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ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17349 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
 Posted: 19-07-2007 16:21 Post subject: Viking-Era Discoveries |
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| Quote: | Viking treasure hoard uncovered
Experts believe the treasure was buried for safe keeping
The most important Viking treasure find in Britain for 150 years has been unearthed by a father and son while metal detecting in Yorkshire.
David and Andrew Whelan uncovered the hoard, which dates back to the 10th Century, in Harrogate in January.
The pair kept their find intact and it was transferred to the British Museum to be examined by experts, who said the discovery was "phenomenal".
It was declared as a treasure at a court hearing in Harrogate on Thursday.
North Yorkshire coroner Geoff Fell said: "Treasure cases are always interesting, but this is one of the most exciting cases that I have ever had to rule on.
"I'm delighted that such an important Viking hoard has been discovered in North Yorkshire. We are extremely proud of our Viking heritage in this area."
'Astonishing discovery'
Metal detectorists David and Andrew Whelan, who uncovered the treasures, said the find was a "thing of dreams".
The pair, from Leeds, said the hoard was worth about £750,000 as a conservative estimate.
They told the BBC News website: "We've been metal detecting for about five years; we do it on Saturdays as a hobby.
"We ended up in this particular field, we got a really strong signal from the detector... Eventually we found this cup containing the coins and told the antiquity authority.
"We were astonished when we finally discovered what it contained."
The ancient objects come from as far afield as Afghanistan in the East and Ireland in the West, as well as Russia, Scandinavia and continental Europe.
The hoard contains 617 silver coins and 65 other objects, including a gold arm-ring and a gilt silver vessel.
Dr Jonathan Williams, keeper of prehistory in Europe at the British Museum, said: "[The cup] is beautifully decorated and was made in France or Germany at around AD900.
"It is fantastically rare - there are only a handful of others known around the world. It will be stunning when it is fully conserved."
Turbulent times
Most of the smaller objects were extremely well preserved as they had been hidden inside the vessel, which was protected by a lead container.
The British Museum said the coins included several new or rare types, which provide valuable new information about the history of England in the early 10th Century, as well as Yorkshire's wider cultural contacts in the period.
It was probably buried for safety by a wealthy Viking leader during the unrest following the conquest of the Viking kingdom of Northumbria in AD927.
A spokeswoman for the museum said: "The size and quality of the hoard is remarkable, making it the most important find of its type in Britain for over 150 years."
The find will now be valued for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport by the Independent Treasure Valuation Committee.
Dr Williams said that the British Museum and the York Museums Trust would be looking to raise the funds to purchase the collection so it could eventually go on public display.
The proceeds would be split between the finders and landowners.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/north_yorkshire/6906107.stm |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17349 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 18-09-2008 18:00 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Rare Viking-era shield found in Denmark
Archaeologist Kirsten Christensen says the wooden shield has a diameter of 32 inches. It was found Tuesday during excavations near Viking-age castles, some 60 miles west of Copenhagen.
Christensen said Thursday it is the first time such a shield has been found in Denmark. She said the moist soil in the area is "ideal to preserve wood."
The fir shield is believed to date from the late 10th century.
Danish Vikings launched bloody raids along the coasts of Western Europe about 1,000 years ago and even occupied parts of England.
http://www.physorg.com/printnews.php?newsid=140943434 |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17349 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 01-10-2008 15:35 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Taking a Norse to water: New clues to Viking voyages
http://www.physorg.com/printnews.php?newsid=142053447
The mouse could help lift the veil on how the Norwegian Vikings established a seafaring kingdom that ranged from the tip of Scotland and Iceland to Greenland and Newfoundland, scientists said on Tuesday.
The mouse could help lift the veil on how the Norwegian Vikings established a seafaring kingdom that ranged from the tip of Scotland and Iceland to Greenland and Newfoundland, scientists said on Tuesday.
Researchers led by Jeremy Searle of the University of York, northern England, found the common house mouse (Mus musculus domesticus) evolved into different strains after it spread into western Europe from the Middle East during the Iron Age, some 3,000 years ago.
Because mice colonise homes and hitch a ride in cargo, the differentiated strains are also a useful historical pointer, showing where humans ventured and where they settled, they argue.
In a study published in the British journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the team looked at mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) -- genetic material handed down by the maternal line -- found in preserved tissues from 310 mice found in 96 locations in Britain.
On the British mainland, the mice shared the same genetic heritage and bore a similarity with mice found in Germany, they discovered.
