Unearthing the 1,000-Year-Old Story of a Rare Viking Toolbox
The discovery of a rare 1,000-year-old Viking toolbox containing 14 unique iron tools caused excitement during recent excavations at an old Viking fortress.
The toolbox was unearthed in a small lump of soil at Denmark’s fifth Viking ring fortress: Borgring. It is the first direct evidence that people actually lived at the site.
Journalist Charlotte Price Persson became an archaeologist for a day and joined the team of researchers to help clear away the dirt and expose the iron tools.
The soil containing the artifacts was removed from the site of one of the four gates at Borgring. The researchers suggest that the tools could have belonged to people who lived in the fortress. It contains an amazing collection of tools which were used around the 10 th century AD.
Lead archaeologist Nanna Holm decided to take a better look before excavation began on the tools. As she told Science Nordic: “We could see that there was something in the layers [of soil] around the east gate.
If it had been a big signal from the upper layers then it could have been a regular plough, but it came from the more ‘exciting’ layers. So we dug it up and asked the local hospital for permission to borrow their CT-scanner.”
The scans allowed the researchers to see the shapes of the tools and they realized that the toolbox itself was gone – the wood had rotted away over time. However, the placement of the objects suggests that the wooden box was replaced with soil.
The discovery is exceptionally rare. Tools made of iron were very expensive and precious to the Vikings. It is strange that nobody had found them before and melted the objects down to repurpose the iron.
CT Scan of the Viking toolbox.
The archaeologists believe that an analysis of the artifacts will help them to understand what type of craftsman owned them.
For now, they suppose that the spoon drills and drawplate could have been used to produce thin wire bracelets. But, this kind of drill was also used to make holes in wood – suggesting that it could have also been a carpenter’s toolbox.
Moreover, the location of the artifacts by the eastern gate of the fortress provides more information on the tools’ history.
They could have been used after a fire that torched the fortress’ north and east gates in the second half of the 10th century.
The team also found a room near the gate which could have been a workshop or used for housing a craftsman. It measures about 30-40 square meters (322-430 sq. ft.), and had its own fireplace.
The researchers speculate that the tools were buried underground when the gate collapsed – explaining why the recovery of the valued iron objects would have been difficult.
Aerial photo of Vallø Borgring. This is an edited version of a satellite photo with added hill shade. The arrow is pointing at a site which has a clear circular form.
Now the researchers want to scan the tools by X-ray. That should help Holm’s team to identify exactly what the tools are. She already has some ideas, for example, that one of the spoon drills may be a pair of pliers or tweezers.
It is planned that the tools will be put on display next year, although the artifacts need conservation work before they will be ready to be exhibited.
A 1,000-Year-Old Bible Found in Turkey Has Images of Jesus and Other Biblical Figures
Nearly thousand-year-old bible has been recently discovered by171 the Turkish Police when smugglers tried to sell the priceless book to undercover officers.
Police in the central Turkish city of Tokat seize the ancient Bible together with additional priceless artefacts after catching the smugglers red-handed.
The Turkish Police also confiscated a valuable collection of jewelry and 53 ancient coins as well as two parts of valuable rings and two arrowheads were also recovered from the crooks trying to gain a profit off of the immensely valuable artifacts.
“They steal everything that they can sell, and what they can’t sell, they destroy,” Qais Hussein Rasheed, Iraq’s deputy minister for antiquities and heritage, said earlier this year of the Islamic State’s looting practices.
“We have noticed that the smuggling of antiquities has greatly increased since last June,”
Researcher lists through 1,000-year-old Bible, written in the old Assyriac language and illustrated with religious motifs made of gold leafs, in a video posted on October 28, 2015.
The origins of the bible are still unknown. The bible is reportedly damaged, but the writings in the old Assyrian language can be still noticed on the crumbled pages. The cover is completely ruined, but the remaining fifty-one pages have images and religious motifs in gold leaf.
Theologians are hoping that the 1,000-year-old document will shed clues about how Christianity developed in past centuries.
