#Old Viking Grave

[blueiscoool]

1,200-year-old Viking Grave with a Shield and Knives Found in Norway

A backyard garden in Norway contained quite a bit more than the usual vegetables or flowers, archaeologists recently discovered.

Before construction of a new house could fully begin, archaeologists were brought in to excavate a site in the Holmen neighborhood of Oslo, the city’s antiquities authority, Byantikvaren i Oslo, said in a news release.

Those excavations revealed a rich burial site dating back to the Viking Age, archaeologists said. The grave contained numerous gravestones and the rounded centerpiece of a shield. Originally, an entire large wooden shield was buried in the grave, experts told NRK TV. However, the wood rotted away, leaving just its metal centerpiece.

The other grave goods were likely buried under the shield, experts said. These items included a ring buckle, used to hold a cloak together.

The grave also contained knives, a sickle, and horse equipment, including a bell, a sleigh drag, and a hoof beat, according to the release.

Because Viking burial customs involved cremating the deceased on a bonfire, archaeologists did not find any human remains. The deceased’s ashes and possibly a few bones were likely buried in the grave about 1,200 years ago, researchers said.

“The grave was located directly under a thin layer of topsoil and turf right on the east side of the highest point on the site, with a fantastic view,” Marianne Bugge Kræmer, the archaeologist who uncovered the grave, told Science in Norway on Thursday, Dec. 22.

About 60 Viking-age graves have been found in Oslo, Science in Norway reported. However, most graves have been excavated by construction workers. This is the “first artifact-rich Viking grave in Oslo” to be excavated by archaeologists, experts told the outlet.

Holmen is a neighborhood on the western edge of Oslo.

BY ASPEN PFLUGHOEFT.

[stressedbeetle]

I don't know if tumblr already knows this but there is an intersex viking from about 1000 years ago

they were buried with woman clothing and two swords so archaeologists thought they might've been a woman warrior, but dna tests show they had XXY chromosomes! and considering what they we're buried with they likely had a non-binary role in the society:D

[handweavers]

Would it be recommended to make ribbon on a loom? I see jacquard ribbon in stores and I know that’s a type of loom. Is this something a person could make at home?

you can absolutely make ribbon by hand! many cultures have versions of band or tape weaving (those are older terms to refer to thin decorative strips of fabric, and helpful to know if you're researching weaving this type of textile) and they can be warp or weft faced, in other words the vertical threads can make the patterned design or the horizontal threads can make the patterned design. warp-faced woven bands are very popular in many cultures because they make a durable, strong fabric that can work for anything from straps for bags or other utility items, to decorative applique on garments and even hem-facings

norwegian pick up band weaving gives an effect similar to jacquard ribbon, you can see more about it here

brocade tablet weaving also gives a similar effect, which you can read about here

more about band weaving

fingerweaving is another technique that can create elaborately woven bands, and has been practiced in northern europe as well as among the indigenous peoples of the americas. it is the technique that métis sashes are made with, and bands woven with this technique have also been found in old viking graves. you can read about it here

if you're interested in learning any of these techniques, you don't need a table or floor loom to make them. some work best with an inkle loom, which is generally small and portable, or can be made off loom using heddles or tablets. searching 'band weaving' either online, at a book store, or a library site can lead to a ton of resources on the subject, far too many for me to cover here 🤎

[val-of-the-north]

Tibia Mariners and Those Lost in Death

While I am at it, I should talk about a detail found in Messmer's Shadow Keep. On the way to the Specimen Storehouse, you'll be faced with a peculiar sight: boats lit on fire.

This seems to be a callback to Viking funerals, except the boats are placed in a row and burnt on land. It's certainly an odd practice, but it might only be done this way because Messmer's forces are far from an accessible shore or water that's deep enough to perform it normally.

However, something else caught my eye. The boats looked quite familiar so I went back to check and...

It was the EXACT model as the boats used by the Tibia Mariners! Perhaps it is obvious seeing as the Messmer boats are used in a funerary rite, but I think it's still quite a significant connection, especially since the old Mariners have gotten quite a bit of new lore in the DLC. In Charo's Hidden Grave we can find the skulls of boatmen as a crafting material, presumably that of previous Tibia Mariners.

This is outright confirmed after finding the lone Tibia Mariner in the area, who upon defeat drops the Tibia's Cookbook, which describes them as the oldest of grave keepers.

(Btw I love the detail of the piece of lace cloth and golden ornaments, they are the same found on the Mariners themselves. They even come with the same ghostly glow)

This is quite the revelation, as prior to Shadow of the Erdtree we had no way of knowing that these guys actually predated the spread of Deathroot and Godwyn's transformation into the Prince of Death. And how could we doubt that, since they even drop Deathroot themselves? But there was something that most people have neglected to note about the Mariners, me included.

In the base game, the Tibia Mariner found in the Wyndham Ruins drops a spell called Tibia's Summons. This inconspicuous sorcery of the servants of death actually holds a perplexing description which mentions a group known as "Those Lost in Death".

There was something seemingly redundant and unexplained about these guys. What does "Lost in Death" mean? Why aren't they simply called "Those Who Live in Death"? It wouldn't blame anyone for assuming that this description just contains an outdated term for the undead before they stuck with the one used in-game. However, through the Tibia's Cookbook, we find a NEW reference to this same concept.

Roughly the same title (Those Lost in Death = one lost in death), the same underlying sentiment, and we have verifiable proof that the Tibia Mariners are outright ancient... so what's the deal with this? Well, I have a theory.

