Oldest known ship burial discovered in Norway predates Vikings

An aerial view of the burial mound in central Norway. (Image credit: Geir Grønnesby)

A large, grassy hill in Norway known as the Herlaugshagen burial mound was likely the site of a pre-Viking ship burial, a new analysis finds.

Archaeologists have long wondered whether the oversize mound in Leka, a municipality in central Norway located along a known centuries-old shipping route, once housed a ship. This summer, researchers conducted surveys at the coastal site and discovered several large rivets that would have held the vessel together, as well as wooden remains that are likely from the ship, according to Norwegian SciTech News, a news outlet that provides coverage for the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and the Foundation for Industrial and Technical Research (SINTEF).

"The sizes of the ship's rivets and the preserved wood around several of the rivets show that the preservation conditions are good," Geir Grønnesby, an archaeologist at NTNU who led the surveys, told Live Science in an email. "This is the largest burial mound in Trøndelag (Central Norway) and one of the largest in Norway."

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Vikings Pillaged, Conquered And Cleaned Their Teeth With Toothpicks

A hole filed from the crown of a Viking tooth into the pulp to reduce toothache and infection. UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG

After a long, hard day of pillaging with axes and swords, Vikings likely celebrated their victories with a feast that included a roasted pig or ox and goblets overflowing with ale. In movies and books about the ancient seafaring conquerors, they don’t pause their revelry to remove gristle from their teeth with toothpicks. But in real life, they did, according to a new study.

And toothpicks are just one way they cared for their chompers.

The study, published in the journal Plos One, describes what scientists discovered when they analyzed human teeth from about 800 to 1,000 years ago to gain a better sense of everyday oral health and habits in one community of Swedish Vikings. The researchers describe the sort of bleak dental picture common to medieval Europe—frequent tooth decay, infections and tooth loss. In the Viking population studied, 49% had one or more cavities, due largely to a high intake of starchy foods combined with a lack of dental care. Adults lost an average of 6% of their teeth, excluding wisdom teeth, over the course of their lifetimes.

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Was Honorius’ Letter Really Sent to Britain?

The Romans ruled Britain for nearly four centuries, from 43 CE until the beginning of the fifth century. Most commentators agree that the actions of Magnus Maximus can be viewed as the beginning of the end of Roman rule over Britain. He withdrew a large portion of Roman troops when he proclaimed himself emperor and set off to attack Emperor Gratian on the continent. This was in 383, quite some time before the fifth century. But while acknowledging that it was a gradual process, many modern sources claim that one specific year can be cited as the final end. In 410 Emperor Honorius wrote a letter telling the recipients that the Romans could no longer protect them. But was it really sent to Britain?

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Sutton Hoo Saxon ship reconstruction aims for 2025 sailing

The Sutton Hoo Saxon ship project, spearheaded by master shipwright Tim Kirk, is a remarkable effort to reconstruct the largest Saxon ship ever discovered.
Source: The Sutton Hoo Ship's Company

The treasures of Sutton Hoo in East Anglia are legendary, including the imprint left by the largest Saxon ship ever found.

Expert shipwright Tim Kirk has been leading a team of volunteers to create an authentic reconstruction of the vessel, with a view to it being sailed in 2025. 

With occasional references to the reconstruction activity at the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde, Tim talks at length to The Viking Herald about how the project came about, the pitfalls of using a unique Saxon burial site as an army training ground, and the quest to discover what the ship was used for 1,400 years ago. 

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Delve into the secrets of the runes with new course starting January

The third of our three short courses starting in January focuses on runes – a writing system that developed in western Europe in the first millennium AD.

Entitled Runology, the course is delivered online so open to anyone. It introduces students to reading runic inscriptions and provide them with an overview of the historical and geographical distribution of runic alphabets – with a particular emphasis on examples from Orkney and Shetland.

It will also give participants a basic understanding of the Old Norse language, necessary to read runic inscriptions.