Holy book The Bible, written in the old Assyriac language, is estimated be around 1,000 years old and is illustrated with religious motifs made of gold leafs.
Discoveries of biblical artifacts have made news a number of times this past year, with a team of scholars claiming to have discovered the world’s earliest-known version of the Gospel back in January.
A team of researchers headed by by Craig Evans, a professor of New Testament studies at Acadia Divinity College in Nova Scotia, said that they found a sheet of papyrus used to make an ancient mummy’s mask in Egypt which contains a written portion of the Gospel of Mark, and dates back to as early as 80 A.D.
“Where did we find it? We dug underneath somebody’s face and there it was,” Evans said. ” It was from one of these masks that we recovered a fragment of the Gospel of Mark that is dated to the 80s. We could have a first century fragment of Mark for the first time ever.”
The oldest surviving copies of the Scripture had been dated to the second century, between the years 101 to 200 A.D.
In July this year, Israeli archeologists announced that they had found a rare inscription of the name of an apparently influential person from the time of King David, which is also mentioned in the Bible.
The researchers found a 3,000-year-old large ceramic jar with the inscription of the name “Eshbaal Ben Beda,” which is mentioned in the Old Testament book of 1 Chronicles in 8:33 and 9:39.
Archaeologists Yosef Garfinkel and Saar Ganor expressed doubts, however, that the jar belonged to the same Eshbaal that is mentioned in the Bible.
Bows Were Being Used in Europe 40,000 Years Earlier Than We Thought
A cave in southern France has revealed evidence of the first use of bows and arrows in Europe by modern humans some 54,000 years ago, far earlier than previously known.
The research, published on Wednesday in the journal Science Advances, pushes back the age of archery in Europe by more than 40,000 years.
The use of the bow-and-arrow in Africa has been documented to date back some 70,000 years.
But the oldest previous evidence of archery in Europe was the discovery of bows and arrows in peat bogs of Northern Europe, notably Stellmoor in Germany, dating back 10,000 to 12,000 years.
The new research comes from the Mandrin rock shelter overlooking the middle valley of the Rhone River in southern France.
The Grotte Mandrin site, which was first excavated in 1990, includes layer upon layer of archaeological remains dating back over 80,000 years.
The researchers who conducted the latest study have documented previously that Neanderthals and their modern “cousins” – Homo sapiens – alternated in inhabiting the Mandrin cave.
A level known as “Layer E” has been attributed to the presence of Homo sapiens some 54,000 years ago and is interposed between layers of numerous Neanderthal occupations.
The researchers conducted a functional analysis of flint artifacts found in Layer E that were more finely executed than the points and blades in the layers above and below.
Tiny flint points were key because other elements of archery technology such as wood, fibers, leather, resins and sinew are perishable and rarely preserved in European Paleolithic sites.
Too light to be efficient
For the study, the researchers reproduced the tiny flint points found in the cave, some of which are smaller than a US penny, and fired them as arrowheads with a replica bow at dead animals.
“We couldn’t throw them at the animals any other way than with a bow because they were too tiny and too light to be efficient,” said Laure Metz of Aix Marseille University, a co-author of the study along with Ludovic Slimak of the University of Toulouse.
“We had to use this kind of propulsion,” Metz told AFP. “The only way that it was working was with a bow.”
Fractures on the flint points were compared with scars found on the artifacts found in the cave, proving undoubtedly that they were used as arrowheads, the researchers said.
“Fractures for a lot of them, not all, were fractures of impact,” Metz said. “And they are coming at the end of the point.”
Metz said the evidence suggests that the Neanderthals and the Homo sapiens who used in the cave likely met at some point although “we don’t know the nature of the meeting, whether it was nice or not.”
The Neanderthals who inhabited the Mandrin site continued to use traditional weapons, however, such as thrusted or hand-thrown spears and did not develop mechanically propelled weapons, she said.
“The traditions and technologies mastered by these two populations were thus profoundly distinct, illustrating a remarkable objective technological advantage to modern populations during their expansion into the European continent,” the researchers said.
