All  

Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ Mobile

Viking

Peel Castle, Isle of Man. Source: vulcan57 / Adobe

Peel Castle: Centuries of History, a Mysterious Pagan Lady, and a Phantom Dog

The Isle of Man is a small island in the Irish Sea between Ireland and England and is a Crown Dependency of the United Kingdom. Because the island was settled approximately 8000 years ago, it has a...
Discovery of Viking shipwreck studied by experts.

Secrets of 829-Year-Old Post-Viking-Era Shipwreck Revealed

During the extension of the seaport of Wismar in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany, archaeologists discovered a number of shipwrecks . One of them, the last to be discovered, was resting in only...
Hogsback Stones in the Goven Church

Three ‘Brilliantly’ Carved Medieval Gravestones Unearthed By 14-Year-Old Scottish Amateur Archaeologist

A 14-year-old boy digging in a churchyard in Glasgow has rediscovered three rare medieval gravestones with highly-detailed interlacing carved patterns. The three very special gravestones were...
Ivar the Boneless

Ivar the Boneless: Viking Warrior, Ruler and Raider

One would expect "boneless" to describe a man without a lick of bravery. Or perhaps a man without a shred of compassion in a heart of ice. Yet in the case of the infamous Ivar the Boneless, son of...
Some of the Viking raids ended in death – for the Vikings.

Vikings in Ireland: Recent Discoveries Shedding New Light on the Fearsome Warriors that Invaded Irish Shores

As science progresses and archaeologists are forging new positive relationships with developers around Irish heritage, more secrets from Ireland’s Viking past are coming to light, and they are not...
Crazy Viking face (khosrork / Adobe Stock)

Eight Harsh But Hilarious Viking Nick Names and How They Came About

Before surnames became commonplace, a method was needed to differentiate between two or more people with the same name. Many surnames in the English language today are a result of this - John Smith,...
First Genetic Proof of a Viking Age Warrior Woman is Identified from an Iconic Swedish Grave

Researchers Confirm Disputed Viking Warrior Was a Female Because Some Just Won’t Accept It

“Then the high-born lady saw them play the wounding game , she resolved on a hard course and flung off her cloak; she took a naked sword and fought for her kinsmen's lives , she was handy at fighting...
Woman in the countryside

Kulning: The Ancient Swedish Herding Call That Has Echoed Through the Ages

Kulning is a vocal art with its origins in the forests and mountains of Scandinavia. It was first used as a method to call back cattle who were left free to graze in the wild landscape, but it is...
A Viking warrior with an axe. Eric Bloodaxe raided around Britain before settling in to a kingship there.

Eric Bloodaxe: Murderous Viking King of Norway and Northumbria

Eirik was a stout handsome man, strong, and very manly, —a great and fortunate man of war; but bad-minded, gruff, unfriendly, and silent. -Saga of Harald Fairhair Eric Haraldsson, nicknamed Eric...
Brave Scot with an amazing beard and mustache curls in the Hungarian style.

Beards, Business and a History of Facial Hair in the Workplace

By Lucy Newton / The Conversation Recording the human face in art is a long-held tradition, from the Roman Bust to the 15th century Dutch painting. The portrait signals power, prestige and wealth...
The Funeral of a Viking - painting 1893.

What Really Happened at Viking Funerals? It’s Not What You Think!

Like many ancient societies, the Vikings believed in an afterlife, and these were based on the religious beliefs they held. The current understanding of Viking funerary practices has been discovered...
Elfdalian, the Ancient Viking Forest

Elfdalian, the Ancient Viking Forest Language of Sweden, Set to be Revived

The ancient Viking language of Elfdalian has been almost entirely wiped out, with an estimate of only 3,000 people in a tiny forest community in Sweden currently keeping it alive. Now, people fight...
‘Hercules Fighting Death to Save Alcestis’ (1869-1871) by Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton. Many ancient death rituals seem very odd or macabre to modern minds.