The descriptions of these things hint at the fact that the dead have been wandering for a very long time, and that they are in need of leadership. Before the DLC, it was easy to assume that the undead were simply a result of Deathroot, and the game seemed to suggest the same thing by stating multiple times that it was the origin of Those Who Live in Death...

... but that's the thing! Prior to Deathroot connecting them to Godwyn, the undead amounted only to shambling corpses. They were not LIVING in Death, but simply LOST in it, which is how the Mariners were able to control them in ancient times through the use of sounds, both their horns and the Calls of Tibia. It's only through the guidance of a lord, in this case the Prince of Death, that they found an identity and new life.

It's likely the undead waned in the era of Marika because of her elaborate Erdtree burials and general control of life and death. Heck, the figure of Rosus, who guides us to the Catacombs, must have also played a big part in their disappearance. His axe has a similar power to the Tibia's Summons and it's called Rosus's Summons. Its description also mentions that the dead easily lose their way, meaning that Rosus was meant to lend the dead a guiding hand. "Those Lost in Death" would be lost no more.

Without people Lost in Death, the Mariners kind of lost their purpose and vanished for a long time... until the Shattering and the rise of Those Who Live in Death of course. It might mean that the only reason they hold onto Deathroot is because it attracts and connects the new undead.

I guess Godwyn was meant to be a sort of "lighthouse" for all undead. He would make sure they never lost themselves but also that they would be allowed to live instead of being forced back to rest like with Rosus and Marika. Him being a "lighthouse" also fits the marine theme that all this death business is going for quite neatly I think...

But to return to what started this... maybe those boats lit on fire are Messmer's way of making sure the soldiers of his army aren't lost to death after their passing. A way to give them a proper rest the way Marika would have wanted, even though he is limited in what he can do about it. The Catacombs are now corrupted with Deathroots and Godwyn's corpse bodies, and guarded by his fervent golden Death Knights.

(P.S. - I didn't know where to put this, but "Charo" is one letter off from Charon, the ferryman of the dead in Greek mythology. Seeing as the place is connected to the Tibia Mariners, who shepherded Those Lost in Death in an age long past, I find that this connection might not be mere coincidence...)

[bravo4iscool]

call of duty (simon “ghost” riley) masterlist

masterlist overview

call of duty characters as f1 drivers

he’s in denial (a simon “ghost” riley headcanon)

simon riley’s love language (a simon “ghost” riley headcanon)

return (simon “ghost” riley x fem!retired!reader)

part two

the sacrifice (simon “ghost” riley x medic!reader)

mornings with ghost (simon “ghost” riley x fem!reader)

simon riley is a chubby chaser (a simon “ghost” riley headcanon)

simon “ghost” riley/captain john price x chubby!short!reader

you’re kidnapped (simon “ghost” riley x wife!reader)

simon riley witnesses a terror attack (a simon “ghost” riley headcanon)

simon riley is the type of man to hold you when you cry (a simon “ghost” riley headcanon)

turn off the lights (simon “ghost” riley x fem!chubby!reader)

goth!ghost (goth!simon “ghost” riley x scene!reader)

goth!ghost 2.0 (goth!simon “ghost” riley x goth!reader)

model!ghost (model!simon “ghost” riley x designer!reader)

part two

(toxic!)dad!simon (dad!simon “ghost” riley & teen!reader)

part two

old man masterlist (retired!simon “ghost” riley & retired!reader)

bodyguard!simon x lawyer!reader (retired!simon “ghost” riley x fem!chubby!reader)

neigbour!graves helps you move in (phillip graves x reader)

simon and his mechanic!girlfriend (simon “ghost” riley x fem!reader)

simon and his tomboy!girlfriend (simon “ghost” riley x fem!reader)

simon and his lawyer!wife (simon “ghost” riley x fem!wife!reader)

this has no name (simon “ghost” riley x fem!reader)

birthday present (mechanic!simon “ghost” riley x reader)

ptsd (simon “ghost” riley/john “soap” mactavish x reader)

broken cycle (simon “ghost” riley x wife!reader)

too much work (simon “ghost” riley x wife!reader)

baby no.2 (simon “ghost” riley x wife!reader)

too afraid (simon “ghost” riley x reader)

bracelet (a simon “ghost” riley headcanon)

false signs masterlist (simon “ghost” riley x reader)

simon and his tall!wife (simon “ghost” riley x fem!wife!reader)

part two

crime and punishment (simon “ghost” riley x reader)

eating good (simon “ghost” riley x 141!reader)

tf141 getting pets

wayne!AU (simon “ghost” riley & older!brother!reader)

friends to lovers (simon “ghost” riley x chubby!fem!reader)

tf141!office!AU (tf141 x fem!reader)

i date to marry (simon “ghost” riley x reader)

simon meets your parents

why not love me? masterlist (tf141 x simon’s wife!reader; one-sided)

family line (simon “ghost” riley x reader)

cancel your date (captain john price x chubby!fem!reader)

vikings/call of duty crossover

part two

more to come…

[skaldish]

odd question: did the norse people ever worship or venerate the warriors of Valhalla? or was it just a goal to aspire to?

The Old Norse people worshipped their ancestors, some of which went to Valhalla, and some who were definitely heroes. But I don't think they worshipped "the warriors of Valhalla" as an archetype, or as paragons to emulate. Valhalla wasn't even viewed as a goal to aspire to. Rather, it was a consolation prize for dying far from home.