Metz said the occupants of the cave would have typically hunted horses, bison and deer and animal bones have been found inside.
Remains of Man Who Was ‘Vaporized’ by Mount Vesuvius 2,000 years ago Discovered
The skeletal remains of a man whose flesh disintegrated in the heat from Mount Vesuvius almost 2,000 years ago have offered a new glimpse into one of history’s most famous volcanic eruptions.
Archaeologists released pictures of the skeleton found at the ancient site of Herculaneum — which along with Pompeii was utterly destroyed by the eruption in 79 A.D. — the first human remains to be found there in decades.
The man, discovered in October and thought to be around 40 to 45 years old, was surrounded by carbonized wood. Preliminary work has also found traces of fabric and what appears to be a bag. Painstaking work is continuing to analyze the remains.
The bones were tainted red, a mark of the stains left by the victim’s blood, Francesco Sirano, director of the Herculaneum Archaeological Park, told the Italian news agency ANSA.
The site of archaeological excavations of the city of Herculaneum in Ercolano, Italy.
“It’s helped enormously to understand both the last moments of the site, but also the 100 years running up to it,” professor Andrew Wallace-Hadrill from the United Kingdom’s Cambridge University and a former director of the Herculaneum Project which collaborates on the ongoing excavations, told NBC News.
“The power of nature is absolutely awesome and to be under a volcanic eruption is just unimaginably violent. The site sits there peacefully in the sunshine and it seems so idyllic, and you have to explain to people that this has been through the most violent eruption.”
Wallace-Hadrill said that a previous excavation cut off the feet of the skeleton.
“Initially they found a couple of leg bones sticking out of the edge of the escarpment. And indeed the excavation through the escarpment had cut off the feet of this skeleton — a bit like finding a mafia killing,” he said.
The victims’ soft tissue was either vaporized in that heat or decayed over centuries. In one case, researchers said the heat was enough to vitrify the brain of a body in Herculaneum, turning it into a hard glass-like substance, as the temperature reached 968 degrees Fahrenheit.
Known as Ercolano in modern-day Italy and situated to the south of Naples, Herculaneum was a seaside town favoured by wealthy Romans. In 1709, ancient remains were revealed during the digging of a well. Previous excavations in the 1980s and the 1990s exposed more than 300 skeletons there.
Modern forensic techniques can reveal far more than previous generations of archaeologists could: Earlier this year, scientists said one skeleton found in the 1980s likely belonged to a Roman soldier sent on a doomed rescue mission to Pompeii and Herculaneum.
The skeleton was found face up. Archaeologists think the man had turned to face the onrushing cloud of hot gas and debris from the volcanic eruption when he was killed.
“You feel that you are in immediate contact with ancient life, not the blurred contact you get from typical archaeological sites. Because the process of destruction is 24 hours, you have this extraordinary immediacy,” Wallace-Hadrill said.
Pompeii and Herculaneum were situated in different directions from Vesuvius, meaning the effect of the eruption was different on both.
Wallace-Hadrill added that many of the people killed by the eruption — their charred remains often show them cowering for shelter — could have survived had they left the area.
“The wise ones, one realizes in retrospect, simply walked away from the eruption the moment it started,” he said. “If they’d all known this, they all could have escaped, they just had to walk away… But hundreds and thousands did not.”
5,000-Year-Old Rock Carving Depicting Skier in Norway Destroyed by Youths
Two vandals have irreparably damaged a 5,000-year-old rock carving in Norway, which is the oldest known depiction of a figure on skis. The famous carving was used as a symbol of the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer in 1994, but the ancient artwork has now been scratched over and according to researchers, it is impossible to recover it.
According to the Telegraph, two Norwegian youths claimed that they had been trying to improve the historical site protected by Norway’s Cultural Heritage Act.
They used a sharp object to scratch along the lines of the carving, apparently intending to make them clearer for other visitors. The carving is located on the island Tro off Nordland in northern Norway.
