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When the Vikings sailed west to England more than a millennium ago, they brought their animal companions with them and even cremated their bodies alongside human ones in a blazing pyre before burying them together, a new study finds.These animal and human remains were found in a unique cremation cemetery in central England that has long been assumed to hold the remains of Vikings — in particular, the warriors who sailed west to raid the countryside in the ninth century A.D. However, the new analysis revealed that several of the burial mounds didn’t contain just the remains of humans but...

1. kafli Óleifur hét herkonungur er kallaður var Óleifur hvíti. Hann var son Ingjalds konungs Helgasonar, Ólafssonar, Guðröðarsonar, Hálfdanarsonar hvítbeins Upplendingakonungs.

Danish archaeologists believe they have found the remains of the fabled Viking town Sliasthorp by the Schlei bay in northern Germany, near the Danish border. According to texts from the 8th century, the town served as the centre of power for the first Scandinavian kings. But historians have doubted whether Sliasthorp even existed. This doubt is now starting to falter, as archaeologists from Aarhus University are making one amazing discovery after the other in the German soil. "This is huge. Wherever we dig, we find houses – we reckon there are around 200 of them,” says Andres Dobat, a lecturer...

Summary: A new study based on 297 ancient Scandinavian genomes analysed together with the genomic data of 16,638 present day Scandinavians resolve the complex relations between geography, ancestry, and gene flow in Scandinavia — encompassing the Roman Age, the Viking Age and later periods. A surprising increase of variation during the Viking period indicates that gene flow into Scandinavia was especially intense during this period.A new study based on 297 ancient Scandinavian genomes analysed together with the genomic data of 16,638 present day Scandinavians resolve the complex relations between geography, ancestry, and gene flow in Scandinavia — encompassing the Roman...

A conservationist in Ukraine discovered an ancient cave complex with Viking carvings behind an abandoned house. Dmytro Perov, a conservationist at the Center for Urban Development in Kyiv, grew up hearing stories about an ancient cave somewhere on the estate of his great-great-grandmother and her family, he told Life Pravda in a Nov. 7 interview. Perov knew the location of the three-story manor — now a dilapidated, abandoned house — in central Kyiv. Perov decided to investigate, he told Live Pravda. He went with a few friends to try and find the cave. After searching for half a day, the...

A mass grave of 300 bodies uncovered in Derbyshire could be the burial site of the Viking Great Army's war dead, a new study has found. The mass grave was found in Repton in the 1980s and dating techniques at the time suggested it consisted of bones collected over several centuries.

Dr Jane Kershaw from Oxford University, who is leading the dig, said it may have been used by the famous commander Halfdan to launch attacks on the Picts.A number of objects have been found there over the years, using metal detectors, such as lead gaming pieces and copper coins known as stycas.'Incredible finds'Volunteers are also working at the field, which Dr Kershaw believes could have been home to a "town of tents" in the 9th Century."They found some incredible finds that can really only belong to the Viking Great Army and their activities in the 870s ," Dr Kershaw told...

Whetstones are one of the most common finds from the Viking Age. What looks like a simple stone however, tells the tale of extensive trading systems - and perhaps even the reason for why the Vikings started raiding overseas.At the end of the 19th century, people emptied the water out of an old quarry in Trøndelag in mid-Norway. Some thought that it might contain a large silver deposit.But the only thing they found were lots of stones. A totally commonplace object...The ordinary stones were whetstones, also known as sharpening stones. They were used to, as the latter name suggests, sharpen...

The Vikings opened trade routes, founded cities, created new feats of engineering and captured ancient hubs. This complete series chronicles the incredible rise and fall of the Vikings, revealing new discoveries that turn Viking history on its head. We tell their incredible history with the help of the foremost experts on Viking warfare and way of life.

Archaeologists from the Norwegian Maritime Museum have found the remains of a beautiful wooden ship in Bjørvika, in Oslo, Norway. According to archaeologists, the find is rare.“It is very special. We don’t know if it is Norwegian yet; it could come from Poland or Germany,” archaeologist Sarah Fawsitt of the Norwegian Maritime Museum stated in a press release.The Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU) is also participating in the excavation of the ship.For almost 20 years, excavations have been going on in Bjørvika, and more than 50 boat remains have been discovered, Fawsitt added.Traditional boatbuilding methodThe boat is clinker-built...

