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Autumn 1999 - Fourth Quarter
From the Editor
Perhaps it's the holidays, maybe it's the scare of the new year, then again it
might just be my own perspective -- I haven't been finding a lot that's news lately.
Maybe it's the search engine quandary: Minnesota Vikings, NASA's Viking Programs, or
Viking computer equipment! Then again it could be that I'm re-reading books in my
library...currently that includes Colleen E. Batey's 1994 edit of The Cultural Atlas of the
Viking World. Contributors include James Graham-Campbell, Neil S. Price and R. I. Page,
and the couple of publishers are Checkmark Books or Facts On File, New York.
ISBN 0-8160-3004-9. Read any good books lately?
Note that the Viking Heritage Server & Database website
has had a re-write and seems to be a lot more user-friendly, check it out...
NEWS ON THE WEB
Roskilde Ship Museum Viking Ship Project to copy Skuldelev2
Discovery Channel Online
reported that in September work will begin on a replica of the Skuldelev2 Longship. Major funding is from
Carlsberg A/S which has a detailed website
explaining the project. The original boat, found in Roskilde Fjord in 1957, is believed to have been built
in 1043 near Dublin. Six boat builders will be using period construction techniques to piece
together the oak ship. Sailing tests will follow. The article can be found at
http://www.discovery.com/news/briefs/briefs991127/briefs0900/brief3.html
Baffin Island Yarn
A skein of yarn of arctic hare and goat fibers found in 1984 has been uncovered along with some
fragments of white pine from the Nunguvik Site, Baffin Island. Carbon dating of
the wood indicates that these finds are from the 13th century. The indigenous population
were not known to have used textiles and the white pine could have come from Labrador or Europe so
this points to Norse contact at the site. The Nunatsiaq News article is at http://www.nunatsiaq.com/nunavut/nvt91203_04.html
CONFERENCES & LECTURES
Viking Millennium International Symposium:
Lectures Commemorating the 1000th Anniversary of Lief Erikson's Arrival in North America
Academic Colloquium - Voyage to Vinland
September 16th -18th, 2000 in St. John's Newfoundland
Main Conference (General Public Welcome)
September 18th - 24th, 2000 in L'Anse aux Meadows & the Labrador Straits.
For more information see http://www.vikingsymposium.nf.ca
Graham-Campbell on Viking Art
The second lecture in the
Millennium Review Series in the The British Archaeological Association program of meetings
for 1999-2000 will be given by James Graham-Campbell on 5th January entitled 'Viking Art: 40 years on'.
Per Olin on the Prehistory of Sweden
Sunday Jan. 9, 2000 - 3 p.m.
Sunday Jan. 9th, 3 P.M. the American Swedish Institute will host Per Olin, newly appointed Director of the Vänermuseet in Lidköping, Sweden. The Swedish
archeologist, lecturer and teacher will discuss the
prehistory of Sweden and share his views on museum pedagogy.
In addition to making replicas of prehistoric bone flutes, Olin has become an accomplished player of those instruments.
MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS
Updated Links
The Smithsonian Institution is to exhibit "The Norse in the North America",
celebrating the 1000th anniversary of the Vikings' arrival in North America.
April 29, 2000 to Sept. 4, at The National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC --
and make a two-year tour of the continent, including New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago and Ottawa.
The exhibit is slated to be at the Canadian Museum of Civilisation in 2002.
June of 2000, the Newfoundland
Museum located in St. John's. -- "Full Circle: First Contact Vikings and Skraelings in Newfoundland and Labrador."
Corner Brook, 10 venues in Canada and the United States, and five venues in the Nordic countries and Europe.
BOOK REVEIWS
No Reveiws this quarter, but the following are available or slated for release next year.
- John Haywood's Vikings is to be available in January 2000. Paperback, 129 pages,
from Sutton Publishing; ISBN: 0750921943
- The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki, translated by Jesse L. Byock (Harmondsworth:
Penguin, 1999). ISBN 014043593X. $11.95/£7.99.
-
Thomas A. Dubois, Nordic Religions in the Viking Age (Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999). ISBN 0812217144. $19.95/£15.00.
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