It provides one of the earliest depictions of skiing by a human who lived during the Stone Age.
The logo for the Lillehammer Olympics
How the drawing originally looked
The violation was reported by Tor-Kristian Storvik, county archeologist for Norway’s Nordland Country, who was informed about the damage by someone with a holiday house on the island.
When he realized that a sharp object had been used to deface the carvings, he reported it to the police. The new lines are both in and outside where the old marks had been.
Apart from the carving of a skier, a depiction of a whale, which formed part of the same scene, also suffered serious damage.
The two boys, who damaged the national treasure, publically apologized for the vandalism. They explained that it was done with good intentions and had no idea that their idea of making the carving more visible would destroy a piece of Norway’s priceless heritage.
The boy’s identities have been kept anonymous due to the outrage that has spread around the world in news outlets and on social media. It is still unknown if and how the boys will be punished.
The symbol scratched over by the youth
It is not the first time that a priceless artifact has been destroyed by a tourist. In August 2015, a boy from Taiwan tripped and fell into a painting worth of 1.5 million dollars , leaving a fist-sized hole.
In another case, a Spanish woman destroyed a fresco of Jesus which had brought much-needed tourism money to her small town. The church that owned the painting was able to raise more than $66,000 for a local charity with the proceeds from curious tourists.
Skiing has been an important part of Scandinavian culture for thousands of years. As April Holloway from Ancient Origins reported in October 20, 2014:
”The melting of the long-frozen snow and ice in Norway, and elsewhere around the world, has already yielded numerous ancient artifacts, from hunting tools to goat-skin leggings, shoes, and even Otzi the Iceman, the remains of a man who lived more than 5,000 years ago. Now archaeologists have recovered an ancient ski complete with its binding, believed to date back some 1,300 years.
The ancient ski found in Norway
Reports that the wooden ski, which measures 172 centimeters long and 14.5 centimeters wide, was discovered in a glacier in what’s now Reinheimen National Park in the mountains of Lesja in Oppland. Incredibly, even the leather binding, which was mounted on a raised portion in the middle of the ski, was still well-preserved.
Historians have long known that Norwegians were skiing more than a thousand years ago, and now they have the proof.
Skiing, which originated as a form of travel rather than a sport, is known to have a history of around seven millennia. Ancient carvings dating back circa 5000 BC depict a skier with one pole, located in Rødøy in the Nordland region of Norway.
The Kalvträskskidan ski, found in Sweden dates to 3300 BC, and the Vefsn Nordland ski, found in Norway is dated to 3200 BC.”
1,700-year-old Gold Jewelry Find 50 in Pagan Burial Cave on Display for First Time
Impressive items of gold jewelry, discovered in past excavations in burial caves in Jerusalem, will be exhibited to the public for the first time at the 48th Archaeological Congress organized by the Israel Antiquities Authority, the Israel Exploration Society and the Israel Archaeological Association.
The congress will take place at the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel, now inaugurated in Jerusalem.
The new research uncovered the remains of a lead coffin discovered on Mount Scopus, containing jewels including gold earrings, a hairpin, a gold pendant and gold beads, carnelian beads and a glass bead.
The jewels were discovered in 1971, in an excavation carried out by Yael Adler (deceased) of the Israel Department of Antiquities but the finds were not published.
The jewels were recently located in the context of the Israel Antiquities Authority’s “Publication of Past Excavations Project”, whereby old excavations that were not fully published are now being published.
“The location of the original reports that gathered dust over the years in the Israel Antiquities Authority archives, and physically tracing the whereabouts of the items themselves, has shed light on long-forgotten treasures,” says Dr. Ayelet Dayan, Head of the Archaeological Research Department, who heads this project.
“The beautiful jewelry that we researched is an example of such treasures.”
Dr. Ayelet Dayan, Ayelet Gruber and Dr. Yuval Baruch of the Israel Antiquities Authority, who carried out the research on the jewelry, consider that the very valuable items that bear the symbols of Luna, the Roman moon goddess, also accompanied the girls in their lifetime, and after they died, they were buried with them in order to continue to protect them in the afterlife.