Bizarre, Brutal, Macabre And Downright Weird Ancient Death Rituals

Any parent must agree that one of the greatest hardships experienced around the death of a family member is having to explain to children what happened and what happens next? Should you tell them the...
The Bro Runestone

Ramsund Carving: Viking Inscription Speaks of Dragon Slayer

The legend of Sigurd is well known in both Norse and Germanic mythology and is included in texts from the Poetic Edda to Beowulf . Elements of the story have even been incorporated into modern tales...
The small Thor’s hammer amulet was carved out of sandstone.

Rare Thor’s Hammer Amulet Found in Iceland Casts New Light on Viking Life

In archaeology, anything from the past can be of great importance, including artifacts that may seem rather small and unremarkable at first glance. For example, archaeologists have just announced the...
The Viking ship was found by georadar at Viksletta right next to the monumental Jell Mound in Østfold.

Radar Reveals a Rare Viking Ship Burial in a Field of Archaeological Dreams

Norwegian archaeologists have announced a very rare and “incredibly exciting” find. They have used georadar equipment to identify structures and burials, including a buried Viking age ship. The find...
The sword has been dated to the 5th or 6th century.

Girl Finds Pre-Viking Sword While Wading in Swedish Lake

There have been many remarkable discoveries in lakes, over the centuries. One such find has just been recently announced in Sweden. A young girl found an incredibly rare 5 th or 6 th century AD sword...

Thousands of Artifacts Emerge from Lost Ancient Viking City of Sea-Masters

As the world awaits the second half of season five of History Channel’s epic show Vikings , which will premiere on November 28, 2018, archaeologists in Ribe, Denmark have been excavating a real life...
Rituals at a Modern Viking Wedding: A Blood Sacrifice, Bride Running, and Obligatory Drinking

Rituals at a Modern Viking Wedding: A Blood Sacrifice, Bride Running, and Obligatory Drinking

While others may have had weddings with a Viking theme, it has been said that Rune and Elisabeth Dalseth are the first couple in almost 1,000 years to have held a true Viking wedding that includes...
adult man (ID 2072) buried at Sigtuna

First Swedish City was Metropolis of Viking-Era Immigrants

Researchers in Sweden have made an important discovery about one of the first cities in Sweden. They have conducted tests on a number of skeletons in Sigtuna and have found that many were Viking era...
Borgeby Castle

Bluetooth's Borgeby Castle: Destroyed And Rebuilt For 1000 Years

Borgeby Castle in the Scania Country, in southern Sweden, was originally built in around 980 AD by Harald Gormsson (also known as Harald Bluetooth), an early Norwegian and Danish King. The Borgeby...
Vikings on a ship.

Hastein: A Notoriously Vicious Viking Raider…Not So Good At Navigation

Described as “fierce, mightily cruel, and savage, pestilent, hostile, sombre, truculent, given to outrage, pestilent and untrustworthy, fickle and lawless” by his contemporaries, Hastein was one of...
Left: Upper jaw bones of a walrus, with tusks removed. Right: an elaborately-carved ecclesiastical walrus ivory plaque.

Lost Norse of Greenland Fueled the Medieval Ivory Trade, Ancient Walrus DNA Suggests

The Icelandic Sagas tell of Erik the Red: exiled for murder in the late 10th century he fled to southwest Greenland, establishing its first Norse settlement. The colony took root, and by the mid-12th...
Scottish media is reporting a remarkable find of hand and knee prints that may have belonged to an individual from an enigmatic civilization. It is believed that the prints are those of a Pictish smith and were discovered in the remains of his workshop. The find was uncovered in the island of Rousay in the Orkney Islands off the Northern coast of Scotland.

A Human Touch: Is this 1500-year-old Hand Print a Pict, a Viking or Another?

Scottish media is reporting a remarkable find of hand and knee prints that may have belonged to an individual from an enigmatic civilization. It is believed that the prints are those of a Pictish...

Pages