Hands on History: Rare Viking Treasure [36:53]

The Galloway Hoard opens an extraordinary window into the Viking Age, a time of upheaval in South-West Scotland where it was discovered, but also a time of long-distance trade and pilgrimage, revealed by its most precious objects.

Medieval historian Helen Carr joins the experts from National Museums Scotland to explore and understand this incredible group of objects. One in particular has never been seen in public before, a fascinating lidded silver vessel that is believed to have come all the way from what is now Iran to Galloway. Helen witnesses it being meticulously conserved for its first display...

The lidded silver vessel is on special display at the British Museum's Silk Roads exhibition.

Many Viking weapons appear to be inscribed with this mysterious phrase. See more in this scene from Season 6, Episode 4, "Mysteries of the Vikings."
The UnXplained:
Viking Swords Inscribed With MYSTERIOUS Phrase (Season 6) | 4:33
History | 15.1M subscribers | 442,297 views | November 5, 2023
YouTube transcript reformatted at textformatter.ai follows.

[Transcript]

[Shatner] Throughout Europe, there are numerous museums that house a countless number of ancient Viking artifacts, some of which are more than a thousand years old. Perhaps the most fascinating objects left behind by the Vikings are their swords. These extraordinary blades are an iconic symbol of the Viking Age. And not only were they formidable in battle, but they also featured detailed and exquisite craftsmanship. The thing about the Viking swords in particular is... you'll see on a lot of these hilts of the Viking era repeating geometric symbols. Oftentimes, these hilts were further decorated largely with silver, or perhaps copper or gold inlaid into the hilt. And some were incredibly advanced in their techniques, quite beautiful. And hard to produce even today in a modern shop.

[Shatner] The sophistication of Viking swords shows how important these blades were to their warrior culture. The god Odin is the supreme being of the Norse system. He had an unusual spear, the Gungnir. Now this is an incredible spear. It can travel. It's well-balanced, so it can go far with great accuracy. Odin has this spear that almost seems to be laser-guided. It finds its target regardless of how it's thrown. And then Thor, of course, as we all know, has his hammer, called Mjölnir. It creates thunder, but it also can, uh, create massive devastation.

[Thompson] Thor's hammer, Mjölnir, was associated with the skill of the blacksmith. Blacksmiths were often considered just by nature somewhat magic to be able to take this raw material and produce an incredible steel sword.

[Shatner] While the sagas speak of magical armaments, in reality, 170 special Viking swords have been recovered, which are so unparalleled in strength and craftsmanship that they are the real-life embodiment of mythical weapons celebrated in the sagas. To this day, no one knows how they were made. And curiously, many of them bear the mysterious inscription "Ulfberht."

[Furrer] The Ulfberht swords were made between about 800 and 1,000 A.D. So, right solid in the high Viking period when they were trading and raiding. Some Viking swords seem to be much better than others. And these were the so-called Ulfberht swords. It was assumed, without any evidence, that it was a swordsmith's name. But why the name "Ulfberht" was used is still a mystery.

[Furrer] What does "Ulfberht" mean? It's probably not a person. It was probably a word of power. Typically, "ulf" means "wolf" and "berht" is an adjective meaning "bright." So it might be "Bright Wolf."

[Shatner] Even more mysterious than their enigmatic inscription is the seemingly impossible strength of Ulfberht's swords. I've analyzed 40 or 50 Ulfberht swords. It's certainly interesting to find that many of them still have a sharp edge, which is certainly unexpected. These swords were made of a very high carbon steel. The chemistry's completely different to any other weapons found in Medieval Europe. It would be vastly superior to any other weapon in combat.

[Shatner] To forge these extraordinary swords, the Vikings would've had to generate extreme temperatures exceeding 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. But incredibly, the technology to accomplish such a feat is not known to have existed until the Industrial Revolution nearly 800 years after the end of the Viking Age.

https://therokuchannel.roku.com/details/41050281f0445b4a91d75e04edc10e38/whitney-s2-e8-space-invaders

Das what I’m talkin’ bout.

Viking Kitties owner?

Does he come from the land of ice and snow where the cold winds blow?

If he doesn’t, off with his head. Or at least his hair.

Can’t be the Lombardi Trophy.

Just WOW!