According to their research, two similar gold earrings were discovered in another excavation carried out by Prof. Vassilios Tzaferis on behalf of the Department of Antiquities on the Mount of Olives in 1975.
“It seems that the girl was buried with an expensive set of gold jewelry that included earrings, a chain with a lunula pendant (named after the goddess Luna), and a hairpin,” say the researchers.
“These items of jewelry are known in the Roman world, and are characteristic of young girl burials, possibly providing evidence of the people who were buried at these sites.
Late Roman Jerusalem—renamed Aelia Capitolina—had a mixed population that reached the city after the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple and the evacuation of the Jewish population.
People from different parts of the Roman Empire settled in the city, bringing with them a different set of values, beliefs and rituals. The pagan cult of the city’s new population was rich and varied, including gods and goddesses, among them the cult of the moon goddess Luna.”
“The interring of the jewelry together with the young girl is touching. One can imagine that their parents or relatives parted from the girl, either adorned with the jewelry or possibly lying by her side and thinking of the protection that the jewelry provided in the world to come,” according to Eli Escusido, Director of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
“This is a very human situation, and all can identify with the need to protect one’s offspring, whatever the culture or the period.”
The King’s Grave in Sweden is one of the biggest stone graves from the Bronze Age
Located in the southeastern portion of the Swedish province of Skåne, The King’s Grave (Kungagraven) near Kivik is what remains of an unusually grand Nordic Bronze Age double burial which roughly 3000 years old. Aside from the age of the structure, the size of the tomb is also fascinating.
With a diameter of 75 meters, it is the largest known burial mound in Sweden.
The entrance to the tomb.
Dated to roughly 1600 BC.
The site was used as a quarry for construction materials until 1748 when two farmers quarrying in the old mound uncovered a 3.25 meters (11 ft) stone tomb, constructed with ten slabs of stone measuring 0.65 meters (2.1 ft.) wide and 1.2 meters (3.9 ft.).
The site measures 75 meters in diameter and it is the largest mound of its type in Sweden.
The stones of the grave facing the grave of Kivik.
The farmers started to dig into it thinking that they may find treasure underground. Rumor said that the two farmers have actually stolen the treasure. They were even arrested by the authorities and interrogated for it.
Stones within the cairn of Kivik.
Rock carving.
The scenes are thought to represent Bronze Age mortuary rituals, religious symbols, and grave goods.
The mound contained two cists which are adorned with petroglyphs which show people and ships, weapons, lurs being played, symbols, animals (including birds and fish), and a chariot drawn by two horses and having four-spoked wheels.
In the 1930s, archaeological investigations of the tomb were carried out, led by Gustaf Hallstrom. It turned out that the large mound contained another burial chamber now called Prinskammaren – The Prince’s Chamber, due to its smaller size.
One of the ten slabs of stone shows a horse drawn chariot with two four-spoked wheels.
Whether the tomb had been robbed of valuables is uncertain.
After the excavation, the tomb was restored, but no one knows whether it looks similar to its original state.
The mound was reconstructed and opened a passage to allow visitors to tour the once hidden burial chamber.
Skeletons Found Near Dead Sea Scrolls Likely Belonged to an Enigmatic Religious Group
The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls is regarded as one of the greatest archaeological finds in history. Almost as interesting as the content of the texts themselves has been the question of who created and cared for them.
A recent analysis of skeletons found near the site and dating to the same time period suggests the common assumption of an enigmatic religious group known as the Essenes may be correct.
The belief that people living in Qumran at the time of the Dead Sea Scrolls creation were members of a celibate Jewish sect called the Essenes is one of the earliest and also the most popular.
These men were said to be the creators or caretakers of the famed scrolls. However, IBTimes notes Bedouin herders, craftsmen, and Roman soldiers have also been proposed as possible inhabitants of Qumran at that time.
