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Evidence of the beliefs and rituals of the inhabitants of the Danish island of Bornholm (Baltic Sea) over 5,500 years ago, have been discovered by Warsaw University archaeologists during excavations in Vasagard. The research project is the result of several years of collaboration between the Institute of Archaeology of the University of Warsaw and Bornholms Museum. This year also included students from the University of Copenhagen. Sun worship The study site -- Vasagard, is a puzzling one, but is thought to be a temple for Sun worship. During this season of excavations, archaeologists have discovered several ditches, in which, in...

It's one of Minnesota's greatest mysteries. It's something that puts settlers in America well before Columbus. A Minnesota geologist thinks the controversial Kensington Runestone is the real thing and there is evidence that he says backs up the theory. The Kensington Runestone is a rock found near Alexandria a century ago. It's inscription speaking of Norwegians here in 1362. It begs the question. Were Vikings exploring our land more than 100 years before Columbus? Or is it just an elaborate hoax? New research shows that the stone is genuine and there's hidden code that may prove it. It contains carved...

Letter from Newfoundland: Homing in on the Red Paint People Volume 53 Number 3, May/June 2000 by Angela M.H. Schuster (Lynda D'Amico) Port au Choix, Newfoundland-- More than 5,000 years ago, this barren, sea-lashed coast was home to the Maritime Archaic Indians (MAI), who hunted and fished the coasts of Labrador and Newfoundland for more than 2,000 years. The first evidence of the Maritime Archaic culture was discovered more than 30 years ago when James A. Tuck of Memorial University of Newfoundland excavated 56 elaborate burials exposed during housing construction on a small promontory at Port au Choix, on the...

Vikings used rocks from Iceland to navigate the high seas, suggests a new study. In Norse legends, sunstones are said to have guided seafarers to North America. Now an international team of scientists report in the journal the Proceedings of the Royal Society A that the Icelandic spars behave like mythical sunstones and polarise light. By holding the stones aloft, voyaging Vikings could have used them to find the sun in the sky. The Vikings were skilled navigators and travelled thousand of kilometres between Northern Europe and North America. But without a magnetic compass, which was not invented until the...

'Sunstone' crystals may have helped seafarers to find the Sun on cloudy days. A Viking legend tells of a glowing 'sunstone' that, when held up to the sky, revealed the position of the Sun even on a cloudy day. It sounds like magic, but scientists measuring the properties of light in the sky say that polarizing crystals — which function in the same way as the mythical sunstone — could have helped ancient sailors to cross the northern Atlantic. A review of their evidence is published today in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B1. The Vikings, seafarers from Scandinavia...

A Norwegian further education college is starting a programme for want-to-be Vikings where students will learn essential Viking crafts, such as sword forging, jewellery making, and roof thatching. During the course at Seljord Folkehøgskule 150km west of Oslo, students -- many inspired by TV series such as ‘Game of Thrones’ -- will celebrate even celebrate the Norse rituals of the year, going so far as to make animal sacrifices during the winter feast. “We see a large number of applicants who have applied for different reasons," the school's principal, Arve Husby, told Norwegian broadcaster NRK. "Some have become interested through...

Some controversy is swirling around the new Vikings Stadium, as some are saying the project could be millions of dollars over budget. One member of the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority is speaking out on the issue and facing opposition from other members. Duane Benson has served as the MSFA treasurer since the group's inception back in 2012, however, he is preparing to leave the group in light of recent turmoil and says the $1.1 billion project's finances are anything but in order at the moment. As the groundbreaking project continues to break the bank, Benson says there is a problem--perhaps...

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — NASA scientists and planet lovers everywhere are cheering the Pluto space probe, which is now sending images of the dwarf planet back to Earth. The cost of the 10-year voyage is raising eyebrows, but not for the reasons you might think. (snip) The edge-of-the-solar-system breakthrough cost $720 million. That’s less than the cost of the $1 billion Vikings stadium. And less than half the $1.7 billion price tag of the Southwest Rail Project.

Boeslunde is in Zealand, the large island that sits between mainland Denmark and the tip of Sweden. It’s a hotbed for archaeology in Denmark since it has served as a connective hub for thousands of years—netting recent finds as diverse as 1,000-year-old viking jewelry to actual fortresses in the past year. Boeslunde, where the spirals were discovered, is “a special sacred place in the Bronze Age where prehistoric people performed their rituals and offered gold to the higher powers,” according to the Danish National Museum’s curator, Flemming Kaul. The constant discovery of new gold around the area has spurred more...

The Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges on Friday raises troubling questions about the future of religious freedom in the United States. Most ominously, Justice Kennedy writing for the court seemed to circumscribe the freedom of religion as no longer the exercise of one’s faith, but merely the profession of it. All four of the dissenting justices wrote vehemently about the danger that this decision presents to the entire project of ordered liberty. Meanwhile, progressive organizations have made it clear that religious freedom is their next target now that same-sex marriage is the law of the land.Still, as we...

