Norway couple find Viking grave under floor of their house

The couple were pulling up the floor to install insulation. Photo: Nordland County Council

A couple in northern Norway were pulling up the floor of their house to install insulation when they found a glass bead, and then a Viking axe. Now archeologists suspect they live above an ancient Viking grave
"It wasn't until later that we realised what it could be," Mariann Kristiansen from Seivåg near Bodø told Norway's state broadcaster NRK of the find. "We first thought it was the wheel of a toy car." 

Archaeologist Martinus Hauglid from Nordland county government visited the couple last Monday and judged taht find was most likely a grave from the Iron Age or Viking Age.

"It was found under stones that probably represent a cairn. We found an axe dated from between 950AD and 1050AD and a bead of dark blue glass, also of the late Viking period," he told The Local. 

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Melting ice reveals an ancient, once-thriving trade route

Upper left: an object interpreted as a tong (a clamp for holding fodder on a sled or wagon), dated to the Late Roman Iron Age; right: a similar, undated object, also from the pass area; lower left: a historical example from Uppigard Garmo, pre-dating c. 1950. Credit: Glacier Archaeology Program & R. Marstein/Lars Pilø et al.

High in the mountains of Norway, melting ice has led to the discovery of an ancient remote mountain pass, complete with trail markers and artifacts from the Roman Iron Age and the time of the Vikings. The remains reveal this route served a dual function historically: It was once a significant passageway for moving livestock between grazing sites as well as for inter-regional travel and trade. This particular receding ice patch is known as Lendbreen, and because of its tame geologic features, hundreds of artifacts have been pristinely preserved. Most are from the Viking Age, providing an odd inland perspective to the age-old tales of their audacious maritime journeying.

Glaciers and ice patches throughout the world's high mountain regions are receding, leaving behind precious artifacts, like Ötzi the ice man and his tool kit, that have been buried under ice for centuries. The rate of melt has been accelerating over the past few decades as a result of the warming climate. In the 1980s, glaciers lost less than a foot of ice per year, on average. That number increased every decade so that by 2018, glaciers around the world were losing mass at a pace of three feet per year. This rise in melt drastically propelled the field of glacier and ice patch archaeology—especially in Scandinavia, the Alps and North America—as archaeologists raced to collect artifacts uncovered by this process.

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Norfolk discovery of 1,100-year-old brooch 'will remain a mystery'

Experts at the British Museum say the brooch is of "national significance"

Image copyright NORFOLK COUNTY COUNCIL

The origins of a 1,100-year-old brooch found in a lorry-load of soil may be "a mystery" that is never solved, say archaeologists.

The late 9th Century silver disc was discovered in a field in Great Dunham, Norfolk, which had recently been landscaped.

It is not known where the soil came from, but experts say the find is similar to the nearby Pentney Hoard.

The British Museum said the discovery was of "national importance".

An inquest - the process by which the find may be officially declared treasure - has been opened in Norwich and will conclude on 9 June.

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Fungus is destroying a buried Viking ship. Here's how Norway plans to save it.

Image: © Lars Gustavsen/NIKU)

Archaeologists are racing against the clock to save the remains of a buried Viking ship from a ruthless foe: fungus. 

If the project is successful, the 65-foot-long (20 meters) oak vessel — called the Gjellestad ship — will become the first Viking ship to be excavated in Norway in 115 years, said Sveinung Rotevatn, the Norwegian Minister of Climate and Environment. 

"Norway has a very special responsibility safeguarding our Viking Age heritage," Rotevatn told Live Science in an email. "Now, we are choosing to excavate in order to protect what remains of the find, and secure important knowledge about the Viking Age for future generations."

The ship is buried at a well-known Viking archaeological site at Gjellestad, near Halden, a town in southeastern Norway. But scientists discovered the vessel only recently, in the fall of 2018, by using radar scans that can detect structures underground. The scans revealed not only the ship, but also the Viking cemetery where it was ritually buried.

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Ancient Tap O' Noth hillfort in Aberdeenshire one of 'largest ever'

Tap O' Noth overlooks Rhynie

UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN

A hillfort in Aberdeenshire is one of the largest ancient settlements ever discovered in Scotland, researchers have said.

University of Aberdeen archaeologists say 4,000 people may have lived in more than 800 huts perched high on the Tap O' Noth near Rhynie.

Many had thought it dated from the Bronze or Iron Age.

The team said carbon dating suggested it was likely to be Pictish, dating back as far as the third century AD.

They believe at its height it may have rivalled the largest known post-Roman settlements in Europe.

Archaeologists from the university have conducted extensive fieldwork in the surrounding area since 2011.

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Hillfort revealed to be the largest Pictish site ever discovered in Scotland

Drone view of the Tap O’ Noth Hillfort [Credit: University of Aberdeen]

A spectacular hillfort overlooking a tiny Aberdeenshire village has been revealed as one of the largest ancient settlements ever discovered in Scotland.

University of Aberdeen archaeologists have uncovered evidence that up to 4,000 people may have lived in more than 800 huts perched high on the Tap O’ Noth close to the village of Rhynie.

Radiocarbon dating suggests the fort – a settlement within a rampart which encloses an area of around 17 acres -  was constructed in the fifth to sixth centuries AD and that settlement on the hill may date back as far as the third century AD, meaning it is likely to be Pictish in origin.

Their discovery means that the area, which today is a quiet village home to just a few hundred people, once had a hilltop settlement that at its height may have rivalled the largest known post-Roman settlements in Europe.

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Coronavirus: Lockdown boost for archaeology as amateurs uncover Roman remains

The technology can 'strip away' vegetation and modern features to reveal what is underneath

Self-isolating volunteers analyse aerial survey maps to reveal ancient roads and settlements.

Lockdown has given archaeology an unexpected boost with volunteers finding previously unrecorded Roman, prehistoric and medieval sites from the comfort of their own homes.

In a project coordinated by a team at Exeter University, enthusiastic amateurs have been analysing images derived from Lidar (light detection and ranging) data - laser technology used during aerial surveys to produce highly detailed topographical maps.

Modern vegetation and buildings can be digitally removed, allowing archaeologists to look at the shape of the land surface to find the remains of archaeological earthworks.

The data is being systematically examined and cross-referenced with records of known archaeology and historic maps, meaning the total of new discoveries regularly changes.

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Archeologists discover prehistoric sites – while working from home

A probable Iron Age or Roman enclosed settlement (indicated by red arrows) and an associated field system (inidicated by blue arrows), which is hidden beneath woodland but has been revealed by volunteers using light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data during lockdown. (Credits: PA)

Dozens of previously-unrecorded Roman, prehistoric and medieval sites have been discovered by archaeology volunteers based at home during the coronavirus lockdown. Digging may be on hold due to the pandemic, but the team have found parts of two Roman roads, around 30 prehistoric or Roman large embanked settlement enclosures, and some 20 prehistoric burial mounds, as well as the remains of hundreds of medieval farms, field systems and quarries. 

Those leading the project believe they will make many more discoveries in the coming weeks. 

The team are analysing images derived from LiDAR (light detection and ranging) data.

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Why These Ancient Scottish Seafarers Didn’t Snack on Fish

To detail the Picts' diet, researchers studied 137 skeletons buried under Portmahomack's old Tarbat Parish Church. (Rudhach via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA 3.0)

The Picts were one of Scotland’s earliest—and most mysterious—civilizations. Known for rebuffing Rome’s advances, they vanished from the historical record toward the end of the first millennium A.D. Information on the coastal culture’s culinary preferences is scarce, but thanks to new research published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, scholars now have a better understanding of these ancient people’s diets.

Forensic analysis of skeletons thought to belong to sixth-century Picts suggests their owners eschewed fish despite the community’s seafaring prowess and proximity to the ocean, reports Alison Campsie for the Scotsman.

To conduct the new assessment, archaeologists studied 137 skeletons excavated at the Tarbat Parish Church in Portmahomack. The remains span hundreds of years, including the Pictish period.