ScienceNews reports that a recent evaluation of 33 skeletons buried at Qumran supports the popular belief that the community was comprised of religious men.
The analysis focused on examining physical factors, including pelvic shape and body sizes, and concluded that it is highly probable only men and children were present at the site.
Three of the skeletons could not be identified as male or female. This is a change from the previous assessment that seven of the skeletons were female.
Skulls found at Qumran.
Radiocarbon dating of one of the Qumran skeleton’s bones places the body at approximately 2,200 years old. This is close to the time when the Dead Sea Scrolls are estimated to have been written – 150 BC to 70 AD.
The estimated age of death for the men ranged from around 20 to 50 years old. The lack of war-related injuries goes against the soldier hypothesis.
Anthropologist Yossi Nagar of the Israel Antiquities Authority in Jerusalem said that the men cannot be confirmed as Essenes, but the belief is probable.
Section of the Qumran cemetery.
It is said the Essenes were an apocalyptic sect of Judaism that left Jerusalem in protest against the Romans and the way things were happening at the Temple.
They apparently went into the desert to follow the orders of the prophet Isaiah. This religious group has often been linked to the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Small samples of bone were removed from some of the Qumran skeletons, so there is a chance that researchers could try to complete DNA analysis and perhaps find more clear evidence of who the people living near the Dead Sea Scrolls were. However, Nagar is uncertain if this type of study will be completed.
Remains of living quarters at Qumran.
The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in 11 caves at Qumran between 1947 and 1956. The set of nearly 1000 manuscripts provide some of the earliest versions of the Hebrew Bible.
A 12th cave was discovered in February 2017, but only scroll jars, fragments of scroll wrappings, and a piece of worked leather were discovered.
View of the Dead Sea from a Cave at Qumran.
The first Dead Sea Scrolls were found unintentionally by a Bedouin shepherd at a cave in the vicinity of Qumran. As more texts surfaced over the years, several were put on sale on the black market to private buyers.
This issue led the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Heritage Project to excavate in the Judean Desert Caves in 2016 at the Cave of Skulls – a difficult location to reach. Israel Hasson, director-general of the Israel Antiquities Authority, explained the urgency to find the last Dead Sea Scrolls.
A fragment from the Dead Sea Scrolls collection known as the Damascus document.
Vikings thank you for the skis and for the combs-6 things they invented
With the ‘never ending’ global technological revolution it is hard to imagine how our predecessors spent their time. And even harder to imagine that we still use things they created for which we should be grateful.
The Vikings dominated European territories for nearly three centuries and were tireless and curious sailors who reached to the territories of Russia and North America. From what they created and traded here are just a few things that we should be grateful to them.
1. Shipbuilding and Navigation
The Gokstad ship, on display at the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo, Norway and Oseberg ship head post.
Perhaps the most extraordinary Viking creation is their ships were known as drekar or dragon-headed long ships. Their ships were made with nothing but an axe; it’s just that they weren’t using it as a lumberjack would, but rather an artist, in a very sophisticated way.
They used ‘clinker’ technique to build their ships which mean that the planks of the ship were overlapping at one edge and riveted together, rather than the conventional way of building the inner skeleton first. These ships were long and very light which enabled them to sail fast and then they could be easily pilotage with oars for reducing the speed.
This was ideal for their hit-and-run attacks on undefended towns and monasteries. The Vikings weren’t proficient only in shipbuilding techniques but they were also great navigators who used the sun compass calcite crystals known as “sunstones” to determine the positions of the sun.
Ships were a very important part of Viking society and tradition, not only as a means of transportation but also for the prestige that it conferred on her owner and skipper. Their ships permitted the Vikings to embark on their voyages of trading, of raiding, and of exploration.
A modern replica of a Viking ship. This ship is of the Snekkja longship type.
2. Viking influence on the English language
The Vikings shared not only farming and trading activities with their neighbors from England but also marriages and hence their languages mixed. So the modern English we know today and which belongs to the German group of languages contains a number of words that originate from the Old Norse language.