But mice found in the Orkney Islands, off the northern coast of Scotland, though, were of "Viking" vintage, with kinship to mice found in Norway.
The finding fits with historical evidence that Orkney was a key centre within the Norwegian Viking kingdom of the 11th and 12th century, founded on sophisticated ships that could travel long distances and carry substantial cargo.
"MtDNA studies on house mice have the potential to reveal novel aspects of human history," says the study.
Mice remains could not only explain cultural associations and movements within the long-expired Viking kingdom, but also shed light on human migrations elsewhere, it adds.
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| rynner2 What a Cad!
Great Old One Joined: 13 Dec 2008 Total posts: 19459 Location: Under the moon Gender: Male |
| Posted: 18-07-2009 09:06 Post subject: |
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One way or the other, Vikings are involved here...
Dorset Ridgeway’s killing field: were victims Vikings or local heroes?
Decapitated skulls and body parts being unearthed at the top of Ridgeway Hill
Simon de Bruxelles
It was a scene familiar from the killing fields of Iraq or the Balkans, but unheard of in rural Dorset. As the earth-moving machine peeled back a thin layer of topsoil, it exposed a tangled mass of human bones.
Fifty-one young men had been decapitated with swords or axes before their bodies were tossed into a pit. The heads were neatly stacked to one side.
Radio-carbon dating suggests that they were killed between 890 and 1034, when the South of England was pillaged by Viking raiders from Scandinavia. A month after the discovery archaeologists are beginning to piece the story together.
The pit was discovered during road improvements between Dorchester and Weymouth, venue for sailing events in the 2012 Olympics. A team of archaeologists had been following builders widening the A354 where it crosses the Ridgeway, a prehistoric track along the crest of the limestone hills of south Dorset.
What they found shook even experienced archaeologists used to dealing with the remains of the long dead. David Score, of Oxford Archaeology, the project manager, said: “When you are there surrounded by bones with a pile of skulls grimacing back at you, you can’t help but imagine how they met their end. It would have been a scene of absolute horror.”
Marks on the skulls, jaws and vertebrae showed where the heads had been hacked off, sometimes taking many blows.
Nothing else has been found in the grave so far. Mr Score said: “You might expect them to have been stripped of weapons and jewellery before execution, but the fact we haven’t found so much as a bone toggle suggests they were naked when they were executed.”
The identity of the skeletons may be revealed by their teeth. Isotopes in the enamel formed while the men were growing up will reveal whether their origins were in Scandinavia, Wessex — Alfred’s kingdom — or northern England, where large numbers of Danes had settled.
The Anglo Saxon Chronicle records Viking raiders landing at Portland, not far from Weymouth. Could a raiding party have been captured and put to the sword? The bones will reveal whether the dead men had the massively developed upper bodies of Viking oarsmen; their teeth, where they grew up; and their DNA, whether they are related to people still living in the area.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article6718631.ece
I must have been close by this place many times, when my parents lived in Weymouth. Strange to think what history may be hidden beneath our feet... |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17349 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 27-08-2009 15:35 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Viking hoard saved for the nation
Objects in the hoard have come from all over the world.
The largest Viking hoard found in Britain since the 19th century has been bought by two British museums.
The find, valued at £1,082,000, was discovered in a field in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, by a father and son metal-detector team in January 2007.
After two years of fundraising, the collection has been purchased by the York Museums Trust and the British Museum in London.
It is expected to go on display at the Yorkshire Museum in York next month.
The hoard includes a silver gilt vessel, 617 coins and various silver fragments, ingots and rings.
Initial conservation work suggests the treasures were hidden by a wealthy Viking after the Kingdom of Northumbria fell to the Anglo-Saxon King Athelstan in AD 927.
'Global significance'
The men who made the discovery have welcomed the news that the collection will be displayed in Yorkshire.
David and Andrew Wheelan, from Leeds, said: "We always dreamt of finding a hoard but to find one from such a fantastic period of history is just unbelievable.
"The contents of the hoard we found went far beyond our wildest dreams and hopefully people will love seeing the objects on display in York and London for many years to come."
The pair will share the £1,082,000 with the owners of the field, who wish to remain anonymous.
Jonathan Williams, the British Museum's keeper of prehistory and Europe, said it was a find of "global significance".