Prior to the Viking Age, the Norse people believed they rejoined their family and ancestors after they died. However, this was dependent on the fact they would be buried in the family grave or barrow.

But going a-viking meant risking death far from home, and this death would most likely happen while out at sea or during a skirmish.

In order to reconcile the question of "Where do we go if we can't be with our families?", the Norse people concluded that if they died out at sea, they went to Njord's hall, and if they died in a skirmish, they went to Odin's or Freyja's hall. This way, they had the comfort of knowing they would still be with their gods and people if they perished far from home.

It's important to keep in mind that the vikings were not exactly a warrior class; as in, "being a warrior" wasn't their job. They were pirates. And like all pirates, their goal was to retrieve goods, either by trade or by raid. Most vikings had every intention of making it home alive, and just like being a skilled sailor improved these odds, so did knowing how to put an axe through a man's skull.

Dying while going a-viking was honorable for the same reason that successfully returning home with goods was honorable; it's the fact that a person risked their life to travel very far away and gather resources for their family and community. It's an honorable deed.

But just because this death was honor-worthy doesn't mean it was a goal.

First of all, let's consider the practical aspect here: In a pre-industrial era, no one in their right mind would waste an entire ship on a crew that didn't plan to come back in it.

Secondly, "dying gloriously on the battlefield" only has widespread cultural importance in imperial nations; nations motivated by dominion, conquest, and establishing their widespread rule. Not only were the Norse societies not imperial, they didn't even have a centralized military, let alone the manpower to fight the rank-and-file wars we associate with the term "war."

So I guess the short answer to your question is "neither." Heroes were definitely venerated, but the notion that becoming ulfhednar makes someone the worthiest of all worthies is a retroactive interpretation.

[krikunjayvoice]

Viggo gets the power

A thought arose regarding some moments from Viggo's past. It's a pity that there are only hints in the series. Consider this my interpretation. Viggo is very similar to Hiccup, but their paths were different. Grimborn, out of youthful stupidity, decided to rescue a trapped dragon from the nets. The dragon was afraid of the hunters and showed aggression. He killed several hunters and rushed at the guy. As a result, Viggo earned claw scars on his neck. His grandfather saved him, the dragon was killed, and the old man died surrounded by his grandchildren from his wounds. Their game with Viggo ended with the death of the marauder leader, and the noble Viking leader remained the only figure on the field. Viggo and Riker lost their grandfather at a young age. I would say that Viggo was the same age as Hiccup from part 2. He gives the impression of a man who will not talk about what he does not know. That's why he warns Hiccup that his kindness and desire to help everyone will bring his loved ones to the grave.

[blue2black]

COD incorrect quotes, but their from TikToks I saw and are now buried somewhere deep in my likes:

PART 1

—————————

*in an Uber*

Soap: And I find out that my parents are like, related.

Gaz: Like, their siblings?

Soap: Yeah like, blood siblings.

Gaz: Is that why you walk weird?

—————————

Soap, walking up to Ghost with a camera: Cheese!

Ghost: What is this? 🤨

Soap: I really think I can’t treat you anymore.

Soap: The fact is…

Soap: I’m in love with you. 😍

Ghost: The fu-?? 😨

—————————

Graves: Come on sweetheart, give us a smile.

Graves: Geez Louise, must be on your period. HA HA HA!

Valeria: …

Valeria: Let me drive a seven ton semi-truck over your torso and I’ll be smiling throughout my entire prison sentence.

—————————

Gaz: Nik is so old fashioned.

Laswell: Oh, really?

Gaz: Nik is so old fashioned that he doesn’t even watch TV.

Gaz: Like, when he wants to kick back and unwind he just goes on long fishing trips with Price.

Gaz: And Nik doesn’t listen to any new music, he just listens to a bunch of metal mixtapes that Price sends him.

Laswell: Wait, John sends Nik metal mixtapes?

Gaz: Nik is so old fashioned that he really struggles showing affection.

Gaz: Like, he rarely hugs me or anyone of that matter.

Gaz: One time I thought I saw him and you holding hands underneath a table from afar, but then I got closer and I saw it was just him and Price.

Laswell: Nik and John were holding hands underneath a table? (.-_.^)

Gaz: Well, yeah, but it really more like a good old fashioned handshake. You know? Like, the prolonged kind where two old school guys don’t let go of each other’s hands while sitting side by side listening to a briefing.

Laswell: Kyle…are Nik and John dating?

Gaz: What? No, Nik isn’t dating Price!

Gaz: Most of the time when Nik and Price hang out, they just get in fist fights with each other.

Laswell: They get in fist fights??

Gaz: Yeah, I can not tell you the number of times I’ve overheard Nik and Price go into an office, lock the door and just fist fight each other.

Gaz: I mean, the halls positively echo with the sound of flesh smacking up against flesh, furniture bumping against the walls…

Gaz: And not for nothing, but I think old fashioned Nik is winning pretty much every one of fights based on how loud I hear Price moaning-

Laswell, getting up: OKAY-

(Gaz knew what was going on, he was just fucking with her like the lil shit he is.)

—————————

Price: I just don’t wanna see you get hurt, okay?

Price: Those people up there can kill you!

Price: I know you think you’re tough, Farah, but you are fucking 5 feet tall!

Farah: I AM 5 FOOT 5! 😡

—————————

Laswell, getting ready to order food: Alright, what do you want?

Soap: Hamburger.

