Using Google Earth I also mile by mile followed the tributaries of the Volga north from the Caspian and they also nearly connect to the Reka which flows north to the White Sea. So that is another route nearly through by water.
So even if the “official narrative and assumption” that vikings didn’t know how to walk on land or use beasts and wheels, they could still hire locals to carry them on their backs the short distances between these waterways. lol
But I really do think prehistorically after the last ice age they originated from the Caspian area then migrated north as the Ice melted. I have often wondered if the early depictions of the Yggdrasil also served a second purpose as a map of these river tributaries that connected the south with the north.
If I ever get caught up and have some extra time I might play with investigating whether some of the earliest known Yggdrasil depictions will overlay and correspond with any of these tributary systems. Wouldn’t that be wild if they do? :)
imuho, Yggdrasil is astronomical, probably refers to the apparent celestial axis, which is of course the Earth's rotational axis. The horse of Odin was tethered to Yggdrasil, and that horse is probably Ursa Major.
Lurking. (bump)