Vikings, features and articles | Educational Science

Jun 28, 2018

Photos: Vikings accessorized with tiny metal dragons

Dragonhead (Image credit: Photograph by Lena Holmquist; Antiquity 2018)Archaeologists discovered a Viking dragonhead pin made out of lead in Birka, a Viking archeological town in Sweden, in 2015. Amazingly, the newfound pin nearly matches a soapstone mold of a dragonhead found by a Swedish farmer in 1887. [Read more about...

Jun 28, 2018

Discovery of Rare Viking Dragon Pin Solves 130-Year-Old Mystery

More than 130 years ago, a Swedish farmer discovered a black dragon — or, that is, a Viking carving of one that had a pointy horn on its head and a curled mane down its neck. The soft soapstone carving looked like a mold for casting metals, but the farmer...

Jul 23, 2018

How on Earth Did These Burials of Viking Descendants Wind Up in Sicily?

The discovery of 10 burials near a medieval church in Sicily has led to a rare finding: the skeletal remains of the descendants of Vikings. Archaeologists found the 800-year-old burials near the church of San Michele del Golfo near Palermo. The buried individuals were likely Normans, a group that arose...

Oct 5, 2018

An 8-Year-Old Girl Pulled This 1,500-Year-Old Sword Out of a Swedish Lake

It was a beautiful summer day in Småland, Sweden, when Andy Vanecek heard the words every father wants to hear. Daddy, I found a sword! According to a report on the Swedish news site The Local, Andy and his 8-year-old daughter Saga were wrapping up a day at Vidöstern lake,...

Oct 15, 2018

Viking Ship and Cemetery Found Buried in Norway

Archaeologists using radar scans have detected a Viking ship buried beneath a cemetery in Norway. The Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU) said that the archaeologists discovered the anomaly using radar scans of an area in Østfold County. The ship seems to be about 66 feet (20 meters) long...

Oct 16, 2018

Do Canadian Carvings Depict Vikings? Removing Mammal Fat May Tell

Carvings uncovered in the Canadian Arctic may be the earliest portraits of the Vikings created in the Americas. But archaeologists have been puzzling over whether the artwork really shows the infamous seafarers. Now, scientists think a simple, flammable liquid called acetone could help solve this mystery by removing sea-mammal oil...

Jan 7, 2019

Ancient DNA from Viking Graves Proves the Fierce Fighters Rode Male Horses

Vikings who settled in Iceland more than 1,000 years ago valued their horses so much that the men were buried with their trusty steeds. And DNA analysis of these treasured animals recently proved that the horses consigned to the grave with their manly owners were males, too. For decades, archaeologists...

Jan 17, 2019

Did the Vikings Think the Gods Were Watching Them?

Today, the name Thor likely conjures up an image of a well-muscled Chris Hemsworth playing the Norse-inspired superhero on the big screen. For the actual Vikings, the god of thunder may have similarly been admired for his great feats — but certainly not for his moral fortitude. New research suggests...

Feb 20, 2019

Photos: Viking warrior is actually a woman

Warrior woman (Image credit: Drawing by Tancredi Valeri; Copyright Antiquity Publications Ltd.)In 2017, a group of researchers in Sweden did a genetic analysis on the bones of a warrior Viking, long assumed to be male. However, the results showed that the individual had XX chromosomes, revealing that the deceased was,...

Feb 20, 2019

Yes, That Viking Warrior Buried with Weapons Really Was a Woman

The ancient warrior was given a prestigious Viking burial, complete with deadly Viking weapons, a bag of gaming pieces (possibly to represent military command) and two horses, one bridled for riding. This mighty warrior — long thought to be be a man — made headlines in 2017 when researchers in...

Jul 8, 2019

Fantastically Preserved Viking Boat Grave and Skeletons Unearthed in Sweden

Archaeologists recently unearthed two Viking burial boats in Uppsala, Sweden — one of which was exceptionally preserved and held the remains of a dog, a man and a horse. The Vikings sent a handful of their powerful elites to the afterlife in boats laden with sacrificed animals, weapons and treasure;...

Jul 15, 2019

Were the Vikings Smoking Pot While Exploring Newfoundland?

The discovery of cannabis pollen near a Viking settlement in Newfoundland raises the question of whether the Vikings were smoking or eating pot while exploring North America. The researchers also found evidence the Vikings occupied this outpost for more than a century, way longer than previously believed. Located in northern...

Aug 8, 2019

1,100-Year-Old Viking 'Beer Hall' Discovered. But It Was Only for the Elites.

There was likely no shortage of ale and good cheer at a recently unearthed Viking drinking hall, discovered by archaeologists on the island of Rousay, Orkney, in northern Scotland. The hall wasn't a short-lived establishment, either. Its doors seem to have been open from the 10th to the 12th centuries,...

Nov 8, 2019

Battle-Scarred Viking Shield-Maiden Gets Facial Reconstruction for First Time

When the sword came down upon her head, the blade cut her to the bone. Scientists studying the Viking woman's fractured skull 1,000 years later still aren't sure whether the blow actually killed her — however, the trove of weapons buried with her make it clear that she died a...

Nov 26, 2019

Unusual Viking Burial Site in Norway Contains Two Stacked Boats, Each with a Body

When archaeologists excavated an unusual Viking grave site in Norway, they dug up two bodies … along with the remnants of two massive boats. After hundreds of years underground, only remnants of the wooden vessels remained, but the excavation team could tell the two boats had been stacked atop each...