Historians believe the hoard will greatly increase their understanding of the wealth, culture and trading routes of the Vikings who lived in Yorkshire and the North-East during the early 900s.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/north_yorkshire/8224729.stm |
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| rynner2 What a Cad!
Great Old One Joined: 13 Dec 2008 Total posts: 19459 Location: Under the moon Gender: Male |
| Posted: 12-03-2010 09:45 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | One way or the other, Vikings are involved here...
Dorset Ridgeway’s killing field: were victims Vikings or local heroes? |
Weymouth ridgeway skeletons 'Scandinavian Vikings'
Fifty-one decapitated skeletons found in a burial pit in Dorset were those of Scandinavian Vikings, scientists say.
Mystery has surrounded the identity of the group since they were discovered at Ridgeway Hill, near Weymouth, in June.
Analysis of teeth from 10 of the men revealed they had grown up in countries with a colder climate than Britain's.
Archaeologists from Oxford believe the men were probably executed by local Anglo Saxons in front of an audience sometime between AD 910 and AD 1030.
The Anglo Saxons were increasingly falling victim to Viking raids and eventually the country was ruled by a Danish king.
The mass grave is one of the largest examples of executed foreigners buried in one spot.
It was discovered during investigative excavation work before construction started on a controversial £87m relief road through the ridgeway.
Samples of 10 remains were identified as Scandinavian by Dr Jane Evans and Carolyn Chenery, of NERC Isotope Geosciences Laboratory, part of the British Geological Survey, based in Nottingham.
Their work has revealed that the men had scattered Scandinavian origins, with one even thought to be from north of the Arctic Circle.
Isotopes in the men's teeth also show they had eaten a high protein diet, comparable with known sites in Sweden.
Initially, it was thought the burial site dated from the Iron Age (from 800 BC) to early Roman times (from AD 43) after examining pottery in the pit, later identified as a Roman quarry.
Radiocarbon dating later revealed they were from the Saxon period.
Oxford Archaeology removed the 51 skulls from the ground and are continuing to examine the remains to try to link the find to historical events.
Project manager David Score said: "To find out that the young men executed were Vikings is a thrilling development.
"Any mass grave is a relatively rare find, but to find one on this scale, from this period of history, is extremely unusual."
He added that without analysing all the bodies it was impossible to know for certain that all the skeletons were those of Vikings, but it was possible to make a "strong inference".
The archaeologists believe the men were stripped naked either before being killed, or before being buried, because there was no evidence of clothing, such as pins or toggles.
Most of them were in their late teens to early 20s, with a handful in their 30s.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/8563377.stm |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17349 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 04-07-2011 18:21 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Dorset burial pit Viking had filed teeth
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-14019172
Archaeologist David Score said the practice would not have been a "pleasant experience"
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Vikings' skeletons go on display
Decapitated group 'were Vikings'
Archaeologists have discovered one of the victims of a suspected mass Viking burial pit found in Dorset had grooves filed into his two front teeth.
Experts believe a collection of bones and decapitated heads, unearthed during the creation of the Weymouth Relief Road, belong to young Viking warriors.
During analysis, a pair of front teeth was found to have distinct incisions.
Archaeologists think it may have been designed to frighten opponents or show status as a great fighter.
Oxford Archaeology project manager David Score said: "It's difficult to say how painful the process of filing teeth may have been, but it wouldn't have been a pleasant experience.
"The incisions have been very carefully made and it is most likely that they were filed by a skilled craftsman.
"The purpose behind filed teeth remains unclear but, as we know these men were warriors, it may have been to frighten opponents in battle or to show their status as a great fighter."
Multiple wounds
The burial pit, found in 2009, contained 51 skulls and 54 bodies.
The burial pit, found in 2009, contained 51 skulls and 54 bodies
Many of the executed men suffered multiple wounds inflicted by a sharp blade, including one skeleton with six cut marks to the back of the neck.
Dorset County Council senior archaeologist Steve Wallis said radiocarbondating showed they come from about AD970 to 1025.
Mr Wallis said those dates fell within the period of Viking raids on the Anglo Saxons in the UK, and isotope analysis of teeth found in a severed jaw suggests they were from the Nordic countries.
He said: "It's great that the burial pit on Ridgeway is still surprising us and teaching us more about who these men may have been and what they may have been like.
"It is very rare that this kind of deliberate dental modification is found in European remains, although it is often found in cultures from around the world, so that it was found in an excavation in Dorset is fantastic."
