Posted on 07/30/2007 8:30:52 PM PDT by blam
Arial photo of what could be traces of Viking graves. PHOTO: NORD-TRØNDELAG LOCAL AUTHORITIES
New Viking graves discovered
120 graves and traces of Viking houses discovered near the city of Trondheim.
Traces of what could be a Viking Chief's hall. PHOTO: Ørn E. Borgen
A reconstructed Viking Chief's hall in the cultural monuments park near the town of Hønefoss. What may be a Viking Chief's hall is among the new findings. PHOTO: Ørn E. Borgen
A total of 145 antiquities have been found at 32 different places around Stiklestad in the county of Nord-Trøndelag. PHOTO: JON A. FOSSEIE
While most parts of Norway have experienced the wettest summer in years, the county known as Nord-Trøndelag, not far from Norway's third largest city Trondheim, has experienced extreme drought. But due to the dry summer, supposedly the driest in a century, more traces from Norway's Viking past have appeared.
The most recent findings include around 120 Viking graves, traces of houses, and even traces of what could be the Viking Chief's hall. A total of 145 antiquities have been found in the area.
"These are some of the most exciting antiquities ever found in this part of Norway," said county archaeologist Lars Forseth to newspaper Aftenposten.
"We may even have found a 30-35 meter long chief hall," he added.
Forseth said that the hall may be part of a farm mentioned in the famous sagas by Snorri Sturluson, known as Heimskingla, or History of the Norse Kings.
Local authorities are now in the process of mapping the area.
"Without the drought these antiquities would never have been found," said Forseth.
GGG Ping.
What, they found some of my peeps???
I want to be buried in my wife’s Saab.
This is amazing, Viking graves in Norway, who would have thought that.
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Hey, you never know.
Viking woman had roots near the Black Sea
"The bones of one of the women found in one of Norway's most famous Viking graves suggest her ancestors came from the area around the Black Sea.
Yeah. They were left over from last Easter. :-P
The term Viking commonly denotes the ship-borne warriors, pirates and traders of Norsemen (literally, men from the north) who originated in Scandinavia and raided the coasts of Britain, Ireland and mainland Europe as far east as the Volga River in Russia from the late 8th–11th century. This period (generally dated 793–1066) is often referred to as the Viking Age. The term Viking has also denoted entire populations of Viking Age Scandinavia and their settlements, as an expanded meaning.
My bet is that they’ll be in either DNA groups R1a or I...both associated with Vikings but, not exclusively.
People began migrating out of the Ice Age refuges 12,000 years ago. Notice who goes where. I'm R1b.
Vikings marked important graves with upright stones arranged in the shape of a longboat. They also buried entire boats with their former masters.
How does one get their DNA tested?
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