There is also evidence of deliberately filed teeth on some 130 male Viking skulls. By JENNIFER OUELLETTE  German archaeologists discovered that the skulls of three medieval Viking women found on the Swedish island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea showed evidence of an unusual procedure to elongate their skulls. The process gave them an unusual and distinctive appearance, according to a paper published in the journal Current Swedish Archaeology. Along with evidence that the Viking men from the island may have deliberately filed their teeth, the discovery sheds light on the role body ..read more

See more Old Norse Words here ..read more

See more Old Norse Words here ..read more

By Tom Metcalfe The skull modifications were found on the skeletons of three women buried on Gotland almost 1,000 years ago. The elongated, cone-shaped skulls of Viking Age women buried on the Baltic island of Gotland may be evidence of trading contacts with the Black Sea region, a new study finds. The women’s skulls were most likely modified deliberately from birth by wrapping their heads with bandages. This practice is attributed to the nomadic Huns, who invaded Europe from Asia in the fourth and fifth centuries, and it was followed in parts of southeastern Europe until t ..read more

See more Old Norse Words here ..read more

By Victoria Atkinson The Vikings reached as far west as Newfoundland, but did they also venture into Africa, the Middle East and Asia? In less than 300 years, the Vikings raided and explored land in at least four continents, spreading out in every direction from Scandinavia to invade and trade with civilizations across Europe and beyond. But just how far did the Vikings get, and why were they so adventurous? Fundamentally, the Vikings’ biggest motivations were power and wealth. “The Vikings were very aware of what was happening in England and on the continent at the time,” said Alexa ..read more

See more Old Norse Words here ..read more

See more Old Norse Words here ..read more

This is 89 of our ongoing series about Viking Age Iceland. For centuries, this island country, unique in Medieval Europe, operated with no king, no great lords, no foreign policy, and no defense forces but which developed legal and judicial systems to limit the violence of bloodfeud and protect the rights of freemen. Far out in the North Atlantic, Iceland was where the famous sagas developed. To explore Iceland’s place in the medieval world, we present selections from Jesse Byock’s Viking Age Iceland that investigate the history ..read more

See more Old Norse Words here ..read more