Viking Queen May Be Exhumed For Clues To Killing

Reuters ^ | 12-7-2003 | Alister Doyle

[blam]

Ping.

[Reaganesque]

The Viking Kittens did it!!

[jriemer]

The Cult of the Viking Kitties has no comment as to any of our members' whereabouts the night of 834 AD.

Investigators have revealed that the Viking princess was buried at the following location:

[NormsRevenge]

ViKing and ViQueen Bump

[billorites]

You are the Viking Queen, young and sweet, only seventeen
Viking Queen, feel the beat from the tambourine
You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life
See that girl, watch that scene, dig in the Viking Queen

[EagleMamaMT]

Read later.

[farmfriend]

Gods, Graves, Glyphs
List for articles regarding early civilizations , life of all forms, - dinosaurs - etc.

Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this ping list.

[LibWhacker]

In addition to the boat, I love the look of the sail and all the rigging. Don't know if it's historically accurate though, but it looks BAAAAAD!. Vikings were stylin' dudes!

[blam]

Nice picture.

[BradyLS]

13th Warrior was almost a good movie.

[68skylark]

13th Warrior was almost a good movie.

When I first read your comment I thought you were referring to the movie called "Erik the Viking" from 1989. It too was almost a good movie. Imogen Stubbs is usually cute in any movie she's in, and this was no exception.

[curmudgeonII]

And in one Danish Viking grave, an old man lying next to a younger man had been decapitated.

The head, presumably was singing that old song, "I ain't got no body."

[ZULU]

"...its oaken form preserved miraculously, with even its menacing, curling prow intact."

The Oseberg Ship is a picture of beauty and grace and a naval work of art. This guy is letting his imagination run away with him.

[ZULU]

Was Scott Peterson anywhere near there "fishing"???

[ZULU]

Beautiful picture!!

Looks pretty accurate to me. The Vikings used striped sails.
They actually had several different types of ship for various uses. The archetypical "Longship," meant for raiding and fighting, was designed to draw as little water as possible. This allowed them to approach land safely, to pass over shallow shoals which frequently guarded ports, without the need for a local pilot, and achieve surprise. The strakes (planks) overlapped as in the picture, and the strakes were bound to the frame with fibers, so the entire ship actually bent in the waves, like a real serpent.

The Dragon figure head was only mounted on the ship after it had left the Viking Homeland. The Vikings were pagans and believed in guardian spirits of the land (Landvetter ??) which the Dragon head supposedly frightened away. Hence, the need to use it only when approaching the land of enemies.

The Vikings also built larger ships for trading purposes as they were great merchants and the ship Lief Erickson piloted to North America was probably a merchant ship rather than a "Longship".

Often have I wondered how people like the Vikings could produce the kind of pacifistic socialists we see in Scandanavia today. Eric the Red would roll over in his grave. So would Sigurd Snake-Eyes, Eric Blood Axe, Harald Bluetooth and Ragnar Hairy Breeches. On the other hand, they still produce beautiful women.

[theFIRMbss]

>You are the Viking Queen, young and sweet, only seventeen

The clouds
Never expect it
When it rains
But the sea
Changes colours
But the sea
Does not change
And so with the slow
Graceful flow of age
I went forth
With an age old desire
To please
On the edge of
Seventeen

[A Welsh Witch at the Edge of Seventeen]

[LibWhacker]

How did they control the sail? Or did they? (Hey, I'm a landlubber! Should that be "trim" the sail?)

I can see a guy aft. He's probably manning the rudder, but I can easily imagine him sitting there holding onto the sail ropes like a stagecoach driver holds onto the reins. 'Course anyone strong enough to do that would make Arnold look like a real pencil neck.

The ropes form a kind of net, into which the sail is set to catch the wind. I just love the whole look of it. What can I say, lol?

Wish someone would write a sail simulator for a Viking longboat.

[ASA Vet]

[ZULU]

I'm sure they controlled the sail in some way.

Most of what I have read about Longships deals with the hulls. I guess not much of the rigging and tackle remains to analyze. They may have used a block and tackle. At any rate, they probably used the sail just to get where they were going, then used the oars to actually steer the thing in action or when in the midst of a raid.

I know they had a large keel-like oar at the rear of the vessel which was used to steer it. I think the term "starboard" caomes from "steerboard". The steering rudder-oar was on the right hand side of the vessel, guided mainly by the right arm. The "port" side was the left side of the vessel which ran up against the landing dock.

I don't know much about sailing myself - just what I read.

I doubt if too many people today know how to handle one of these vessels.

They built a Greek trireme a while ago and trained a crew to handle it. Showed it on T.V. They had to practise oarsmanship on land first. There is a lot more than just muscle power involved. No slaves powered these ships.