“The Picts are commonly associated with being war-like savages who fought off the Romans, but there was so much more to these people, and echoes of their civilization [are] etched in their artwork and sculpture,” says Shirley Curtis-Summers, a forensic archaeologist at the University of Bradford and lead author of the study, in a statement. “Sadly, there are almost no direct historical records on the Picts, so this skeletal collection is a real golden chalice.”

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Norway To Excavate Viking Ship, First Time In 100 Years

Gjellestad, Norway: The site of the discovery of a viking ship burial site. ERICH NAU, NIKU

The Norwegian government has confirmed it will provide substantial funding to begin an excavation of the Gjellestad Viking ship. It will be the first full excavation of a Viking ship in Norway for more than 100 years.

Despite high recent government expenditure because of the coronavirus crisis, the government has included the expected excavation bill of 15.6 million Norwegian kroner ($1.5 million) in its revised budget.

A time sensitive project

While the Gjellestad ship has been buried for more than 1,000 years, time is of the essence. Norway’s Minister of Climate and Environment, Sveinung Rotevatn, said that getting the ship out of the ground is urgent.

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1,700-year-old board game found in Norwegian burial mound

The burial cairn site [Credit: UiB]

This April, the University Museum of Bergen, excavated the remains of a small Early Iron Age grave cairn at Ytre Fosse, Western Norway. The location is spectacular, overlooking Alversund and the “Indre Skipsleia”, a part of the old shipping lane, Nordvegen, – which gave Norway its name. The whole area is dotted with monumental grave mounds on both sides of Alversund, symbols of an Iron Age political landscape and the power and control of goods and travels along the Norwegian coast. 

The grave turned out to be a cremation patch containing 3 ceramic pots, a bronze pin, burnt glass and 18 gaming pieces and an elongated dice. The dice is of a very rare type, exclusive for Roman Iron Age (AD 1 - 400). In Scandinavia, similar dices are found in the famous Vimose weapon-offering site at Fyn, Denmark.

At Vimose also the gaming board was preserved, giving a unique view into Early Iron Age board games among the Germanic tribes in Scandinavia. Board games, inspired by the Roman game Ludus latrunculorum, seems to have been played amongst the elite in Roman Iron Age Scandinavia. These games are also the forerunner to the more famous Viking Age (AD 750-1050) board game Hnefatafl.

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Archaeologists in Denmark discover huge defensive structure from the Roman Iron Age

Credit: Museum Lolland-Falster

Archaeologists have unearthed a massive structure in Lolland that is believed to have been used to ward off an attacking army back in the Roman Iron Age.  So far, 770 metres of the structure has been detected, but Museum Lolland-Falster estimates it could stretch to twice that.  

“This is a really big structure. It’s taken a lot of work to build,” Bjornar Mage, an archaeologist and curator from Museum Lolland-Falster, told TV2 News. “We believe the structure was built around a kilometre from the coast between two impenetrable wetland areas – in a bid to stop attacking foe from entering Lolland.”  

The structure involved the digging of long lines and rows of holes in the earth – at least 10,000 holes are estimated to have been dug. In similar structures discovered in Jutland, the defensive ‘belt’ was combined with sharpened poles. 

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Section of Theodosian Walls of Constantinople collapses

Credit: Greek City Times

A section of the famous Theodosian Walls (Tower 69) of Constantinople (modern Istanbul), located on Sulukule Street in the Topkapi neighbourhood, has collapsed "due to an unknown reason", Turkish news sources have reported.

The reports state that police and firefighters attended the scene. While there were no dead or injured in the incident, police inspected around the area where the crash occurred, while municipal teams cleared the fallen rubble from the walls.

In their present state, the Theodosian Walls stretch for about 5.7 km from south to north, from the "Marble Tower" (Turkish: Mermer Kule), also known as the "Tower of Basil and Constantine" (Gk. Pyrgos Basileiou kai Konstantinou) on the Propontis coast to the area of the Palace of the Porphyrogenitus (Tr. Tekfur Sarayi) in the Blachernae quarter.

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Dunwich – The medieval town lost at sea

Chapel of St James’ Leper Hospital, Dunwich St James’ Hospital was a C12 leper hospital located just to the west of the medieval coastal town of Dunwich.