Laswell, parroting: Hamburger.

Soap: Chips.

Laswell: Chips.

Soap: Fart.

Laswell: Fart.

Laswell: 👏🏻 SOAP. 🤬

Soap: HEHEHEHEHE *evil Scottish giggle*

—————————

Valeria, dressed up: Okay, how do I look?

Diego: Like a woman about to go forth in sin.

Valeria: Oh, good. Exactly the look I was hoping for. 😉

—————————

—TEXT—

Scottish Bastard: hey

Scottish Bastard: ghost

Scottish Bastard: HELLOOO

Scottish Bastard: simon?!?!

Scottish Bastard: are you there??

Scottish Bastard: ………

Scottish Bastard: just imagine

Scottish Bastard: you and me

Scottish Bastard: in a room

Scottish Bastard: with nothing on

Scottish Bastard: OILED UP

Scottish Bastard: and ready to mingle

You: What the fuck are you on about?

Scottish Bastard: now that i have your attention

Scottish Bastard: i have an idea >:]

—————————

Soap and Price, waiting for exfil: ….

Soap: …

Soap: Last night I dreamed I was a bottle of ketchup, and you were mustard.

Soap: Which is weird, because usually you’re mayonnaise in my dreams.

Price: 🤨???

Soap: Why do you suppose that is?

—————————

Ghost: When I die…

Ghost: ✨Viking funeral✨

Ghost, handing Gaz a gun: You shoot the shot.

Gaz, cocking the gun: Okay.

Ghost: If you miss, you kill yourself.

Gaz: Wait, what- 😨

—————————

*in an Uber pt 2*

Soap: Well, I’m shocked—of course.

Gaz: This is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard in my entire life.

Soap: I mean, that’s dramatic.

Gaz: No, it’s not dramatic! Your parents are-

Soap: That’s dramatic!

Soap: Listen…I was shocked at first.

Gaz: At first??

Gaz: You’re not shocked still??? (ಠ_ಠ)

—————————

(Nik being the cool dad to everybody in 141)

Nik, answering his ringing phone: Hello?

Norris: Hello, sir, I'm the Colonel working for Captain John Price. I have Sergeant MacTavish in my office.

Nik: Okay, what did he do? 🙄

*Norris looks at Soap*

Soap: 😢

Norris: *sighs* He punched another solider in the genitals.

Norris: Three times.

Nik: OH MY GOD, DID YOU JUST SAY GENITALS? HAHAHA-

Norris, listening to Nik laughing his ass off through the phone: THAT IS THE FUNNIEST THING I'VE HEARD ALL DAY-

Norris: *looks at Soap*

Soap: *smiling proudly*

Nik: OH MY GOD, he is so funny! 😆

—————————

Ghost: Don't touch me, Soap!

Laswell: Can you guys like, stop having relationship issues while I'm trying to hack into their security?

[nthspecialll]

The slaughter of the old

In Red Dead Redemption two you can find two referneces to vikings, both of which are points of interest laying in Mufree Brood land and at first glance there is nothing wrong, but when you look into it, it tells a gruesome tale.

The Old World Scrips is a stone you can find about as west as you can possibly travel on the map, and while half of it remains untranslated, the other half tells of friendly folks.

"We arrived by boat. Beautiful land, gracious people. So we left them to live in peace" Is the meaning of the text in the middle, the text in the snake looks to be a mix between Elder Futhark and Younger Futhark, however when translating it just comes out as gipperish to me and I haven't seen anyone have any luck online either.

The second thing which can be found is the Old Tomb which is a half, open, half closed alter tomb, something where you can find the Viking Helmet, the Viking Hatchet and the Viking Comb.

Now the thing about this place is that it makes no sense at all.

This very clearly looks like a sacrifice but vikings weren't keen on human sacrifices, it wasn't a common practice and when it was done, it was done very differently. One of the largest amount of human sacrifices by vikings in one spot was seven in Trelleborg Denmark, which is the remains of a massive old viking fortress. If we look at the pictures, there are clearly more than seven people here, and even with seven, it was over a longer period of time, with those seven people were also over two hundred animal remains. It was not common.

And the few sacrifices that were made were not done like this. Vikings either hung, strangled or drowned their victimes and they would afterwards be thrown into water, often wells as there is a connection between wells and nordic mythology. Which is why you can find a bigger amount of bog bodies in Denmark such as the Grauballe Man and the Tollund Man.

Now my second thought was, maybe it is a burial ground, just a regular one. But vikings did not bury people like this, regular people were just buried like you would to this day, rich people were buried in grave mound, and I highly doubt that this is someone that the vikings fought as they probably would not make this for enemies and also they said they would leave the people in the area to live in peace.

However the vikings were still in that tomb, their things are all over the place, but I see it more possible that the vikings were the victims, not the perpetrators.

[coochiequeens]

As modern science and better archeology methods reexamine historical sites more of women’s history will emerge

by Sarah Durn September 27, 2021

  

The National Museum of Stockholm's Ride of the Valkyries was painted during the Victorian period, which saw renewed interest in Vikings. Fine Art Images / Heritage Images / Getty Images

In Atlas Obscura’s Q&A series She Was There, we talk to female scholars who are writing long-forgotten women back into history.

