Viking warriors sailed the seas with their pets, bone analysis finds

By Kristina Killgrove When the Vikings sailed west to England more than a millennium ago, they brought their animal companions with them and even cremated their bodies alongside human ones in a blazing pyre before burying them together, a new study finds.  These animal and human remains were found in a unique cremation cemetery in centralContinue reading “Viking warriors sailed the seas with their pets, bone analysis finds”

Terrifying sea monster ‘hafgufa’ described in medieval Norse manuscripts is actually a whale

By Sascha Pare Scientists in Australia think that a sea monster in 13th-century Norse manuscripts was actually an accurate description of a whale using trap feeding. A sea creature mentioned in 13th-century Old Norse manuscripts, which historians thought was a kraken-like mythological monster, is actually a whale using a hunting strategy known as trap or tread-water feeding, aContinue reading “Terrifying sea monster ‘hafgufa’ described in medieval Norse manuscripts is actually a whale”

Earliest mention of Odin, ‘king of the gods,’ found in treasure hoard from Denmark

By Tom Metcalfe The oldest known inscription mentioning the Norse god Odin has been found on a gold pendant in Denmark from the fifth century A.D. A gold pendant recently unearthed in Denmark bears the earliest known inscription featuring the Norse god Odin. Archaeologists think the pendant — which is technically known as a bracteate and madeContinue reading “Earliest mention of Odin, ‘king of the gods,’ found in treasure hoard from Denmark”