Project Archives

The archaeologists made the discovery while excavating a cemetery in northern Mongolia. By Sarah Cascone Archaeologists found these skeletons of two people buried in an ancient tomb in Mongolia. The woman (left) may have been a horse-riding, bow-and-arrow-wielding warrior. Photo by Christine Lee. Archaeologists have discovered the remains of what appear to be two 1,500-year-oldContinue reading “Archaeologists Have Discovered the Skeletons of ‘Badass’ Warrior Women in Mongolia, Dating Back to the Period of Mulan”

Archaeologists racing to save the rare vessel from fungal attacks hope to begin work in June Norwegian officials plan to excavate this rare Viking ship burial site. (Photograph by Erich Nau / NIKU) By Nora McGreevy Norwegian archaeologists are set to carry out a full excavation of a buried Viking ship for the first time in moreContinue reading “For the First Time in a Century, Norway Will Excavate Viking Ship Burial”

Early medieval historian Ryan Lavelle uncovers the story of Vikings in Britain, from the early forays of seafaring raiders landing at Lindisfarne in 793 to battling Alfred the Great and Danish warrior Cnut’s triumph in claiming the English crown – and their abrupt ousting in the Norman Conquest of 1066. It was just over aContinue reading “Vikings in Britain: how did raiders and marauders become lords and kings?”

                                                                        A depiction of Ratatoskr in a 17th-century illuminated manuscript. (Johanna Olafsdottir) By John Kelly When one ponders the caseContinue reading “Meet Ratatoskr, mischievous messenger squirrel to the Viking gods”

Melting ice has receded from a mountain pass, unearthing pelts, shoes and stone structures from thousands of years ago. Article by Henrik Pryser Libell and Christine Hauser A distaff as it was found in the mountain pass, close to the melting ice.Credit…Espen Finstad/Secretsoftheice.com OSLO — Ice patches that melted from the slopes of a remote mountainContinue reading “Warming Climate in Norway Reveals Relics of Ancient Viking Trade Route”

For half a millennium, followers of Erik the Red thrived in Greenland and sailed to North America. Then they mysteriously disappeared. Why? By Sarah Richardson March 1, 2000  About a millennium ago, legends tell us, a Viking named Leif Eriksson sailed to the shores of North America, arriving hundreds of years ahead of Christopher Columbus. EvenContinue reading “Vanished Vikings”

New DNA-driven research reveals untold stories—and stirs controversy By Gemma Tarlach  January 3, 2019 12:00 AM More than a thousand years ago, the Vikings arrived on the world stage as swiftly as their longships cut through the waves. They raided and traded, conquered and colonized. They left their mark on four continents — not just atContinue reading “The Secret History of the Vikings”

The popular perception of Vikings is that of aggressive, pillaging, bloodthirsty male warriors. But, as historian Judith Jesch explains, the Viking Age was not just a masculine affair. A detail of the decorative carving on the side of the Oseberg cart c850 AD. A woman with streaming hair apparently restrains a man’s sword arm asContinue reading “Viking women: raiders, traders and settlers”

In 2017, a research paper made waves by claiming that the remains of a supposed professional warrior found in a 10th-century grave in Birka, Sweden, could be female. The remains, originally unearthed in the 1880s, had been long presumed to be those of a male warrior, due to their burial with weapons and other statusContinue reading “Viking ‘warrior women’: Judith Jesch, an expert in Viking studies, examines the latest evidence”

By Stephanie Pappas on July 11, 2019 in Scientific American Climate change is already rotting archaeological sites in the Arctic, and Norse Viking-era settlements are at high risk                                                         One of theContinue reading “Viking History Is Melting Away in Greenland”