Words as anger, awkward, cake, die, egg, fog, dream, husband, give mistake, root, skin, sky, ugly, want – are all borrowed from the Old Norse language and got mingled with the Old English language. Many English words beginning with the and most words beginning with sk are Norse in origin.
3. Dubh Linn (“Black Pool”)
Back in the year 795, Vikings of Norwegian origin raided islands off the coast of Ireland for the first time. In the year 837, sixty Viking ‘Dragon’ warships appeared at the mouth of the Liffey and by 841 they founded the first recorded settlement on the south bank of the River Liffey.
The harbor of what is today known as Dublin was taken by the Vikings, under the command of King Turgesius. The Vikings gave it the name Dubh Linn which means “Black Pool” and it became the hub of one of Europe’s largest slave markets.
They had control of the city for nearly three centuries until they were defeated by the Irish High King Brian Boru in the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. In addition to Dublin, the Irish cities of Wexford, Waterford, Cork and Limerick also began as Viking settlements.
They also settled in other UK places as Islands off the coast of Scotland – Shetland, Orkney and The Hebrides; Leicester, Nottingham, Derby, Stamford, and Lincoln; The Isle of Man etc.
Satellite image showing the River Liffey entering the Irish Sea as it divides Dublin into the Northside and the Southside.
4. Skis
Fragments of ski-like objects, discovered by 1960s archaeologist Grigoriy Burov, date back to 6000 BC in northern Russia and they are mentioned for the first time in documents from the China’s Han Dinasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220). However, what we consider as skiing today originates from the Vikings. And the word we use “ski” comes from the Old Norse “skío.”
Skis were in regular use by Scandinavian farmers, hunters, and warriors throughout the Middle Ages. The Norwegian army held skill competitions involving skiing down slopes, around trees, across level snowfields and while shooting in the 1760’s and by the 18th century, units of the Swedish Army trained and competed on skis.
All these is linked to the Viking’s tradition of using skis for both recreation and transportation. The Norse goddess Skadi and god Ullr were often depicted on skis or snowshoes.
Skadi Hunting in the Mountains.
Uller.
Ullr with his skis and his bow. From the 18th century Icelandic manuscript.
5. Combs
There are many common objects as tweezers, razors, and ear spoons (for scooping out wax) found in the Viking graves, but according to what is found in the archeological digs, their favorite one had been the bristled comb.
The combs were originally made out of antlers, most often deer antlers. The Vikings would use every last piece of the carcass so they would not waste it. The combs were used more by men than women helping them brush their unkempt hair. This means that even longhaired, bearded Viking warriors took their personal grooming very seriously.
The Vimose Comb from the island of Funen, Denmark.
6 Sagas
An illustration from an 18th-century Icelandic manuscript depicting Huginn and Muninn sitting on the shoulders of Odin.
Most of the information we have today about the Vikings comes from written stories known as sagas. In these stories is mostly written about ancient Nordic and Germanic history, about early Viking voyages, the battles that took place during the voyages, about migration to Iceland and of feuds between Icelandic families.
They were written in the Old Norse language, mainly in Iceland. Most historians today agree that these stories are “Viking fiction literature”, but through their fantasies, creativity and imagination we have learned many things about their society.
The sagas are filled with graphic depictions of the situations described in the texts. These stories are probably the early form of today’s soap operas.
Archaeologists Discovered Grauballe Man, A Preserved Bog Body From The 3rd Century B.C
Two years after the discovery of the Tollund man, another bog body was found on the 26 of April 1952, by local peat cutters in the nearby bog, Nebelgard Fen, situated near the town of Grauballe, Denmark.
Around the time of Grauballe man’s discovery, it was argued that the body belonged to that Red Christian, a local peat cutter that mysteriously vanished in the area around 1887.
Longest-lasting missing person The Grauballe Man
It was trusted that Red fell into the bog after drinking too much alcohol, as it was said that two drunk Englishmen from Cheshire suffered the same fate by falling into Lindow moss in 1853. It was not long before the body was sent to the Prehistory museum at Aarhus for examination and preservation.
