subtitled, "Two remarkable ships may show that the Viking storm was brewing long before their assault on England and the continent".
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Posted on 06/18/2013 7:31:52 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
According to historians, the Viking Age began on June 8, A.D. 793, at an island monastery off the coast of northern England. A contemporary chronicle recorded the moment with a brief entry: "The ravages of heathen men miserably destroyed God’s church on Lindisfarne, with plunder and slaughter." ...In the centuries that followed, the Vikings' vessels carried them deep into Russia and as far south as Constantinople, Sicily, and possibly even North Africa. They organized flotillas capable of carrying warriors across vast distances, and terrorized the English, Irish, and French coasts with lightning-fast raids. Exploratory voyages to the west took them all the way to North America.
...our understanding of what led up to that June day on Lindisfarne is surprisingly shaky. A recent discovery on a remote Baltic island is beginning to change that. Two ships filled with slain warriors uncovered on the Estonian island of Saaremaa may help archaeologists and historians understand how the Vikings' warships evolved from short-range, rowed craft to sailing ships; where the first warriors came from; and how their battle tactics developed. "We all agree these burials are Scandinavian in origin," says Marge Konsa, an archaeologist at the University of Tartu. "This is our first taste of the Viking era."
Between them, the two boats contain the remains of dozens of men. Seven lay haphazardly in the smaller of the two boats, which was found first. Nearby, in the larger vessel, 33 men were buried in a neat pile, stacked like wood, together with their weapons and animals. The site seems to be a hastily arranged mass grave, the final resting place for Scandinavian warriors killed in an ill-fated raid on Saaremaa, or perhaps waylaid on a remote beach by rivals.
(Excerpt) Read more at archaeology.org ...
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I think that the first Vikings were Tarkenton and Tinglehoff.
;-)
At 10:38 in the morning. ;-)
Apparently, early on anyway, there were “no lands to the west.”
Who cares? Asterix and Obelix taught them the meaning of fear!
Fear gave them wings!
If they find a lot of beer bottles and shotgun shells, then it was probably an old family reunion of my family. Usually, there’s more than 40 dead, but they might have been friendlier back then.
June 8th, Julian or Gregorian?
Actually it was the least warlike of the Gaulish villagers, the bard Cacofonix, who managed to do that.
10:38, local or GMT?
Fran Tarkenton, of course.
Lindisfarne is less than 2° West of Greenwich, the solar time difference is about 6½ minutes. Clocks back then weren't that good. GMT close enough.
Thanks, that clears that up for me. ;-)
Intersting find.
Reminds of the Far Side cartoon with a couple of Viking ships high & dry on the beach and a village pludered & burning in the back ground. The warrior Vikings were gathered around their boats and one folorn looking Viking. The caption was, Sven, the one who was in charge of the tide book, has something to say to all of us.
I bet he said they burned their own village.
Thanks for posting.
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