In 1871 on the sleepy island of Birka, Sweden, Hjalmar Stolpe, a Swedish entomologist turned archaeologist, discovered the lavish grave of a Viking warrior. Around the seated body were the remains of two sacrificed horses, as well as a double-edged sword, a scramasax (a long, thin knife), a bow, a shield, and a spear—every weapon known to the Viking world. It was an astonishing find, especially since Viking warrior graves rarely contain more than three weapons. There was also a full set of hnefatafl, the board game often known as Viking chess, which indicates the strategic thinking and authority of a war leader. A thousand years ago, the site would’ve abutted the Warrior’s Hall, where a garrison lived to protect the bustling Viking town of Birka. The weapons, game pieces, location: Everything told scholars that the man buried in what is known as grave Bj 581 was a prominent, well-respected Viking warrior. No one was really prepared when DNA tests were conducted in 2017 and a new story began to emerge. This was a prominent warrior, all right, but the occupant of Bj 581 wasn’t a man. She was a woman.

Viking historian Nancy Marie Brown’s new book, The Real Valkyrie: The Hidden History of Viking Warrior Women, explores what life might have been like for the warrior woman of Bj 581.

Using more evidence from the recent tests conducted on the remains, Brown traces her journey from Norway to the British Isles to Kiev then, finally, to Birka. Brown imagines the unnamed warrior meeting other prominent Viking women, such as Gunnhild, Mother of Kings, or Queen Olga, ruler of the Rus Vikings in Kiev. She also explores the Viking sagas and contemporary sources with a new lens.

How did you initially get interested in Vikings—and female Vikings in particular?

When I went to college, I actually wanted to study fantasy writing and, you know, learn to write like Tolkien. I learned very quickly that that was not appropriate for an English major in the 1970s, so I decided to study what Tolkien studied, and he was a professor at Oxford University, teaching Old English and Old Norse. So I started reading all of the Icelandic sagas that I could find in translation. And when I ran out of the English versions, I learned Old Norse so that I could read the rest of them.

One of the things I liked about [the sagas] the most was that they had really interesting women characters. There’s a queen in Norway who appears in about 11 sagas, Queen Gunnhild, Mother of Kings. She led armies. She devised war strategy. And then I was looking at the valkyries and the shieldmaids and thinking, you know, these are really interesting people that have always been considered to be mythological.

So when I learned in 2017 that one of the most famous Viking warrior burials turned out to be the burial of a woman, that just absolutely dazzled my imagination.

Is this the first confirmed grave of a female warrior that we have?

This is the one that has the best proof. There are one or two others that have since been DNA tested and proven to be female. But in each of these cases, it’s hard to say if the person in the grave, whether male or female, actually was a warrior, or if the object that we are interpreting as a weapon was used for hunting or for some other purpose.

In this case, it’s every Viking weapon known to history. So it’s such a clear result. And the DNA was so completely female.

When Stolpe discovered the Viking gravesite Bj 581 in 1887, he assumed the remains were of a man. That assumption was shown to be wrong 140 years later. Rapp Halour / Alamy Stock Photo

What do we know about the life of the Viking warrior woman in Bj 581?

In 2017, by testing her bones and her teeth, [scholars] could say she was between 30 and 40 years old when she died. They could also tell that she ate well all of her life. So she came from a rich family or maybe even a royal one. She was also quite tall, about 5’7”. By the minerals in her inner teeth, [scholars can determine] she may have come from southern Sweden or Norway, and also that she went west maybe as far as the British Isles before her molars finished forming. She didn’t arrive in Birka until she was 16.

We also have her weapons and a little bit of clothing that were found in the grave. And these link her to what is known as the Vikings’ East Way, which was the trade route from Sweden to the Silk Road.

We can link, through the artifacts and through the bones, that she could have traveled from as far west as Dublin to as far east as at least Kiev in the 30 to 40 years of her life.

How do we know that there were Viking warrior women?

They are mentioned many, many, many times in the literature. In most cases, they have been dismissed as mythological because, of course, we know warriors were men. But we don’t know that. That is an assumption that is based on traditional Victorian ideas that because women are mothers, they’re nurturing, they’re peacemakers, and they don’t fight.

That’s not historically true. Women have always fought. And they appear in most cultures until the 1800s, when Viking studies and archaeology pretty much started. So we sort of have this problem of bias in our earliest textbooks.

But now we have actual scientific proof of one warrior woman in the Viking Age. And as the scientists who did the study say they would be very surprised if she was the only one.

This small female Viking warrior figurine discovered in Harby, Denmark, has been interpreted as a mythological valkyrie. John Lee / National Museum of Denmark

There’s this assumption that the warrior men of myth must have been based on real people, but it’s not the same for the mythical warrior women. Why is that?

It’s just an assumption based on what people think women are like. Most of the material we have from the Middle Ages was written by men, and most of the material we have until the 1950s was written by men, and women are slowly making their way into the field of Viking scholarship. But many of them are still working under the assumptions that they were taught.

I noticed when I went back and reread some of the sagas in Icelandic that there wasn’t this clear distinction between the warrior women being mythological and the warrior men being human. When you actually look at the old Norse text, there’s a lot of words that have been translated as “men” that actually mean “people,” but it’s always been translated as “men” because it’s a warrior situation.

If you’re translating, you have to make decisions and sometimes your decisions have repercussions that you don’t expect, like writing women out of the history.

By the time Hjalmar Stolpe excavated Bj 581, he had become adept at recognizing where graves could be found in the hummocky Birka landscape. WS Collection / Alamy Stock Photo

Is it possible for historians to remove all of those biases?