Archaeologists in Seydisfjordur have excavated jewelry that dates from 940 – 1100, just after the initial settlement of Iceland. Notably, one of the beads found in the excavation even bears the colours of the Icelandic national flag.Archaeological digs have been underway in Seydisfjordur, a fishing village in the East Fjords of Iceland, since 2020. Due to the high slopes of the valley, Seydisfjordur is subject to land slides, and local authorities plan to build defensive barriers to protect the village, which has suffered damage in recent years. However, these same land slides have also preserved archaeological sites in the region...

Beaver fur was a symbol of wealth and an important trade item in 10th Century Denmark, according to a study published July 27, 2022 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE...Written sources indicate that fur was a key commodity during the Viking Age, between 800-1050 CE, but fur doesn't often survive well in the archaeological record, so little direct evidence is available. Previous reports have used the microscopic anatomy of ancient fur to identify species of origin, but this method is often inexact. All in all, not much is known about the kinds of furs the Vikings preferred.In this study, Brandt...

A painstaking clean-up operation on a haul of Viking-age treasures found buried on church land in Scotland is unlocking new secrets about their origins... Tiny traces of linen, silk, wood and leather have been analysed during two years of detective work on the hoard has helped develop theories that some objects are several centuries older than previously thought. The careful wrapping of more than 100 gold, silver and jewelled treasures is set to shed new light on how long it was accumulated for before being buried in Galloway nearly 1,000 years ago... He said: "We have a better understanding now...

Most estimates have relied heavily on information gleaned from Icelandic sagas, but since these were only written down centuries after the fact and talk about things like glittery one-footed assassins, researchers have wisely taken them with a grain of salt.But the new study, published today in the journal Nature, has pinpointed the Viking presence in North America to an exact year: 1021

Boat builders of the Roskilde Viking Ship Museum will soon start a new experimental archeological project – the construction of a full-scale replica of the Viking ship Skuldelev 5.The original Skuldelev 5 ship can be seen in the museum’s Viking Ship Hall. The process of constructing the replica will last between four and five years, The Viking Herald reports...The ship was built in Denmark around ca. 1030 AD. It is 17.3 meters long and 2.5 meters wide – a long and narrow ship equipped with 26 oars and a mainsail, built for fast and efficient transport of warriors in times...

A chance discovery is shedding new light on early Norse history, after two old school-friends, armed only with a metal detector stumbled across a gold treasure trove.More than 20 gold artefacts, weighing almost a kilo, were found buried in a field in the Danish village of Vindelev. Hidden for almost 1,500 years, the treasure includes Roman medallions and ornate pendants called 'bracteates' - some as large as a saucer.There are mysterious inscriptions and never-seen-before runes, which researchers think are some of the earliest references to Norse gods.So could Vindelev have been the seat of power for a previously unknown Iron...

How could a ship come to rest on desert sands so far from salt water? One explanation holds that an exceptionally large tide from the Gulf of California may have collided with an exceptionally heavy runoff from the Colorado River at the delta, producing a flood which broke through the land barrier to the Salton Sea. The cresting waters could have carried a ship over the natural dam and down into the Salton Sea basin. The flood would have then retreated, leaving the vessel stranded.

A Viking sword discovered by metal detectorists in Norway is revealing new insights into voyages in the North Sea.The sword was found in three pieces in the Jåttå/Gausel area in Stavanger, an area renowned for the grave of the “Gausel Queen” first discovered in 1883...Under Norwegian law, the sword was reported to authorities and was sent to the Museum of Archaeology at the University of Stavanger for further study and conservation work.Although the blade is missing, the hilt has unique details in gold and silver and includes gilded elements of the typical animal styles found during the Iron and Viking...

Side by side images of the front and back of the small silver Viking coin that was found. It looks very worn, but on one side you can make out the triquetra in the middle and writing going around the edge. The next image shows the other side of the coin. It is very worn but you can make out some small circles in the top left and bottom right as well as 2 lines going down the middle and writing around the edge.A metal detectorist has discovered a small silver coin marked with the name of a famous Viking...

Excavations of a Viking-era site in Iceland has revealed a previously unknown man-made cave.Archaeologists from the Archaeological Institute of Iceland have been excavating near the small village of Oddi in Rangárvellir, Iceland.Oddi was the seat of the Oddaverjar, a powerful clan in the medieval Icelandic Commonwealth. One of the most famous clan members was Sæmundur the Learned (AD 1056-1133) who wrote the early histories of the Norwegian Kings. The settlement developed into a major centre for culture and learning, with Iceland’s patron saint, Þorlákur Þórhallsson, receiving his education at Oddi from the age of nine (AD 1142-1147).Man-made caves at Oddi...