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As archaeologists dug in preparation for a new railway line, they found traces of two rows of wooden pillars in Old Uppsala... One stretched about 1,000 yards and the other was half as long... were likely from the 5th century...

A significant archaeological discovery was made in the village of Ralswiek on the legendary island of Rügen in 1967. During roadworks an excavator dug out several oak planks from the ground. The road workers took their finding to a team of archaeologists working nearby and those soon began archaeological excavations during which four ancient Slavic ships and a trading settlement was uncovered. The settlement was one of the most important ports on the Baltic coast existed the 8th century. It was proposed that Rujani (an early Slavic tribe) harboured their fleet in the place of archealogical discovery because it is...

<p>Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson met his 2-year-old son for the first time while he was on life support, TMZ reports.</p> <p>The football star — whose son died on Friday after his mother’s boyfriend allegedly badly beat him — learned three months ago that he had a child with a woman living in South Dakota, the site reports.</p>

The 2-year-old son of NFL star Adrian Peterson died Friday in a South Dakota hospital after he was allegedly beaten by a man dating the boy's mother, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader reported. A release from the Sioux City police department said the toddler died "from injuries sustained during the aggravated assault Wednesday." It said it was witholding the child's name.

Adrian Peterson's 2-year-old son—not Adrian Peterson Jr., but a formerly "secret" child—is "not expected to survive his injuries," and could be taken off life support tonight, City Pages reports. On Wednesday, the Sioux Falls boy was allegedly beaten by his mother's boyfriend, Joseph Robert Patterson, 27, who has been charged with aggravated assault and aggravated assault on an infant. According to a reporter covering the story, the initial confusion surrounding the boy's identity was due to the fact that not even Adrian Peterson is sure the child is his, though Peterson's father later would later describe the boy as a...

A Minnesota legislator wants a provision stripped from the Vikings new stadium lease that would prevent the building from being used by businesses that sell guns and other weapons. Republican Rep. Pat Garofalo of Farmington said in a letter Thursday that the restriction could discourage hunting and outdoors groups from holding offseason events at the planned $975 million stadium, which is being built with a partial public subsidy. The Associated Press reported on the clause this week that is contained in a 30-year stadium lease.

1. kafli Óleifur hét herkonungur er kallaður var Óleifur hvíti. Hann var son Ingjalds konungs Helgasonar, Ólafssonar, Guðröðarsonar, Hálfdanarsonar hvítbeins Upplendingakonungs.

Academics at Coventry University have uncovered complex social networks within age-old Icelandic sagas, which challenge the stereotypical image of Vikings as unworldly, violent savages. Pádraig Mac Carron and Ralph Kenna from the University's Applied Mathematics Research Centre have carried out a detailed analysis of the relationships described in ancient Icelandic manuscripts to shed new light on Viking society. In a study published in the European Physical Journal, Mac Carron and Kenna have asked whether remnants of reality could lurk within the pages of the documents in which Viking sagas were preserved. They applied methods from statistical physics to social networks...

Now that the heirs of Carl Pohlad’s estate are caught up in the very confiscatory tax regime their favorite politicians helped create, it is tempting to root for the taxman just to make a point. Seems the IRS believes the Pohlad boys undervalued their prized possession, the Minnesota Twins, to the tune of $269 million as part of their late father’s estate. Now the greedy hand wants at least $121 million from the franchise the taxpayers built.

DNA shows Celtic hero Somerled's Viking roots IAN JOHNSTON SCIENCE CORRESPONDENT A HISTORIC Celtic hero credited with driving the Vikings out of western Scotland was actually descended from a Norseman, according to research by a leading DNA expert. According to traditional genealogies, Somerled, who is said to have died in 1164 after ousting the Vikings from Argyll, Kintyre and the Western Isles, was descended from an ancient royal line going back to when the Scots were living in Ireland. But Bryan Sykes, an Oxford University professor of human genetics who set up a company called Oxford Ancestors to research people’s...