No, I don’t think it is. I think we all are looking through our own lenses. But we have to revisit those sources every generation to see past biases. So when you have layer after layer after layer of removing biases, you may get closer to the truth.

What most surprised you in the course of researching your book?

One of the controversies right now in Viking studies is should we really be talking about men and women at all? Maybe there were all kinds of different genders. We don’t know if there were more than two genders in the Viking age. Maybe it was a spectrum.

If you look at this one group of sagas called the Sagas of Ancient Times that are often overlooked because they have all these fabulous creatures in them, like dragons and warrior women. It’s really interesting [because] these girls grow up wanting to be warriors. They’re constantly disobeying and trying to run off and join Viking bands. But when they do run off and join the Viking band, or, in another case, become the king of a town, they insist on being called by a male name and use male pronouns.

So it was very shocking to me to go back and read it in the original and say, “Wow, all this richness was lost in the translation.”

[blueiscoool]

A 4000-Year-Old Stone Box Grave Discovered in Norway

Archaeologists report an extremely important 4,000-year-old stone box grave has been unearthed in Western Norway, describing it as the most unique Stone Age find in Norway in the last 100 years.

This significant find, which archaeologists believe will provide information about how agriculture came to Western Norway, was discovered south of Vestkapp in Selje, Vestland. The grave is four meters long and over two meters wide.

It’s a sensational discovery and the most unique Stone Age finds in Norway in the last 100 years, says Morten Ramstad at the antiquities section at the University of Bergen.

The grave is a ‘hellekistegrave’, or stone box grave, a type of burial site that has previously only been found in Buskerud, Østfold, and Denmark, but never in Western Norway. Such a grave’s finding here is noteworthy and may help explain when agriculture, which first appeared in Norway circa 3950 BC, made its way to Western Norway.

The fact that this type of grave has not been previously found in Western Norway adds to the significance of the discovery.

Researchers may be able to ascertain the individuals’ ages, places of origin, and methods of transportation to Western Norway thanks to the exceptionally well-preserved human bone material discovered at the site.

Following the retreat of the great ice sheets, the first inhabitants migrated north into what is now Norway around 10,000 years ago. They were hunter-gatherers who lived off of seafood and game, particularly reindeer. The first agricultural settlements appeared around the Oslofjord between 5,000 and 4,000 BC. Between 1500 BC and 500 BC, agricultural settlements gradually spread throughout southern Norway, while residents north of Trndelag continued to hunt and fish.

The Neolithic period, beginning in 4000 BC, marked the beginning of agriculture in Norway. The Migration Period saw the establishment of the first chieftains and the construction of hilltop forts. Norwegians began to spread across the seas to the British Isles in the eighth century, and later to Iceland and Greenland. The Viking Age also saw the country’s unification.

The discovery of the 4,000-year-old grave in Western Norway adds to our understanding of the region’s agricultural history. The grave’s exceptionally well-preserved condition, as well as the human bone material discovered within it, could provide valuable data for researchers.

By Oğuz Büyükyıldırım.

[birdofmay]

do have metal recommendations? I'm new to it. really completely new

*typing up a storm* You just activated the autism in me! 😄

Alright, here's a brief overview. Followers, feel free to recommend songs in the comments, if you listen to metal.

What bands you should know, at least their names:

Black Sabbath, Sepultura, Kiss, Van Halen, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Pantera, Anthrax, Helloween.

No need to know and like their songs, just know that they exist. There are some more, but you'll encounter them eventually anyway, I'm sure. Note that certain old bands are controversial now, for example Pantera and Metallica.

Some recommendations:

Heavy Metal:

The "How it began" part. Just check out Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and Black Sabbath. You should know

Thrash Metal:

The earlier albums of Metallica, Testament, Exodus, and of course Slayer. "Raining Blood"

is well known, and I connect "Bloodline"

with long road trips as a child.

Doom Metal:

Some Black Sabbath is also considered doom metal. Apart from that I recommend Pentagram and Witchfinder General.

Black Metal:

Not mine, personally, except for certain derivatives, but they'll come later. I like very few black metal songs. They are:

Death Metal:

Many subgenres, I personally prefer Melodic Death Metal. Cannibal Corpse is well-known and also Obituary. Check out Debauchery, some In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, and Arch Enemy too. Recommendation:

But to be honest, most Children of Bodom songs sound alike 😂

Dark Metal/Gothic Metal:

Hard to sort the whole discography of one band into this subgenre. Some Cradle of Filth, some Sirenia, some Samsas Traum, Type O Negative. I also like

Power Metal:

Sabaton, Powerwolf, Manowar (not everything), HammerFall, Grave Digger (not everything), Sonata Arctica, some Blind Guardian. Power Metal often has characteristics of Symphonic Metal in some songs, so it's hard to put one band in one strict category.

Symphonic Metal:

Nightwish, Xandria, Within Temptation, Epica. Too many favourites to recommend a specific song.

Progressive Metal:

Dream Theater, Opeth, Tool, Symphony X. Specific song:

Folk Metal:

Some Ensiferum, Eluveitie, Týr, Finntroll, Svartsot, Korpiklaani. Also The HU for Mongolian representation 😎 Folk Metal is huge, I just focus on "northern" stuff because I'm "northern" too. Song recommendation:

Viking Metal:

This is actually a "Whatever, as long as it's about Norse stuff and the Viking age" genre. This is why many death metal, folk metal, and power metal bands ALSO are considered viking metal.