Dunwich is a small rural village located on the Suffolk coast in England. Visitors will find a quaint English pub, tea rooms and a pebble beach popular with holiday makers.
At first glance, there’s nothing overly remarkable about this picturesque setting, but beneath the surface Dunwich has a unique story to tell that spans centuries….

The earliest evidence of occupation around the Dunwich area starts in the Roman period, with scant but suggestive evidence of a large settlement. The Anglo-Saxon chronicler Bede referred to “Dunmoc” as a “Civitas”, with archaeological discoveries that includes a Roman tumulus and masonry trawled from the nearby seabed.

The Roman document, ‘Notilia Dignitatum’ even refers to a late Roman fort or station in the area, but due to the continual coastal erosion, any surviving remains of the fort or settlement would be hundreds of metres out to sea.

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Previously unknown cliff ring fort discovered by drone operator in Clare

image: Matthew Kelly

A PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN cliff ring fort has been discovered in Co Clare by a drone operator during the Covid-19 lockdown.

Matthew Kelly was operating a drone near Crag, Lahinch when he made the archaeological find.

His discovery came two years after he previously uncovered a group of 5000-year-old forts in Dundalk, Co Louth

Kelly’s latest find had not been previously recorded in the National Monuments Service (NMS) database, but has since been officially added.

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Cleethorpes teacher's Anglo-Saxon treasures sell for £30k

Hundreds of objects sold as part of the collection include spear heads, brooches and beads

HANSONS

Anglo-Saxon treasure unearthed by a history teacher in a field has sold for £30,000 at auction.

Gordon Taylor discovered the artefacts, which date back to 450 AD, in 1962 after finding a piece of bone in Irby-on-Humber, North East Lincolnshire.

It led to a 17-year excavation, in which items including a 1,000-year-old skull, jewellery, scissors and a spear head were also uncovered.

The 250-strong collection is believed to have been sold to a museum.

Mr Taylor, from Cleethorpes, died three years ago aged 88. His son Geoff said the family were "absolutely delighted" by the sale.

"I watched the sale live. I just called my mum and she is over the moon," he said.

He said he hoped the artefacts would be put "on public view".

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Archaeologists have discovered unknown forts in Greater Poland

Taczanow Stonghold – Image Credit : Maksym Mackiewicz

Ten newly discovered forts have been revealed by archaeologists applying aerial photography and magnetic measurements in south-eastern Wielkopolska, Poland.
Several sites had been mentioned in historical literature, but their location had remained unknown, as many monuments in the region had been leveled in recent decades due to high levels of agricultural activity.

PAP project manager, archaeologist Maksym Mackiewicz said: “In the region, we have over one hundred forts of various forms from different periods. The discovery is a surprise because this area was quite well recognised in terms of archaeology. This is due to the availability of increasingly new methods we use.”

Most of the recently documented forts have been examined by archaeologists carrying out field observations. The research team found pottery sherds from various periods that date from the early Iron Age to the late Middle Ages.

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Archaeology offers clues to pandemic rebounds from the past

As the COVID-19 pandemic redefines what we think of as "normal," archaeology and ancient history can provide some consolation about the great adaptability of our species.

Flinders University archaeologist and ancient historian Dr. Ania Kotarba points to responses of extreme historical events that have threatened homo sapiens in the past as evidence that society—and the economy—can, and will, spring back again.

Dr. Kotarba researches global connectivity in the past through studying ancient international trade routes and human adaptation to extreme change.

She says the processes of urbanization, population growth and proto-globalization in the ancient world initially allowed outbreaks of infectious diseases and epidemics. These often surprisingly resulted in boosting the economy.

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De-faced Skulls and Babies Were Buried in Viking Homes

A new Viking research paper determines parts of dead Norse folk, especially children, were kept beneath homes after the deceased had been buried.

So often sensationalized, glamorized and mystified, 11th century Scandinavia was often a dark and blood-thirsty realm where the upper classes ruled by sword and flame. While the glorified elites of the Viking world were often burned in boats wooden longboats, day to day, the bodies of common Norse people were often discarded crudely, with no pomp and ceremony, and now it has become clear that parts of smashed-skulls and even dead infants bodies were buried beneath doorways and floors in homes.