Visual Examination:
Once the body of Grauballe man was fully revealed, many wondered at how well the body was preserved. A brisk examination of the Body at the site revealed that Grauballe man was naked and had no items or belongings with him.
When Grauballe’s man was analyzed in more detail at the museum, it was revealed that he was around 30 years old at the time of his death. It was also revealed that the body of Grauballe man was 1.75 m in Height, and still had hair about 5 cm long as well as stubble on his chin. Grauballe man’s hands and fingers, when closely inspected, showed no signs of manual labor.
Scientific Investigation:
So, we know, based on a VISUAL examination, that Grauballe man was 30 years of age, was 1.75 m in Height, still had hair and his hands showed no sign of no physical work.
But how could we know his age? How did we know that his hands showed no sign of labor? The basic answer is that ‘we’ use Science.
When Grauballe man was scientifically inspected, through a wide array of techniques, numerous features were revealed, such as what Grauballe man ate and what wounds he sustained. The scientific examination of Grauballe man has been listed below.
Radiocarbon dating. Used to date the age of the body, which was around 310 B.C – 55 B.C. Placing the Grauballe man in the late Iron age. Scanning Electron microscope. Utilized for a closer examination of the body. Scientists and Archaeologists worked out that Grauballe man was not a very hard worker by using the microscope to Determine his fingerprints, which were relatively smooth.
It was also used to show what Grauballe man had eaten. Results from an examination of the stomach uncovered that Grauballe man’s last meal consisted of porridge made from corn, seeds from more than 60 different herbs, and grasses which were uncovered to contain traces of poisonous fungi, known as fungi ergot.
Grauballe man is believed to have died in winter or early spring as there is a lack of FRESH herbs and berries in his stomach.
Forensic analysis. Used to determine the wounds that the body sustained, which consisted of a cut to the throat that extended from ear to ear, and cracks to the skull and right tibia, which was believed to be caused by a weapon, however when the body was re-examined again it was in fact caused by the pressure in the bog.
It has also been noted that there were 4 missing lumbar vertebrae. Forensics has also been able to reconstruct the face of Grauballe man, as well as numerous other faces from various bodies.
Templates from the x-rays of the skull were utilized and the skull was sculpted from clay over these templates. CT scanning and Computer Generated imagery was also used to help modify the facial reconstruction.
Cause of Death:
There are many speculations associated with Grauballe’s man’s death. The cut on the throat is said to be the cause of Grauballe’s man’s death.
It is believed that Grauballe man was a criminal who paid the cost of death. But how would we know this? Based on the written sources of Tacitus, the Roman historian, the clans of northern Europe had a very strict society. So if one broke the law or committed an offense, they would be put to death.
A criminal or a prisoner of war would fit this description. But, what about his hands? As said before, Grauballe man’s hands showed no sign of manual labor, recommending that he was used for sacrificial purposes. Tacitus mentions that the clans of northern Europe have a connection to mother earth.
He says that during spring she visits these clans and upon departing, a selection of people are sacrificed. Based on the wounds, and the hands of the Grauballe man, as well as sources to back it up, this seems to be the Grauballe man’s likely cause of death.
But what about the poisonous fungi found in his stomach? New data suggests that if this fungus was to make Grauballe man sick, then it would of more than likely make him incapable to work.
It would have also caused agonizing symptoms which are historically known as St. Anthony’s Fire. Symptoms of this disease include convulsions, hallucinations and burning of the mouth, feet and hands. It is more than likely that Grauballe mans ingested the fungus by natural means.
If there was any bad luck in the village then the Grauballe man would be at the forefront of the allegations, which would regard him as being the cause of these woes and mishaps.
He would be seen as someone corrupted by an evil spirit, and therefore put to death and deposited in a bog far from town. The exact cause of death is however, a mystery and therefore there is no single explanation of how Grauballe man died.