Retired six-time Pro Bowl center and former Viking Matt Birk skipped the Baltimore Ravens' visit to the White House on Wednesday for political reasons. Specifically, the St. Paul native took issue with President Barack Obama's support of Planned Parenthood. Birk is a staunch Catholic father of six children who's against abortion and has taken a strong pro-life stance. Birk has also spoken out in the past in favor of traditional marriage prior to same-sex marriage becoming legal last year in Maryland. "I wasn't there," Birk said in an interview on KFAN-FM. "I would say that I have great respect for...

Some 1,000 years ago, the Vikings set off on a voyage to Notre Dame Bay in modern-day Newfoundland, Canada, new evidence suggests. The journey would have taken the Vikings, also called the Norse, from L'Anse aux Meadows on the northern tip of the same island to a densely populated part of Newfoundland and may have led to the first contact between Europeans and the indigenous people of the New World.

NFL MVP Adrian Peterson says he has family members who are gay whom he loves and respects. But on gay marriage, the Minnesota Vikings running back says “that’s not something I believe in.” SNIP He was asked his thoughts on the Vikings cutting longtime punter Chris Kluwe, an outspoken advocate for gay rights and gay marriage.

Adrian Peterson told Bruce Murray and Amani Toomer on Sirius/XM NFL Radio Thursday that he has relatives who are gay but doesn't support gay marriage, NESN reported Monday. When asked about speculation that the Minnesota Vikings had released punter Chris Kluwe for being too open about his pro-gay marriage stance, the 28-year-old running back admitted he's against it.

Maybe it was a teenager engaged in a Viking version of tagging a school desk. In any case, someone took out his knife, bent down and traced the outline of his foot on the deck of the Gokstad Ship. Today, 1,100 years later, researcher and storage manager Hanne Lovise Aannestad shows us a couple of deck planks that are among her favourite artefacts at the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo... The Gokstad Ship was excavated in the late 1800s and is a permanent feature of the Viking Ship Museum at Bygdøy in Oslo. For about a decade, from 890...

COPENHAGEN, Denmark – Danish museum officials say that an archaeological dig last year has revealed 365 items from the Viking era, including 60 rare coins. Danish National Museum spokesman Jens Christian Moesgaard says the coins have a distinctive cross motif attributed to Norse King Harald Bluetooth, who is believed to have brought Christianity to Norway and Denmark. Sixteen-year-old Michael Stokbro Larsen found the coins and other items with a metal detector in a field in northern Denmark.

“Yeah, I don’t feel good about it,” said Dayton when asked about the Minnesota Vikings decision to release outspoken punter Chris Kluwe. “I’m not in a position to evaluate the relative punting abilities, but it seems to me the general manager said, right after the draft, they were going to have competition,” Dayton recalled. “Well, they bring the one guy in, he kicks for a weekend and that’s competition? “I just think sports officials ought to be honest about what the heck is going on, same way I think public officials should be honest about what’s going on, so that...

The Pro Football Hall of Fame is in the process of honoring each of its members by placing a plaque at each Hall of Famer's high school.The Hall of Fame's project made a stop at Superior (WI) High School on Wednesday to honor legendary Vikings Head Coach Bud Grant as well as fellow Hall of Fame members Alphonse "Tuffy" Leemans and Ernie Nevers.Grant is the most revered figure in Vikings lore. He was head coach of the Vikings for 18 seasons (1967-83, 1985) and in that time compiled a regular season record of 158-96-5 while guiding the Vikings to...

Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe, who has repeatedly spoken out in favor of same-sex marriage, says he now worries that his career with the team may be on the line. On Sunday, Kluwe said he is starting to sense that rumors surrounding whether or not he will be released from the team will soon become ‘distractions.’ ‘It’s a shame that in a league with players given multiple second chances after arrests, including felony arrests, that speaking out on human rights has a chance of getting you cut,’ Kluwe told NBC’s Pro Football Talk via text message.

hey, just wondering if any other freepers are into this show? its awesome, and wondering if you have any idea what will happ to ragnar's brother?