Vol3, Nr2 :: Hugin & Munin

Spring 2001 - Second Quarter

From the Editor...

Up to now I've been ignoring as much "off-the-wall archeaology" as possible and it has been difficult. I just do not believe that Viking Age Ships made it to North America. The only reliable artifact I do believe made it to North America is a penny that wa found near Penobscot Bay, Maine, but this was most likely lost by a trading indian who may have had contact with Norsemen somewhere in Greenland or at L'Aux Meadows, not a Viking Age Raider!

There is a lot of information available that is very general and approaching incorrect. So, I ask myself, what to do with the silly news stories? Popular culture, scientists in the public eye (there are good and the not-so-good), well meaning amatuers, Asatru practitioners, historical recreate-ors, school-kid webpages? Some of it is really great stuff, like the kids at Minersville, PA whose teacher got them excited about building a Gokstad boat replica. Some of it inspires the general public to develop an interest in the Vikings and their travels and culture -- that's a good thing promoting funding for the more serious side early Nordic Studies (and, my personal favorite, the publication of archaeological findings). For now all I am willing to do is mention the few stories that I learn about, along with some comments that reflect how way-out some of this stuff is. So is it time to read my own FAQ again and check if I'm getting off track...?
--- Birgit, editor

NEWS ON THE WEB

That Guy, Thor, Is In The News Again....Looking for Connections on the Shores of the Black Sea
OK, so I'm finally going to mention the explorer....Thor Heyerdahl....although I'm loath to do so. He's finally come up with an idea I think is plausable and interesting as the lead story here. I've long believed there is a connection between Scandinavian societies or tribes of the Iron Age and the areas we know as Byzantium and Rome. What this connection is has yet to be well defined but is indicated by archaeological finds in Scandinavia that are believed imports. Of course, there are many people who consider this as a little "out there", especially as the reasoning for this archaeological dig has been cited as "looking for Odin" ..... Thor Hyerdahl is funding an archaeological dig at a site dating to more than 2000 years ago. It is located near the northern tip of the Sea of Azov. Read more about it at the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1353000/1353343.stm. The Times also has an article at http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,3-200762,00.html called "Vikings were the first Cossacks, says Heyerdahl".

1300's Greenland
Ben MacIntyre wrote a Story entitled "Big freeze drove the Vikings out of Greenland" which rehashes the abandonment of Greenland during a "mini-ice-age". The same story is also featured at the Times, http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,3-126599,00.html Of course, the 14th century Greenlanders were socially distant from the Viking Raiders of old.
A More interesting story by James Brooks is about the finds at Nipaatsoq, Greenland in a story entitled Story of Viking Colonies' Icy 'Pompeii' Unfolds From Ancient Greenland Farm. A review of the yarn found with uncataloged artifacts from Northern Baffin Island at the Canadian Museum of Civilization as a related story can be found at Strand of Ancient Yarn Suggests Early European Presence in Canada.

CONFERENCES & LECTURES

Textiles in Seattle
October 4-6, 2001 in Seattle, Washington the Nordic Heritage Museum and Norwegian Textile Guild hold a Conference on Norwegian Woven Textiles. Included are presentations on Medieval Tabletwoven bands, Missed Hole Technique tabletwaeving in Norway and Iceland, the Saami Warp Weighted Loom, and Sheep From the Northern Short-Tail Family.

Biennial Conference of the Society for Medieval Archaeology
On July 4-7, 2001 at Cardiff, Wales. The biennial conference of the society for Medieval Archaeology focuses on the theme of Viking-Period Settlement in Britain and Ireland. Hosted by the Centre for the Study of Medieval Society and Culture, Cardiff University, and the National Museum of Wales.

MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS

Vikings - The North Atlantic Saga
The recurring big news -- lots of info at earlier Newsletters. See the Smithonian Museums Website on the Exhibit. At the Denver Museum of Natural History from March 2 to May 31, and at the Houston Museum of Natural Science from July 13 to October 14th, 2001. The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County issued a press release "to Presents Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga" carried by PRNewswire on June 22nd about this exhibit opening there on Novenber 17th. This is also carried at Yahoo at http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010622/lafns1.html.

BOOKS

No Book Reviews this Quarter

Judith Jesch, (forthcoming June 2001). Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse. Boydell & Brewer, Suffolk, UK, ISBN 0 85115 826 9 about US$130.00
Click the publisher, above for a link to pre-print notes.

Birgit Sawyer (2000). Viking-age rune-stones : custom and commemoration in early medieval Scandinavia . Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK & NYC, 269 pp., ISBN 0 19 820643 7 about US$95.00

Hugin & Munin