Author Archives: Jules William Press

The 1,200-year-old vessel, discovered in a Norwegian potato field, is revealing an extraordinary picture of how ancient Scandinavian warlords were sent into the afterlife. ByAndrew Curry In the south of Scandinavia, it’s not uncommon to see low, rounded hills appear here and there across expanses of flat farmland: These are often the remains of Viking-eraContinue reading “‘100-year find’: Enormous Viking ship holds surprising clues on burial rituals”

The discovery of 1,300-year-old ship nails in a burial mound in Norway raises new questions about who was actually entombed there. ByChristina Larson Near the harbor of Norway’s Leka Island, there lies a vast, ancient burial mound called Herlaugshaugen. Stretching some 200 feet long and reaching nearly four stories high, the earthen mound dominates theContinue reading “New evidence shows ‘Viking burials’ predate Vikings”

Archaeologists and student excavators uncovered a Viking Age pit full of dismembered remains near Cambridge, England. By Kristina Killgrove Archaeologists have unearthed a Viking Age pit filled with the dismembered remains of 10 people in the outskirts of Cambridge, England. The unusual mass grave, which also contained the skeleton of an extremely tall man who hadContinue reading “Viking Age mass grave holds mysterious mix of dismembered human remains and complete skeletons, including a ‘giant’ who’d had brain surgery”

People buried together in old Scandinavian graves were not always related By Vishwam Sankaran A new DNA study has completely upturned a long-held assumption that people buried together in Scandinavia’s Viking-age graves must be related to each other. Across the region there are many examples of graves from the late Viking and Middle Age inContinue reading “DNA study challenges key assumption about Viking burials”

The Viking shields found on the Gokstad ship in 1880 were not strictly ceremonial and may have been used in hand-to-hand combat, according to a new analysis. By Tom Metcalfe Dozens of Viking round shields from a famous ship burial unearthed in Norway were not strictly ceremonial as long thought; instead they may have protected warriorsContinue reading “1,100-year-old ‘ceremonial’ Viking shields were actually used in battle, study suggests”