Cue the backlash!Following this morning's history-making Supreme Court Decision on marriage equality, Vikings cornerback Josh Robinson took to Twitter to condemn gay marriage in a series of homophobic tweets. He event compared marriage equality to incest and pedophilia."Love is love? So what will we say when the 30yr old loves YOUR 10 year old. When the dad loves HIS 6 year old? It's different? Yea okay!" the 24-year-old football star wrote Friday. "The day one person makes that stand, some may support, but many will say that's sick! That day I will say ‘hypocrites.'""When did we start defining a word...

Minnesota Vikings cornerback Josh Robinson compared gay marriage to pedophilia and incest in a series of Twitter posts on Friday following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marriage. The landmark Supreme Court decision effectively legalizes same-sex marriage in all 50 states. The Court's 2013 decision ruling the crux of the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional and subsequent decisions from lower courts laid the groundwork for Friday's decision in Obergefell v. Hodges. While a number of athletes praised the Court's decision, Robinson questioned whether the logic that has led to the legalization of gay...

TREASURE dating back to the time of the Vikings has been found in a Bridlington field. The Viking finger ring has a silver content of 98% which, combined with its age, meets the criteria for it to be officially classed as treasure. The ring, found by Paul Rennoldson, has been sent to the British Museum in London where it will be valued. Alan Worth, chairman of the Bridlington Metal Detecting Society, said finding any items dating back to the Viking age was very rare. "The Vikings were around in about 700AD which is an incredibly long time ago," said Mr...

Irish Viking trade centre unearthed Almost 6,000 artefacts and a Viking chieftain's grave have been discovered One of the Vikings' most important trading centres has been discovered in Ireland. The settlement at Woodstown in County Waterford is estimated to be about 1,200 years old. It was discovered during archaeological excavations for a road by-pass for Waterford city, which was founded by the Vikings. The Irish government said the settlement was one of the most important early Viking age trading centres discovered in the country. Its working group, which includes archaeologists from Ireland's museum and monuments service, said it was of...

An analysis of DNA from a Viking gravesite near a 1000 year-old church in southern Greenland shows that those buried there had strong Celtic bloodlines... The analysis -- performed by Danish researchers on bones from skeletons found during excavations in south Greenland -- revealed that the settlers' Nordic blood was mixed with Celtic blood, probably originating from the British Isles. Danish archaeologists are currently conducting the first regional study of southern Greenland's original settlers, whose colonies date back to the year 985. The skeletons disinterred outside the old church also date back to just a few years after that period....

Several pieces of Viking jewelry, some of which contain gold, have been uncovered at a farm site in Denmark that dates as far back as 1,300 years. Although the Vikings have a popular reputation as being raiders, they were also farmers, traders and explorers, and the craftsmanship seen in this jewelry demonstrates their artistic skills. Archaeologists working with volunteers used metal detectors to find the jewelry in different spots throughout a farmstead on Zealand, the largest island in Denmark. The remains of the site, which is now called Vestervang, date from the late seventh to the early 11th centuries.

600-Year-Old American Indian Historical Account Has Old Norse WordsBy Larry Stroud, Guard Associate EditorPublished on Thursday March 15, 2007 Vikings and Algonquins. The first American multi-culturalists? BIG BAY, Mich. — Two experts on ancient America may have solved not only the mysterious disappearance of Norse from the Western Settlement of Greenland in the 1300s, but also are deciphering Delaware (Lenape) Indian history, which they’re finding is written in the Old Norse language. The history tells how some of the Delaware’s ancestors migrated west to America across a frozen sea and intermarried with the Delaware and other Algonquin Indians. Myron Paine,...

Twelve boats, dating from 2,500 BC to the 11th century AD, along with other Viking artifacts have been discovered in Lough Corrib in Connemara, County Galway. Archaeologists have used radiocarbon dating to establish that one of the boats dates from 2,500 BC. Other items that were found include several battle axes and other weapons... The 4,500-year-old log boat settled into the mud when it sank and was covered over time. A mixture of organic sediment and lake water assisted in the preservation process. Even the seats in the boats are preserved... The oldest of the vessels is the Annaghkeen log...

I am of Viking ancestry. In my part of the World, things like fighting spirit, balls and an appetite for destuction matter much. We also dispose of some decent brain power. Bohr and Nobel both were Scandinavians. My tiny Sweden is furthermore the only nation that successfully has took Moscow (- in 1610 Swedish field marshal De la Gardie entered Moscow and was cheered by large crowds. Everyone knows Swedish rule equals law and order. We might be a boring bunch, but we wholeheartedly hate chaos, injustice, disorder and crime. Leave it to us, we'll fix it.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1w7e46pHuc

Archaeologists from the University of York have played a key role in Anglo-Danish research which has suggested the dawn of the Viking Age may have been much earlier -- and less violent -- than previously believed. The study by Dr Steve Ashby, of the Department of Archaeology at York, working with colleagues from York and Aarhus University, identified the first signs of the Viking Age around 70 years before the first raid on England. Previously, the start of the Viking Age has been dated to a June 793 raid by Norwegian Vikings on Lindisfarne. But the new research published in...