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17349 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 12-08-2011 12:29 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Oxford Viking massacre revealed by skeleton find
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14476039
By Louise Ord
Assistant Producer, Digging For Britain
Evidence suggests the men were running away from their attackers
Related Stories
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Evidence of a brutal massacre of Vikings in Oxford 1100 years ago has been uncovered by archaeologists.
At least 35 skeletons, all males aged 16 to 25 were discovered in 2008 at St John's College, Oxford.
Analysis of wound marks on the bones now suggests they had been subjected to violence.
Archaeologists analysing the find believe it dates from 1002 AD when King Ethelred the Unready ordered a massacre of all Danes (Vikings) in England.
The surprise discovery of the skeletons was made by Thames Valley Archaeological Services under the quadrangle at St John's College at the University of Oxford, before building work started on the site.
The bodies had not received any type of formal burial and they had been dumped in a mass grave on the site of a 4,000-year-old Neolithic henge monument.
Ceri Falys, an osteologist (a scientist who studies the structure of bones) from Thames Valley Archaeological Services, has been examining the bones since they were excavated. She has found a host of gruesome injuries on each of the individuals.
It was obvious at the time of excavation that many of the skulls had been fractured or crushed, but after piecing these skulls back together, she found that many of them were covered in blade and puncture wounds mostly to the back of the head.
Continue reading the main story
Find out more
Ceri Falys will be talking to Dr Alice Roberts about the bones in a new series of BBC Two's Digging For Britain, to be aired in September
BBC Two's Digging For Britain
WATCH: Footage from the site
One of the victims had puncture wounds to his pelvis that seem to have come from behind him and from the side, as well as substantial blade wounds to his skull, suggesting that he had been attacked from all sides by at least two different people.
These injuries were almost certainly fatal in each case, slicing through flesh and arteries right to the bone.
"Usually when people have been involved in hand to hand combat or are attacked you get evidence of this on the bones," Ceri Falys explained.
"You get cut marks on the forearms as they raise their arms to defend themselves, but we have minimal evidence of this on these skeletons, it seems that whoever was attacking them, it is likely that they were just trying to run away."'
King Ethelred ordered an "extermination" of England's Danes
It is possible that the Oxford skeletons were victims of an event called the St Brice's Day Massacre, recorded in a number of historical sources.
In AD1002, the Saxon king Ethelred the Unready recorded in a charter that he ordered "a most just extermination" of all the Danes in England.
He made the decision after he was told of a Danish plot to assassinate him.
The charter also recorded how on that day, the Danes in Oxford fled to St Fridewides church expecting to find refuge, but instead were pursued by the townspeople, who then set the church on fire.
Radiocarbon dating of the bones indicated that the bodies were dumped between AD960 and AD1020. This is compelling evidence for the association with St Brice's Day, explained archaeologist Sean Wallis, who directed the dig.
Continue reading the main story
• Vikings in England
789 First recorded Viking attack at Portland in Dorset. Viking coastal raids continue in the following decades.
867 Vikings capture York and make it their capital, Yorvik.
878 Viking power extends south. King Alfred of Wessex is forced into exile but returns to agree a division of England with Vikings ruling the east.
937 Athelstan wins a decisive battle over combined armies of Vikings and Scots to become the first King of all England. Viking coastal raids continue.
1002 Ethelred the Unready orders the extermination of all the Danes in England.
1013 King Sweyn of Denmark invades England and seizes the throne. The kingdom is disputed between Saxon and Danish kings over the following decades.
1066 William the Conqueror invades and founds a new Norman dynasty. The Normans were descended from Norwegian Vikings.
Timeline: Saxons and Vikings
"We found evidence of charring on some of the bones, but not in the soil surrounding them.
"This ties in nicely with the documentary sources that the bodies may have been partially burnt prior to burial," he said.
Isotope analysis of the bones has shown that the men were eating a diet that was high in seafood.
This is an unusual find considering that they lived in inland Britain and perhaps a further indication that they may have been first or second generation Vikings.
A similar mass grave was found last year by Oxford Archaeology during work to build the Weymouth relief road.
It was radiocarbon dated to a similar period and again containing only young male victims, indicating that Anglo Saxon violence towards Vikings at the time may have been nationwide.
Ceri Falys will be talking to Dr Alice Roberts about the bones in a new series of BBC Two's Digging For Britain in September. |
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| rynner2 What a Cad!
