There was no greater honor for a Viking than to die in battle, beginning a journey from the flat Earth up toward Valhalla, where an eternal feast awaited. “They can have a fight and party every day,” Knut Paasche, a period archaeologist said, “and then the next day, do it again.”
But they needed a vessel to get there. Chieftains and kings, laid to rest in long ships with swords and jewels, were buried in earthen mounds signifying their stature, Paasche said. The larger the ship and mound, the more important the burial.
Archaeologists using ground-penetrating radar found a big mound carved into a western Norwegian island — along with the remains of a “huge” ship as long as 55 feet, Paasche told The Washington Post, in a discovery that may tell new tales about how the ships evolved to become fearsome and agile vessels more than 1,000 years ago
Girl discovers 1500 year old Viking sword
From USA Today:
An 8-year-old girl made a fantastic discovery playing in a Swedish lake: a pre-Viking era sword…
…That sword, made out of wood, leather and metal, could have been made 1,500 years ago, experts at the Jonkopings Lans Museum said in a press release.
600 year old medieval sword discovered
This is an older article from the beginning of the year I ran across recently.
From Alehorn:
A perfectly balanced Medieval Broadsword went missing in 1943 without a trace, and has evaded enthusiasts and academics for nearly a century. Finally, it’s been found – in a Texas restaurant.
The Harriet Dean sword is one of the last remaining weapons from the arsenal at Alexandria, and it’s one that any medieval weaponry expert would have immediately recognized. So when Howard Dixon of Christie’s Auction house saw it amongst a collection of consigned arms for sale, his pulse began to race. He was in “stunned disbelief.”
Henry VIII’s restored flagship open to public
From History.com:
After 34 years, one of the most extensive conservation projects in history has come to a close as the salvaged remains of Mary Rose have been placed on full public display. For the first time visitors to the Mary Rose Museum in Portsmouth, England, will have unobstructed views of the flagship of King Henry VIII’s navy that sank in battle nearly 500 years ago.
Satellite detects evidence of another Viking North American settlement
A thousand years after the Vikings braved the icy seas from Greenland to the New World in search of timber and plunder, satellite technology has found intriguing evidence of a long-elusive prize in archaeology — a second Norse settlement in North America, further south than ever known.
Archaeologists discover ancient Anglo-Saxon Island
From Fox News:
Experts in the U.K. have discovered the remains of an Anglo-Saxon island, which they are touting as a site of huge archaeological importance…
…The amazing Lincolnshire discovery was sparked by Graham Vickers, a local man with a metal detector who unearthed a silver stylus from a disturbed plough field. Vickers reported the find to the Portable Antiquities Scheme, which encourages the voluntary recording of archaeological objects found by members of the public.The ornate writing tool, which dates back to the 8th century, was the first of a number of items found at the site.
Norman castle discovered beneath a Gloucester prison
Was Stonehenge first constructed in Wales?
From The Guardian:
Evidence of quarrying for Stonehenge’s bluestones is among the dramatic discoveries leading archaeologists to theorise that England’s greatest prehistoric monument may have first been erected in Wales.
It has long been known that the bluestones that form Stonehenge’s inner horseshoe came from the Preseli hills in Pembrokeshire, around 140 miles from Salisbury Plain.
Now archaeologists have discovered a series of recesses in the rocky outcrops of Carn Goedog and Craig Rhos-y-felin, to the north of those hills, that match Stonehenge’s bluestones in size and shape.
Viking connection to Northeast Scotland
From the Archaeology News Network:
Their exploits are more linked to the Northern Isles and the west coast of Scotland, with monastries raided, islanders murdered and gold and silver plundered. But new research – and a clutch of archaeological finds – has now suggested that the North East may not have escaped the fury of the Norsemen after all.
Academics at Aberdeen University have been working to fill the “blank space” of Viking activity in Aberdeenshire and Moray, with written history barely touching on the area so far. Using finds recorded through the Treasure Trove system and the input a team of metal detectors in the North East, a picture of possible Viking activity in the old Pictish Kingdom of Fortriu during the 8th, 9th and 10th centuries is now emerging.
Read more at: http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.de/2015/11/viking-link-to-north-east-of-scotland.html#.VlNByHarRhE
Hiker finds a 1,200-year-old Viking sword
From Fox News:
Goran Olsen was enjoying a leisurely hike recently in Norway when he stopped near the fishing village of Haukeli, about 150 miles west of Oslo. Under some rocks along a well-traversed path, he made a discovery that’s now the envy of every detectorist in Scandinavia: a 30-inch wrought-iron Viking sword, estimated to be about 1,200 years old.
Read the full article.