New study aims to better understand Viking weapons
A team of researchers will be studying the chemical make-up of iron artefacts from the Viking age aims to uncover new insights into where they came from and better understand their use in early medieval warfare.
New Medieval Books: The Raven and the Dove: A novel of Viking Normandy
Read an excerpt from the new novel by K.M. Butler
Viking Age boat burials: a history of research
Boats form a subset of grave goods increasingly found in Viking Age burials, which have been the subject of much scholarly debate, especially from the 19th century onwards.
Impact of Viking raids lasted for centuries, historian finds
The last dragon ships sailed the Siberian rivers and raided remote areas of Russia into the late 17th century. A new study published in the journal Russian History shows that traces of Viking raids are still visible in the economic and political development of contemporary Russia.
Viking Panic? Looking for the 9-12th centuries in Argyll
Dr Adrian Maldonado from National Museums Scotland talks about how a recent reassessment of artefacts in the National Museums Collection is transforming our ideas about the early medieval period in Argyll.
Science and the Vikings
On the contribution of physics, chemistry, and technology to our knowledge of the Vikings, to our understanding of Viking ships and navigational aids, and to developing more effective ways of conserving the many artefacts that have been found.
Vikings actually could tear out a person’s lungs, researchers suggest
One of the most fantastic and gruesome stories about the Vikings was the torture ritual known as the Blood Eagle. New research suggests that the ability to tear out a person’s lungs through their back is anatomically possible.
Viking trade with the Middle East dates back to the year 775, researchers find
An interdisciplinary Danish team of researchers has used new astronomical knowledge to establish an exact time anchor for the arrival of trade flows from the Middle East in Viking-age Scandinavia.
10th-century Viking brooches discovered on the Isle of Man
Two stunning Viking Brooches discovered on the Isle of Man in 2018 have now gone on display at the Manx Museum. The highly decorated oval brooches date to around AD 900 – 950 and are made from bronze with silver wire decoration.
The Vikings’ Slave Trade
From Woven Sails to Slavery: Viking lovers, this episode of the Medieval Grad Podcast is for you! Lucie Laumonier meets Sarah Christensen, who studies the slave trade in the Western Viking world and its intersections with gender. We learn that enslaved women often worked in textile production, weaving the sails Viking men used to propel their ships.
The Allure of the Vikings: Warriors, Women and Politics
Terri Barnes on Viking history and her reflections on teaching Viking history.
New Medieval Books: Vikings
Five new books that tell us about the Norse and the Viking Age.
Where did the Vikings go? The Decline of Norse Piracy
One of the less well-understood aspects of the Viking Age is its end. Where did the Vikings go?
New Medieval Books: From Vikings to Tudors
Five new books that tell the stories of famous Vikings and life in the bookstores of Florence.
I’m a Viking!: A History Book About the Vikings for Kids
A new children’s book by C.J. Adrien offers a day in the life of a young Viking boy.
Women and Men of the Viking Age
Professor Sanmark’s lecture will discuss gender roles in the Viking Age, with particular attention to how women and men have been perceived in previous research.
Viking Age treasure hoard discovered on the Isle of Man
A treasure hoard dating back to the eleventh century has been discovered on the Isle of Man. It includes 87 silver coins, 13 pieces of cut, silver arm-rings or “hack silver” and other artefacts.
Viking-Age embroidered textiles found in woman’s grave
To an untrained eye, the artefact looks brown and dull, but it is actually something very special: embroidered wool fabric more than 1000 years old, preserved on top of a turtle brooch.
The Viking Phenomenon: Paradigms, Parameters, and Progress
Rejecting the illusory notion of a ‘smoking gun’ or any single trigger factor, we are exploring the longer time depth of the Viking phenomenon further back into the late Iron Age (following Nordic terminology), the varied ethnicities and identities of ‘Vikings’, and the structures of economy and politics that underpinned their developing diaspora.
Looking for Viking ship burials with a 17th-century illustration
New detailed surveys of Viking age ship settings in Hjarnø, Denmark have been completed by archaeologists examining the origins and makeup of the Kalvestene grave field, a renowned site in Scandinavian folklore.
Monastic tenants, Viking raiders and Hiberno-Norse townspeople
What should we understand by town and what should we understand by viking? It is abundantly clear that both of these terms are understood and used in a great variety of ways.
Viking trousers, missing for over a hundred years, discovered again
Archaeologists in Denmark have found the remains of a Viking elite individual lost for over 100 years. Attached textile fragments are already shedding light on this important person, revealing he was wearing a pair of uniquely decorated long trousers.
Viking Wirral after the Battle of Brunanburh AD 937
Although still not proven, all the evidence seems to be pointing at a Wirral location (and probably Bebington) for the famous Battle of Brunanburh.
Study examines the evolution of Viking metalwork
The evolution of metalwork expertise and craftsmanship developed by Viking craftspeople in Denmark in the 8th and 9th centuries has been detailed in a study published in Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences.