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51 Headless Vikings Found in English Execution Pit?
National Geographic News ^
| July 28, 2009
| James Owen in London
Posted on 07/28/2009 1:34:43 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Naked, beheaded, and tangled, the bodies of 51 young men -- their heads stacked neatly to the side -- have been found in a thousand-year-old pit in southern England, according to carbon-dating results released earlier this month. The mass burial took place at a time when the English were battling Viking invaders, say archaeologists who are now trying to verify the identity of the slain. The dead are thought to have been war captives, possibly Vikings, whose heads were hacked off with swords or axes... Many of the skeletons have deep cut marks to the skull and jaw as well as the neck... The bodies show few signs of other trauma, suggesting the men were alive when beheaded. One victim appears to have raised an arm in self-defense: "The hand appears to have had its fingers sliced through," Score noted... Unusually, no trace of clothing has been found, indicating the men were buried naked. Even if their weapons and valuables had been taken "we should have found bone buttons and things like that, but to date we've got absolutely nothing," Score said... The burial has been radiocarbon-dated to between A.D. 890 and 1034... The team hopes chemical analysis of the buried men's teeth will show whether they grew up in Britain or Scandinavia... There was little to differentiate Vikings and early English warriors on the battlefield, said Siddorn, founder of Regia Anglorum, a historical-reenactment society... Both used spears as their primary weapons, with swords and axes as backups, Siddorn added... "During the height of the Viking raids, it's reasonable to say it was unsafe to live anywhere within 20 miles [32 kilometers] of the coast."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.nationalgeographic.com ...
TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: alfredthegreat; ancientautopsies; canute; danegeld; danelaw; dorset; godsgravesglyphs; gudrum; hardraada; knut; stamfordbridge; unitedkingdom; vikings
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To: SunkenCiv
Tough year for the Vikings.
21
posted on
07/28/2009 2:00:08 PM PDT
by
Larry Lucido
(This tagline excerpted. To read more, click on MyOverratedBlog.com)
To: R. Scott
22
posted on
07/28/2009 2:00:35 PM PDT
by
Monkey Face
(RUN, SARAH, RUN!)
To: Monkey Face
The original three S’s. Swing, shovel, and shut up.
23
posted on
07/28/2009 2:00:54 PM PDT
by
Hoffer Rand
(There ARE two Americas: "God's children" and the tax payers)
To: SunkenCiv
“Footprints identified with the ‘86 Bears were spotted nearby.”
24
posted on
07/28/2009 2:01:55 PM PDT
by
Gunflint
To: AngelesCrestHighway
Being 1/2 Swede and 1/2 Norwegian, I will gladly accept Danegeld if it will help assuage any guilt.
25
posted on
07/28/2009 2:03:09 PM PDT
by
Sawdring
To: SunkenCiv
Did they get Brett Favre?
To: SunkenCiv
At least the English probably didn’t waterboard them.
27
posted on
07/28/2009 2:10:20 PM PDT
by
Busywhiskers
("Every normal man must be tempted at times to hoist the black flag and begin slitting throats" -Henr)
To: Monkey Face
More civilized than leaving them out for the critters - or displaying them near the shore.
I would have displayed them near the shore.
28
posted on
07/28/2009 2:14:05 PM PDT
by
R. Scott
(Humanity i love you because when you're hard up you pawn your Intelligence to buy a drink)
To: R. Scott
Yah. The shore sounds good.
29
posted on
07/28/2009 2:15:23 PM PDT
by
Monkey Face
(RUN, SARAH, RUN!)
To: Hoffer Rand
30
posted on
07/28/2009 2:15:52 PM PDT
by
Monkey Face
(RUN, SARAH, RUN!)
To: Busywhiskers
But what if they did? Were the English sophisticated enough to know what waterboarding was? Oh. Wait. Maybe that’s where “keelhaul” came from!
31
posted on
07/28/2009 2:17:12 PM PDT
by
Monkey Face
(RUN, SARAH, RUN!)
To: Monkey Face
32
posted on
07/28/2009 2:18:14 PM PDT
by
R. Scott
(Humanity i love you because when you're hard up you pawn your Intelligence to buy a drink)
To: SunkenCiv
Sources place King Alfred at the scene...
33
posted on
07/28/2009 2:19:13 PM PDT
by
struggle
((The struggle continues))
To: R. Scott
34
posted on
07/28/2009 2:20:52 PM PDT
by
Monkey Face
(RUN, SARAH, RUN!)
To: SunkenCiv
With all due respect to Rudyard Kipling, once you pay the Danegeld, you can get rid of the Dane. And that is how.
35
posted on
07/28/2009 2:25:05 PM PDT
by
RichInOC
(No! BAD Rich! (What'd I say?))
To: SunkenCiv
All Hail Alfred the Great!
36
posted on
07/28/2009 2:32:34 PM PDT
by
Mashood
To: R. Scott
I would have displayed them near the shore. That's what I always do.
37
posted on
07/28/2009 2:36:49 PM PDT
by
SIDENET
("Join me or die. Can you do any less?" -Mr. Sparkle)
To: SunkenCiv
The Vikings also liked to navigate rivers.
To: SunkenCiv
In the front yard of my farm on the Isle of Man archaeologists found the burial place of a Viking King and next to him was his tiny (teen?) wife who was killed and buried with him for his trip to Valhalla.
The Isle of man was discovered by Vikings.
39
posted on
07/28/2009 3:19:58 PM PDT
by
Deb
(Beat him, strip him and bring him to my tent!)
To: Snickering Hound
Yeah, when the Danes killed a
certain East Anglian king two hundred years earlier, I think there's some reason to their madness.
40
posted on
07/28/2009 3:27:18 PM PDT
by
Pyro7480
("If you know how not to pray, take Joseph as your master, and you will not go astray." - St. Teresa)
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