Great Old One Joined: 13 Dec 2008 Total posts: 19459 Location: Under the moon Gender: Male |
| Posted: 15-12-2011 16:42 Post subject: Viking Era Discoveries |
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Incredible Viking hoard from days of Alfred the Great could 'fill in the blanks' about a murky period in British history
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 12:37 AM on 15th December 2011
When the Viking warrior buried his hoard of silver coins and jewellery in a lead container, he doubtless expected to be back for them after his next battle.
But thanks to those pesky Anglo Saxons, they remained undisturbed for more than 1,000 years... until Darren Webster discovered them with a metal detector during his lunch break.
Found just 18 inches beneath the surface of a field in Silverdale, Lancashire, the 201 objects were yesterday hailed by the British Museum as one of the most important Viking discoveries of recent times.
Based on previous finds, they could be worth as much as £500,000.
Mr Webster, a 39-year-old stonemason, said he found the hoard in September.
‘When I lifted the lead pot out of the ground there was a hole underneath and silver started to fall out. That is when I realised I had found something important.’
Quite how important became apparent when one of the 27 coins in the hoard proved to be a previously unrecorded type which the experts believe carries the name of an unknown Viking ruler in northern England.
The name is Airdeconut, thought to be an attempt to represent the Scandinavian name Harthacnut.
The coin also helps to dispel the popularly held view that Vikings were all pagans who pillaged monasteries out of hatred of the Christian Church.
One side has the words ‘DNS [short for Dominus] REX’, which means ‘the Lord and King’, and they are arranged in the form of a cross, reflecting the fact that many Vikings converted to Christianity soon after settling in Britain.
Viking raids on Britain began in 793AD. Then in 865AD a full Viking army stormed through the country.
At the time the items were buried around 900AD, the Vikings were fighting the Anglo Saxons to keep control of the North of England – and presumably their owner came off second best.
The museum’s curator of early medieval coins, Dr Gareth Williams, estimated the total value of the items at the time of burial would have been enough to buy ‘a small estate, a large flock of sheep or a small herd of cattle’.
The haul, which has yet to be valued, went on display at the museum yesterday and will be examined by a coroner tomorrow.
If an inquest declares that it is treasure, it will be offered to the British Museum or a local museum which has it valued by an independent board of experts.
If the museum wants the find, it must pay the market value of the treasure to the finder and/or landowner. If it does not, the finder can keep it.
In this case, the Lancaster City Museum is interested in buying the find for its collection.
The proceeds are expected to be divided between Mr Webster and the owner of the land.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2074039/Incredible-Viking-hoard-blanks-murky-period-British-history.html#ixzz1gcOC845V |
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| JamesWhitehead Piffle Prospector Joined: 02 Aug 2001 Total posts: 5426 Location: Manchester, UK Gender: Male |
| Posted: 15-12-2011 17:34 Post subject: |
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"The name is Airdeconut, thought to be an attempt to represent the Scandinavian name Harthacnut."
Though it is also an anagram of I Adore Cnut!  |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17349 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 15-12-2011 17:43 Post subject: |
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| Great stuff. There are a few individual Viking stories. Maybe the Mods could add them to this one as its title is inclusive. |
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| rynner2 What a Cad!
Great Old One Joined: 13 Dec 2008 Total posts: 19459 Location: Under the moon Gender: Male |
| Posted: 15-12-2011 17:56 Post subject: |
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| ramonmercado wrote: | | There are a few individual Viking stories. Maybe the Mods could add them to this one as its title is inclusive. |
Funny you should say that...  |
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| rjmrjmrjm Professional Surrealist
Constipated-Philosopher Joined: 25 Feb 2004 Total posts: 1450 Location: Behind your eyes... Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 16-12-2011 14:03 Post subject: |
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| There seems to have been a fair few hordes found over the past year or so, mainly AS and Viking. I wonder if there is currently an increase in metal detecting or just a spike in the stories that get published. |
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| Xanatic_ Great Old One Joined: 08 Aug 2009 Total posts: 347 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 16-12-2011 23:27 Post subject: |
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| Do you think after burying the treasure, the viking drew a map with an X on it? |
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| rynner2 What a Cad!
Great Old One Joined: 13 Dec 2008 Total posts: 19459 Location: Under the moon Gender: Male |
| Posted: 16-12-2011 23:43 Post subject: |
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| Xanatic_ wrote: | | Do you think after burying the treasure, the viking drew a map with an X on it? |
No, he carved the GPS co-ordinates in runes on a handy rock!  |
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