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What teeth can reveal about the health of early medieval children

Researchers can learn much about a person through their teeth. This is even true for people who lived 1500 years ago in early medieval Germany.

A team of researchers led by Michaela Harbeck and Maren Velte from the Bavarian State Collection for Anthropology in Munich were able to analyze human teeth from various medieval cemeteries in Bavaria, which is now part of eastern Germany. They mainly come from the period around the year 500 AD.

Teeth are formed during childhood and are characterized by little or no remodeling during lifetime. This developmental quality makes them an ideal “archive of childhood.” Strontium isotopes, for example, indicate a person’s geographical origin, while analyses of carbon and nitrogen provide information on diet. Serial isotope analysis shows the course of nutrition from birth to around 20 years of age. This method reveals the transition process from breast milk feeding in infancy to the inclusion of solid food during early childhood.

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‘Bone Biographies’ Reconstruct Lives of Medieval Cambridge Commoners

Archaeologists from the University of Cambridge have compiled a series of “bone biographies” that shed new light on residents of medieval Cambridge. The project’s website, called After the Plague, chronicles the lives of 16 ordinary individuals who lived between the 11th and 15th centuries. This period notably includes the bubonic plague, which hit the city between 1348 and 1349.

“Our team used techniques familiar from studies such as Richard III’s skeleton, but this time to reveal details of unknown lives—people we would never learn about in any other way,” says John Robb, an archaeologist at the University of Cambridge, in a statement. In other words, these are commoners: townsfolk, friars, merchants and scholars, among others.

Since the project began in 2016, researchers with the University of Cambridge have been working to pair historical evidence with personal narrative. “We have to humanize people we study because we have trouble relating to things that are alien,” Robb told the Washington Post’s Peter Holley in 2017. “We gravitate to familiarity.”

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Rare Byzantine gold coin found in Norway

A rare 10th century Byzantine gold coin has been discovered by a metal detectorist in Vestre Slidre, a ski town in the mountains of central Norway. It is in excellent condition, barely worn at all with no gold loss. It is the only one of its kind ever found in Norway.

The coin is a histamenon nomisma, the Byzantine solidus that was highly valued for its standard weight of 4.55 grams 24-carat gold, maintained consistently from the 4th century until the second half of the 10th century. The coin was minted in Constantinople, 1,600 miles from the find site.

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Rollo: Viking Sea Lord, Chieftain, Lone Wolf And The First Ruler Of Normandy

 

At the height of their glory, the Vikings formed many new Scandinavian dynasties. At first, they were considered foreigners, but they eventually integrated with local communities, even religiously.

One of them was Rollo (also known as Gånge-Rolf), an ancestor of the famous William the Conqueror, who led the conquest of Normans to England and became king of the country in 1066.

Believed to have lived between 846 and 931 AD, the first historical account of Rollo detailed his leadership of the Vikings during their siege of Paris from 885 to 6 AD.

Mentioned in Icelandic sagas, as a man of high social status, Rollo is often referred to as Rolf the Walker ("Ganger-Hrolf, "in Old Danish) because he had such an imposing figure that his horse could not carry him and was obliged to travel on foot

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Scandinavia's oldest known ship burial is located in mid-Norway

This summer, archaeologists and a metal detectorist conducted a small survey of Herlaugshagen, at Leka in the northern part of Trøndelag County. They found something amazing.

The goal was to date a burial mound and find out if it contained a ship. They carried out the surveys on behalf of the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage and in collaboration with Trøndelag County Authority.

The archaeologists were over the moon when they found large rivets confirming that this was indeed a ship burial, and their enthusiasm didn't subside when the finds were recently dated.

"The mound was constructed in approximately 700 CE. This is called the Merovingian period and precedes the Viking Age. This dating is really exciting because it pushes the whole tradition of ship burials quite far back in time," said Geir Grønnesby, an archaeologist at the NTNU University Museum.

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