Amon Amarth are very well-known, I'd recommend

Pagan Metal:

Also a "Whatever, as long" category. Most folk metal bands are simultaneously pagan metal. Moonsorrow are more black metal but also pagan metal, which is why I'll briefly mention them here.

There also are Varg, but if I'm not mistaken they had some right wing stuff going on, so be careful there. I'm not sure what happened, but I think some of the band members openly supported a neonazi group. Could be that the members were kicked out after that, but even if everything is alright now, they still have a negative connotation.

Somewhere in between all this, there's Alestorm. They're also considered pirate metal, btw. But I'm not actively into that, which is why I put them somewhere in-between.

Industrial Metal:

This is your outsider, and I think every band considered "Industrial Metal" is at the same time considered 5 genres more. Rammstein, Nine Inch Nails, Eisbrecher (some would say it's Gothic), Ministry.

Nu Metal:

Some people would say "Nu Metal isn't metal!!!", but I like it anyway. Check out Slipknot, Limp Bizkit, Korn, Disturbed. "Duality" by Slipknot is the song of a common meme ("I push my fingers into my eyes") 😄

Also Machine Head, but it's hard to categorise them. I just checked, Wikipedia says they're sometimes considered "neo-thrash". Well I guess they're a bit of everything, but their newer albums definitely have nu metal character.

Metalcore:

If you say you're a metalhead but only listen to metalcore, metalheads will hate you for this. Just so you know. ☝🏼 It's a valid genre, but you're on thin ice if you don't listen to other metal genres. There are many overlapping genres here, which is why, again, it's difficult to label bands.

Parkway Drive (some would scream that they're post hardcore), Silverstein (some would scream that they're hardcore punk, others that they're emo), As I Lay Dying, Killswitch Engage, Bullet For My Valentine (some would scream that they're emo, others would say they're heavy metal), Bring Me The Horizon depending on the song, August Burns Red.

Lamb of God are considered metalcore too, but in my opinion they're more metal than metalcore. Anyway I'll mention them here for the sake of classification.

Yeah, that's about it, I guess. This post is already very long, so I guess I better stop at this point. I hope from here on you'll manage to navigate through the big metal genre yourself 😄

P.S.: I forgot Trivium! "Feast Of Fire" is currently stuck in my head

[autumnmobile12]

The Vampires in Castlevania

Vlad III Dracula Ţepeș (Impaler) was a real person.  He was a Wallachian voivode who was born sometime between 1429 and 1431, and he died in 1476.  The exact manner of his death has been lost to history, but the common belief is he was beheaded in battle and his head was sent to Sultan Mehmed II in Constantinople as proof of his death.

As for Bram Stoker’s Dracula, some historians are starting to doubt the prince was the actual inspiration for the famous vampire.  One of the reasons for this is Stoker was a very thorough note-taker, but none of his notes for writing Dracula mention Vlad III or any of his lifetime achievements/atrocities.  So it’s possible Stoker only chose the name ‘Dracula’ because he knew it translated as ‘son of the Devil.’  Further reading - Dracula: Sense and Nonsense by Elizabeth Miller.

Carmilla is the name of a lady vampire in the novella Carmilla by Sheridan le Fanu, a story that is actually older than Stoker’s novel.  It features a lesbian relationship between Carmilla and the protagonist, Laura, and was written as a criticism of the Victorian view of women, specifically repressed sexuality.

Varney also comes from a book.  Varney the Vampire or The Feast of Blood was a penny dreadful written by James Malcolm Rymer and Thomas Peckett Prest.  (I haven’t read this one all the way through, but there is a scene where Varney is struggling to get over a garden wall, and I think that’s hilarious.  Not exactly apex predator material.)

Varney:  You think you have me stymied, don’t you.

Trevor:  No, I think a garden wall has you stymied.

Lenore is the name of a German poem written by Gottfried August Bürger.  It’s about a woman named Lenore who curses God because her beloved did not come back from war, so Death kidnaps her to reunite them, effectively condemning her soul for eternity.  It’s not about a vampire, but the poem has had a hand in influencing vampire literature.

Anyway, does anyone else really want to see Lenore cheering Trevor on in the last battle?  Or stealing the knife and ending Death herself.  Cause I do now.

The closest thing to a vampire in Viking folklore is the draugr, although this creature is more of a restless ghost than what we think of as a vampire.  They haunt the graves of the dead and guard the treasures they acquired in life by driving humans insane, drinking their blood, eating their flesh, and other nasty things.

Side note:  I’m really curious as to what led Godbrand to becoming a vampire.  Immortality didn’t really play a huge factor in Old Norse culture since the Vikings believed a glorious death in battle was the one and only way to go to Valhalla.  Other deaths that were deemed shameful or unworthy landed you in Helheim, which I really need to address further in a separate post.

Japan also doesn’t have an exact vampire equivalent, but they do have some yokai spirits that have vampire-like characteristics, including but not limited to:

Nukekubi:  A flying head that detaches from its human body at night and attacks people to drink their blood.

Rokurokubi:  A similar creature to nukekubi except the head doesn’t detach but rather travels from the body via an elongated neck.

Nure-Onna:  The ‘drenched woman’ is a large serpent with the head of a woman that drinks blood.

Personally, I would have loved to see Cho’s head fly off to attack someone simply to see Sypha, Alucard, and Trevor briefly panic.