Consulting the skulls of arcane universal knowledge
Archaeologist Marianne Hem Eriksen from the University of Oslo , who authored the new study which has been published in  World Archaeology , said “Parts of corpses were sometimes placed around farms and inside long houses” and that this was probably not a random act. The Norwegian researcher has studied 40 archaeological fragments from skulls unearthed around greater Scandinavia dating from the Iron Age around 250 BC until about 1050 AD, which was at the end of Viking Age. And testimony to the aforementioned violence, one of the analyzed samples was the whole skull of a 25-40 year old man with its face slashed off, discovered unceremoniously dumped in a well outside a 9th century pit house in Aarhus, Denmark.

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Macabre death rituals in the Viking Age

The skull of a man, 25-40 years, with his face cut off with a sharp weapon. The head was found in a well outside a pit house from the 9th century in Aarhus, Denmark 

[Credit: Rogvi N. Johansen/Moesgaard Museum]

New research has put a question mark on the popular stereotype perpetuated in literature and cinema that Vikings were burned in boats or burial mounds together with valuable items on their way to Valhalla, the fabled hall where fallen warriors rest.

According to new research, Vikings kept bits of skulls and even dead infants in their homes, among other things, under doorways and floors, national broadcaster NRK reported.

Archaeologist Marianne Hem Eriksen at the University of Oslo has studied 40 archaeological finds of skull remains around Scandinavia from the Iron Age, found from about 250 BC until about 1050 AD, which corresponds to the end of the Viking Age.

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The global millennium: how the year AD 1000 was more globalised than we might think

Globalisation is a phenomenon that defines and challenges the modern world. Trade, technology, culture, conflict: today, all span continents and hemispheres. And the roots of this global connectedness stretch back much further than we might imagine.

A new system of global pathways formed in the year 1000, following the arrival of Vikings in what’s now north-eastern Canada. Trade goods, people and ideas moved along these newly discovered routes. Globalisation affected both those who went to new places (traders, explorers, slaves) and those who stayed at home (who experienced religious change, riots, and onerous labour conditions to produce goods for overseas markets).

There’s no single historiographical view of when globalisation began but, rather, two dominant paradigms: one locates the start of globalisation in the late 1970s, the other much earlier, around 1500. The seventies witnessed the full flowering of globalisation, notably in terms of the outsourcing of manufacturing and the ease of travel. And around the turn of the 16th century, Columbus and da Gama (and, a little later, Magellan) tied together the world in a way that hadn’t occurred before.

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Sö 90 Runestone, Eskilstuna N, Sweden

This runestone once destroyed by an explosion has been painstakingly reassembled to save its history.

WHEN DRIVING AROUND LAKE MÄLAREN, VISITORS will come across several old Viking remains. These valuable pieces of history are interesting waypoints for tourists, however, this wasn’t always the case. Södermanland Runic inscription 90 (Sö 90) is a great example of this time.

The runestone is undated, but is believed to be around 1,000 years old. It stood in a field in Hammarby undisturbed for centuries. However, during the 1800s it was hindering the developing farms in the region from expanding.

The stone wasn’t viewed as important and was thus blown out of the ground using explosives. Pieces of the stone were left scattered about. Those pieces were fortunately left undisturbed and were discovered by future archaeologists. A team was successfully able to reassemble the historic stone during the late 1950s.  

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From the Vikings to WWII, the Danevirke Wall Has Seen it All

All through classical history, imposing and long walls, ramparts, and fortifications played a significant role in securing the borders of nations and kingdoms from all sorts of incursions and attacks. Some of the best examples are left to us by the ancient Romans, with their majestic limes fortifications of Europe, and the Antonine and Hadrian’s Wall in Scotland. Then there is the famous inspiring Great Wall of China , the likes of which were never replicated again.

But no matter where they were, these fortified walls and ramparts were always a great achievement. They required a lot of manpower, took a long time to erect, and were costly. But all of that was worth it - for such a wall could help guard a great area of land, making for an effective and immovable border. One such system of walled fortifications is known as the Danevirke, a lesser known, but equally important historical system of earth wall ramparts built by the Danes on the southern end of the Jutland Peninsula. Join us as we explore the complex history behind this important border!

