‘The dream stone of all runologists’ that can potentially provide clues to the origins of Western writing has been discovered in Norway. A runestone with inscriptions dating back to the earliest...
Asgard was the home of the mighty Norse gods, from where they watched over the other eight realms and administered justice. It was also the final resting place of the dead and where Odin, King of the...
Archaeologists in Sweden have unearthed what they are calling a “one of its kind” Thor’s Hammer amulet. Loki's lies, Odin’s staff and Thor’s hammer (Mjölnir) are well known archetypes of Norse...
In Norse cosmology, the universe was made up of nine distinct realms. Each had its unique inhabitants and mythology, but some played bigger parts in the Norse mythology than others. One of the most...
The Viking universe was a complicated one. It was made up of nine different realms. Different realms were home to different races, and each had different themes. Of all the races, humans were the...
The Vikings, the seafaring Norse pirates and traders from the Scandinavian region, left an indelible mark on history, particularly European history, as they raided, looted, pillaged, and conquered...
Freya is old Norse for “lady” and was the name given to the Norse goddess of love. Whilst she certainly sought out passion and pleasure, she was a complex character. In fact, to the Vikings she was a...
Norse mythology is a rich and vibrant source of tales, myths and legends. It has provided us with some iconic gods, monsters, and even symbols. One of the most controversial and mysterious of these...
For the ancient Vikings, poetry was a way to tell the stories of their gods, their religion, their heroes and villains. Works that have survived centuries are told with such eloquence; it would only...
It’s almost out of a fairy tale, with the added caveat of having the dirty underbelly of global warming revealed yet again! A Yorkshire sunken village with Viking origins has re-emerged after water...
Unless having been to sea, far enough out to lose sight of land on an open wooden craft, no-one would quite understand the terror endured by ancient seafarers braving the unknown oceans. Mariners...
Ancient Norse literature is filled with place names of towns, farms, and fjords. While many of these names have survived to the modern day, making their discovery relatively straightforward, others...
Brian Boru was Ireland’s greatest conqueror and the first man to unite the Emerald Isle into one realm, rising above the divisions of the squabbling Irish elite and their 150 kings. As well as...
Two small chunks of metal, buried separately but near each other, have turned out to be parts of the same ornate Viking sword. Separated 1,200 years ago, the first part of the sword ‘Queen of Gausel...
An archaeological investigation of maritime remains connected to the Viking Age town of Birka in Sweden carried out since August 2020 has revealed a “first of its kind” Viking shipyard. Birka, also...
Last summer, a series of man-made Viking era caves were discovered southwest of Oddi in southern Iceland dated to the 10th century AD. Excavations have now revealed a massive system of interconnected...
Long before the chemical composition of water was discovered, ancient cultures recognized it as the elixir of life, protected and ruled over by powerful deities . Only in the late 19th century...
A new study has tackled a burning question which has preoccupied generations of archaeologists: When did the Vikings first “discover” the Americas? Their analysis was based on a selection of wooden...
Until now it was believed that the Azores island group was discovered by Portuguese sailors in the 15th century. However, a new study shows Norse explorers had brought animals to the islands 700...
Throughout their history, the Vikings were known as ferocious fighters, seafarers, raiders, and traders. The popular image depicts them as somewhat rambunctious and lawless - but that is far from the...
Odin is the chief deity of the Norse pantheon. Although Odin was worshipped more generally in Germanic paganism, the information we have today about this god is derived mostly from Norse mythology...
What is being described by one Shetland islander as a “hugely significant discovery " has reached the press. While nobody is just yet sure what the five ancient circular structures found on the...
A genetic relationship, either as half-brothers or as an uncle and a nephew, has been established between skeletal remains of two men who died on opposite ends of the North Sea. Estimated to have...
In separate discoveries that occurred in 2019 and 2020, searchers found seven ancient gold pendants buried in a field near the Norwegian municipality of Råde in Østfold County. The first four gold...