[astronicht]

oh, I'm a bit late to this because I'm backreading your Fellowship liveblog, but there's been a lot of scholarship done on Tolkien's use of astronomy! Kristine Larsen has a whole lot of journal articles on it though a lot of them are related more to the Silmarillion

No such thing as late, here! And thank you so much for this fun info i am reading the first article of Larsen's I came across ("The Sun, the Son, and the Silmarillion") and I'm laughing a little bit because I once had an old professor despair at the lack of academic work on early medieval cosmology. BUT LO AND BEHOLD, in Tolkien scholarship, people are out there doing it! Right now!

It's not the same thing, ofc, and Tolkien isn't actually trying to recreate early medieval cosmologies, so much as recrafting and reworking them and putting in something of his own. Still! While i am definitely more wobbly on Norse stuff, I have never seen, taking an example from this paper, anyone suggest that a viking cosmology might have something to do with the shape of a ship! (Which I am learning today that Tolkien used, not for Vikings ofc but for Middle Earth). Again, maybe this is a known thing I don't know about, but I have read lots of musings about the importance of the shape of a ship (turns up a lot in Norse grave archeology) and many more musings on how hard it is to picture a Norse cosmos, and I feel like I should have considered these two things together! At least once! Neat stuff.

(I personally like the suggestion (made by an unnamed Icelandic scholar noted in Neil Price's The Children of Ash and Elm) that the world-tree (a central-pillar motif) is tied to the image of the Milky Way stretched across the sky. If you've ever sat out on a floating dock under a nearly unpolluted night sky in northern Ontario (a very similar environment and latitude to Scandinavia), this starts to make sense, whether it's actually historically substantiated).

Anyway, thank you a bunch for this!

[woedans]

The helmet of Vendel 1. Photographed at @historiska Stockholm a while back. This is by far my favorite helmet and also the grave I am reconstructing in my living-history project. More on that very soon.

This helmet, much like many other helmets from Vendel and Valsgärde, is covered in so called pressblech images. These gilded foils show different designs of what is believed to be (part of) an initiation ritual. Some of the elements show likeness to continental European designs and designs found in England. Objects like this belonged to the absolute elite of Early Medieval martial society and were among the most valuable items in material culture.

The gold adorned helmet is dated to around 625AD and was excavated in the 1910’s by Hjalmar Stolpe, who would later also write the excavation reports of the famed Viking burial site at Birka.

The grave, a boat burial, also contained two elaborate swords (more on that soon), a shield, smithing material, a horse, horse equipment, a spearhead, skeletons of dogs, beakers, food preparation material and grooming accessories. Needless to say it was a very elaborate grave.

At the burial site ar Vendel now stands an old church with a churchyard.

I like to think the spirits of these long gone elite warriors now reside in the great halls of the Historiska museum in the afterlife. The helmet is on display in what they call the Gold Room.

More coming soon.

Photos of the drawings are from the original report. Last photo courtesy of the Historiska museet.

[emily-mooon]

OK! here's the general idea for this Nordegrim Ghosts AU that has been haunting me:

CW FOR MENTIONS OF DEATH, ATTEMPTED MURDER, AND ALSO A TINY BIT SUGGESTIVE (just a tiny bit though)

Stacey, Scott, and Lawrence inherit this big house from a distant great aunt they have never met after she passed of old age. Scott is in debt so he cant take the house like he was supposed to, and Lawrence wants nothing to do with it, so Stacey gets it instead.

It’s perfect though cause her and Neil, who is also her husband now here, were planning to move houses anyways and were struggling to find a good place. Also since the house is super big, they thought about opening a hotel at one point once the house is all fixed up.

What they don't know is that the house is haunted. the ghosts in question are:

Knives Chau: A teenage girl from the 1950s who was a fan of rock n' roll that got pushed down the stairs by a jealous classmate (not Tamara btw that was her gf) at a party

Julie Powers (IDK her married last name yet): An Edwardian women who got pushed out the window by her husband (who is Joseph in this AU btw)

Stephen Stills: A folk singer from the mid 60s who dies in a fire (people confused him with the other Stephen Stills all the time)

Gideon Graves: A music producer from the late 60s early 70s who was poisoned by a rival producer

Lucas Lee: A Victorian lumber guy who was crushed by a wooden beam during the construction of the houses renovation

Todd Ingram: A 90s Rockstar who died while having sex with his bands drummer (which like in the comic, was also cheating on his girlfriend and it is still Lynette and Envy)

Lisa Miller: A somewhat famous 1930s actress who died while filming a scene

Matthew Patel: An early 19th century poet who died in a duel that was orchestrated by a good friend of his

Roxie Richter(she has no last name in this au btw, putting it here cause I put everyone elses last names here): A Viking who was struck by lighting

Ken and Kyle Katayanagi : Inventors/mechanics from the late 19th century who died in a car explosion along with their dog (who is a dog version of robot 0-1 btw). They live in the carriage house as its far more peaceful than the main house

The ghosts overhear the hotel idea when Stacey and Neil are talking about it and they are not too pleased with it. So they try to haunt them so they'll leave, but ultimately fail.

Then either Gideon or Todd, come across Stacey leaning out the window and decide to push her in an another attempt to get them to leave which in turn, almost kills her. Because of this, now Stacey can see ghosts and forms a close friendship with them. Neil, like Mike and I assume Jay in bbc and cbs ghosts respectively, will have a collage of what they all look like since he cannot see them.

So yeah that's my idea so far! I’m still tweaking things but I’m happy with this rn. I’ll definitely make art for it at some point (and if people want it, an ask blog). Feel free to also suggest some ideas for this au if you have any :]