The dragon heads could be removed when they were trading or entering friendly territory so as not to scare the spirits of the land. When they went Viking they would put them on.

[Fractal Trader]

I was in Stockholm and paid a visit to several museums. At the museum which focused on the history if Swedish civilisation, there was a snarly guide. He said, “I’m tired of all this talk about the Vikings! There is so much more to our civilization!”

[SunkenCiv]

:’) “We screw the other guy and pass the savings on to you!” ;’)

The fact is, the Viking Age resulted from a population rise during the Medieval Warming, a lack of land in the homeland, and a power vacuum after the fall of the Roman Empire in its former western provinces. They followed closely in the wake of the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes — invaders of Britain — struck and settled in Ireland, and spread into the north (Iceland, Greenland) and west (Americas).

The Varangians (eastern Vikings) served as mercenaries (and assassins and whatnot) for the Byzantine Empire. Hardraada served the Byzantines in the capital as well as military fronts like Sicily. His last gig was back home, King of Norway, but died in the Battle of Stamford Bridge, defeated by King Harold II of England, himself a few weeks away from death and overthrow at Senlac/Hastings/Battle.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

I am sure I must have some genes from the Vikings .

[1rudeboy]

Free Trade bump.

[Big Red Badger]

Just a little bizzare scene,
gladiators against Chiracahua Apache!

[dp0622]

That would be quite fierce!!!
I wonder if some computer nerd could enter in all the knowledge about all the fiercest warriors, and do zillions of different scenarios, who would be no. 1!!

[expat_panama]

Great cartoon, though there’s reason to believe that there’s actually historical evidence that these kinds of confrontations have in fact occurred. Most recent examples were between Iranian and U.S. diplomatic delegations...

[expat_panama]

wondering how this happened:

[Smokin' Joe]

If you have ever eaten lutefisk, you’d understand why people would kill to get carry-out haggis.

[SunkenCiv]

Yeah, I’m sure they went to Scotland for the food.