The Earliest Traces of Danevirke in the Nordic Iron Age
The Danevirke, in Old Norse known as Danavirki, and in German as Danewerk, is today located not in Denmark, but in Germany, in the state of Schleswig-Holstein. It is believed that the earliest forms of a linear walled fortification across the neck of the Jutland Peninsula began sometime prior to 500 AD, in the Nordic Iron Age.

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Infectious disease modelling study casts doubt on the Justinianic Plague’s impact

The plague of Justinian, which has been linked to the decline of the Western Roman empire,

has been a renewed area of research in recent years [Credit: Alamy]

Many have claimed the Justinianic Plague (c. 541-750 CE) killed half of the population of Roman Empire. Now, historical research and mathematical modeling challenge the death rate and severity of this first plague pandemic.

Researchers Lauren White, PhD and Lee Mordechai, PhD, of the University of Maryland's National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC), examined the impacts of the Justinianic Plague with mathematical modeling. Using modern plague research as their basis, the two developed novel mathematical models to re-examine primary sources from the time of the Justinianic Plague outbreak. 

From the modeling, they found that it was unlikely that any transmission route of the plague would have had both the mortality rate and duration described in the primary sources. Their findings appear in a paper titled "Modeling the Justinianic Plague: Comparing hypothesized transmission routes" in PLOS ONE.

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Peeling back the layers of a Saxon tower in Stowe Nine Churches, Northamptonshire

Once the situation allows, our Northampton historic building team are looking forward to being able to record and monitor the conservation of a church tower at St Michael’s, a Grade I listed rural parish church with potential Saxon origins in Stowe Nine Churches, Northamptonshire. In this blog, Historic Building Officer Lauren Wilson explains what she hopes to learn…

St Michael’s Church has stood on its perch overlooking the Grand Union Canal for over a thousand years, however the external render of the tower has been causing damage to its structure, so it is being removed so that conservation works can take place before the render is then reapplied using a more sensitive material. This gives us a wonderful opportunity to inspect the underlying fabric of the tower.

There are several questions that we are hoping to answer: How much of the upper stages of the tower retain their Saxon stonework? What is the relationship between the architectural elements like the iron strapwork, the phases of render, and the window apertures?

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Rare archaeological find from Avar period unearthed in Vinkovci

(Photo: Ivan Bosancic/Facebook)

A rare find of remains of an Avar warrior and a belt set that can be dated to the turn of the 7th to the 8th century, has been found at the Vinkovci Cemetery by archaeologists, the city museum in that eastern Croatian town confirmed on Monday.

While conducting archaeological research at the city cemetery in Vinkovci, which had started before the coronavirus pandemic and resumed these days, and investigating Avar graves, discovered by workers who had been expanding burial plots, archaeologists of the city museum unearthed remains of an Avar warrior and a set belt that can be dated to the turn of the 7th to the 8th century, which is, according to Vinkovci city museum archaeologist Anita Rapan-Papesa, a very valuable find.

She said that previously there had been no Avar graves in Vinkovci, but that it was a known fact that there had been Avars in the area. “When we observe the walled grave we have discovered, it turns out that Avars saw how Romans were buried so they made their own copies of Roman graves,” the archaeologist specialising in the Middle Ages said.

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Deformed 'alien' skulls offer clues about life during the Roman Empire’s collapse

Artificially deformed skull of an adult woman. Permanent binding during childhood caused the elongation of the braincase and depressions in the bone.

(Image: © Balázs G. Mende. Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary)

Over decades, dozens of artificially deformed "alien-like" skulls that are more than 1,000 years old have been unearthed in a cemetery in Hungary. Now, these skulls are revealing how the collapse of the Roman Empire unleashed social changes in the region. 

During the fifth century A.D., people in central Europe practiced skull binding, a practice that dramatically elongates head shapes. These altered skulls were so drastically deformed that some have compared them to the heads of sci-fi aliens. The fifth century was also a time of political unrest, as the Roman Empire collapsed and people in Asia and eastern Europe were displaced by invading Huns, a nomadic Asian group. 

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