Kievan Russian warriors, 9th-11th centuries

A reenactment of an onslaught of Kievan Russian warriors (9th-11th centuries). Reenactors and creators of the weapons, shields, helmets etc, are unknown: kudos to them for their fine work.

1,200 YEARS-OLD VIKING SWORD

Republication from the Local

(Courtesy: Hordaland County, Norway)

A hiker travelling the ancient route between western and eastern Norway found a 1,200-year-old Viking sword after sitting down to rest after a short fishing trip. Further studies of the area will take place next spring.

The sword, found at Haukeli in central southern Norway will be sent for conservation at the The University Museum of Bergen.

Jostein Aksdal, an archaeologist with Hordaland County said the sword was in such good condition that if it was given a new grip and a polish, it could be used today.

“The sword was found in very good condition. It is very special to get into a sword that is merely lacking its grip,” he said.

Ηow and where the Viking age began

Republication from Science Nordic

Dragon heads in the prows of Viking longships.

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By Charlotte Price Persson

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The story of the Vikings begins in the year 793 AD, after Norwegian Vikings landed in England on the first official Viking raid. To this day, these fierce raids are the most famous of Viking stories.

Now, a new study suggests a more peaceful start to Viking seafaring — and it all began in Denmark.

Three archaeologists from the University of Aarhus (Denmark) and the University of York (UK) have shown that maritime voyages from Norway to Ribe, the oldest commercial centre in Denmark, occurred long before the Viking age officially began.

The study shows that early Vikings travelled to Ribe in South Denmark as early as 725 AD.

The researchers discovered deer antlers in the oldest archaeological deposits of Ribe’s old marketplace and they turned out to be the remains of Norwegian reindeer.

“This is the first time we have proof that seafaring culture, which was the basis for the Viking era, has a history in Ribe. It’s fascinating,” says Professor Søren Sindbæk, one of the authors of the new study, which has just been published in the European Journal of Archaeology.

New research on the causes of the Viking Age

University of York

The Viking hit-and-run raids on monastic communities such as Lindisfarne and Iona were the most infamous result of burgeoning Scandinavian maritime prowess in the closing years of the Eighth Century.

These skirmishes led to more expansive military campaigns, settlement, and ultimately conquest of large swathes of the British Isles.  But Dr Steve Ashby, of the Department of Archaeology at the University of York, wanted to explore the social justifications for this spike in aggressive activity.

The last Viking and his magical sword?

Republication from Heritage Daily and University of Oslo

Langeidsverdet Photo: Ellen C. Holthe, Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo

A deadly weapon and symbol of power – jewellery for a man, with magical properties. The sword gave power to the warrior, but the warrior’s strength could also be transferred to the sword. That is how they were bound together: man and weapon, warrior and sword.

This sword was found in Langeid in Bygland in Setesdal in 2011. It is a truly unique sword from the late Viking Age, embellished with gold, inscriptions and other ornamentation. The discovery of the sword has not been published until now, when it is being displayed for the first time in the exhibition TAKE IT PERSONALLY at the Historical Museum in Oslo.

The sword must have belonged to a wealthy man in the late Viking Age. But who was he and what magic inscriptions are set into the decoration – in gold? Was the owner of the sword in the Danish King Canute’s army when it attacked England in 1014-15?

In the summer of 2011, archaeologists from the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo discovered a Viking burial ground in Langeid in Setesdal in southern Norway. In one of the graves they made a startling discovery.