Ancient World Review

Swedish Politician Suggests Banning "Nazi" Runes

Evil Nazi runes!

"The Swedish government is looking into the possibility of forbidding the use of Norse runes, local media has reported, amid concerns that the ancient symbols have been misappropriated by neo-Nazi groups." Source: RT.

"Justice Minister Morgan Johansson is currently investigating whether or not runes should be banned in Sweden as a way to deter hate groups, a Swedish website Samhällsnytt reported. His is expected to make a recommendation on the matter by the end of May."

Note: It would be difficult, if not impossible, to banish runes altogether. This ancient writing system is not only the subject of scholarly research, but "runic alphabets were added to the Unicode Standard in September, 1999 with the release of version 3.0." (Wikipedia)

Also see: Sweden Investigating Criminalizing Runes, Thor's Hammer & Other Norse Symbols.

Comment: Nazis! Nazis! Everything's Nazi! This suicidal stupidity is typical of the current Swedish government. People like this Johansson aren't just stupid, though; they are actively hostile to the culture and heritage of their own country, and they'll end up destroying Sweden completely if they aren't stopped. But even if these idiots were all purged tomorrow, it may be too late to turn the situation around. Sweden is dying. The level of violence there is soaring and the country is rapidly becoming Islamified thanks to its self-destructive immigration policies. The truly insane thing about all of this is that Sweden's "feminist government" has been bending over backwards to import an alien culture which treats women like chattel, but that's typical of the clown world we live in today.

Video from 2015.

Sweden is a classic example of cultural decay. It's hard to believe that its people are descended from the Vikings.

3D Animation Of Tisso In The Viking Age

"There are several excavations of Iron Age settlements around Tissø [Denmark] and in 1976 a large golden ornamental ring manufactured in the 10th century, was unearthed during a regular field-plowing. The Tissø Ring is a neck-ring with a diameter of 30 cm and at 1.83 kg (originally 2 kg), it is one of the largest gold finds in Denmark. This led to professional investigations and remains of a Viking estate was discovered at the site now known as 'Kalmargården', near Fugledegård on the western lakebrink. In 1995-2003 large scale excavations revealed, that the total settlement covered c. 500,000 m² (50 ha), centered around a 12 x 48 m hall and with several buildings and structures believed to have ritualistic purposes. In 2012 remains of another large hall measuring 8 x 35 m was discovered. The magnates residence of Kalmargården, greatly resemble the residences excavated at 'Old Lejre' in central Zealand and at Järrestad in Scania. It has been suggested that Kalmargården served as a seasonal residence for the royal family based in Old Lejre." Source: Wikipedia.

The Viking Stone Ships

"Stone ships were a burial form used in the bronze- and –iron ages and during the Viking period. They were shaped like acute oval stone circles, and might frame a grave established within the sides of the ship, but they could also function as memorials for the deceased. It is not really known why rich Vikings were buried in this way, but it is believed that the stone ship symbolizes a boat which was to carry the deceased to the kingdom of the dead." Source: Fortidens Jelling.

"Such a stone circle has existed in Jelling [Denmark], a gigantic stone ship 354 metres long. The stone ship is the oldest of the memorials in Jelling from the Viking Age."

Stone Ships & The Goddess Cult Of Vastmanland

"The Odendisa Runestone ... sometimes called the Hassmyra Runestone, is a Viking Age runestone erected at Hassmyra, Västmanland, Sweden, that is a memorial to a woman." Source: Wikipedia. This area also contains Viking stone ship burials of women.

"The runic text carved on the serpent of the Odendisa Runestone contains a poem in fornyrðislag and is one of few runestones raised for a woman, and the only one in Sweden with a verse commemorating a woman ... The theophoric name Odendisa .., which means 'Goddess of Odin,' is a unique name and is not known from any other source."

Nordic Iron Age Grave Field & Hill Fort

Vallbyåsen, Uppland, Sweden. (2017) Close-captions useful..

Note: "Uppland ... is a historical province or landskap on the eastern coast of Sweden, just north of Stockholm, the capital." (Wikipedia) I'm not sure where this grave field is located exactly.

Broborg, the fort, is "a hillfort located around 10 km east of Knivsta [south-central Uppland]. It overlooks an ancient major waterway ... leading to the interior of Uppland, as well as a road. The location thus suggests that, in prehistoric times (and before too much elevation of the land), Broborg could have controlled access for trace as well as any military activities." Source: The Mystery Of The Vitrified Hillfort. (PDF)

Broborg was a vitrified fort, i.e., its stones were apparently cemented together by a kind of glass formed by subjecting stones to extreme heat. The article quoted above mentions that the vitrification process used at Broborg is being studied by modern scientists for its possible application in nuclear-waste disposal.

According to the description for the first video above, there is a legend about Grimsa, "a Viking queen who was burned alive in the fort," but I haven't been able to find any further information about her.

Video from 2013.

Thousands Of Objects Discovered In Scandinavia's First Viking Settlement (2018)

Riba or Ribe, the oldest city in Denmark (2016).

"If you want to know anything about the Viking Age, Ribe, in west Denmark, is the place to go." Source: Science Nordic (2018).

"Archaeologists from Aarhus University and Southwest Jutland Museums (Denmark) have been excavating the Viking city as part of the Northern Emporium Project in minute detail."

Finds include "everything from beads, amulets, coins, and lost combs, to dog excrement and gnawed bones." Next video shows a comb inscribed with runes which was discovered in Ribe (I'm not sure when). According to Science Nordic (2018), "[t]he comb dates to the early Viking Age around 800 CE. Just a handful of runic texts from this period exist."

"Ribe is the oldest extant town in Denmark, established in the early eighth century in the Germanic Iron Age." (Wikipedia) "...When Ansgar the Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen, set out on the 'Mission to bring Christianity to the North', he made a request in about 860, to King Horik II of Denmark, that the first Scandinavian church be built in Ribe. This was not coincidental, since Ribe already at that point was one of the most important trade cities in Scandinavia. However the presence of a bishop, and thus a cathedral, in Ribe can only be confirmed from the year 948."

Video above is from the fantastic Riba Viking Center YouTube channel. Lots of material here. For instance, the next video is a short documentary on the construction of Riba harbor. (Closed captions available).

Note: I'm not sure what the current "immigrant" situation is in Ribe, but Denmark, luckily, isn't as insane as Sweden:

"Despite a reputation for progressive politics, humanitarianism and a generous welfare state, Denmark has some of the most aggressive anti-immigrant policies in Europe. That has included taking out foreign-newspaper adverts warning potential migrants that they are not welcome, and authorizing police to seize cash and valuables from arriving asylum seekers to offset the cost of their maintenance." Source: Time (2019).

The Foteviken Museum In Sweden

"The Foteviken Museum ... is an archaeological open-air museum on the Höllviken peninsula in southern Skåne, Sweden. It contains a reconstruction of a large Viking Age settlement and a 'viking reservation', and visitors participate in living history reenactments; it also performs research and functions as the municipal museum of Vellinge Municipality and part of Fotevikens Kulturcenter, a group of cultural facilities on the peninsula." Source: Wikipedia.

"The Viking Reserve of Foteviken is created in order to illustrate what a densely built-up settlement might have looked like during the late Viking Age and early Middle age. This area is being developed gradually and it will look more and more like a little early medieval city." Source: Fotovikens Museum. (This page has descriptions and photos of all the major buildings in the open-air museum).

"Semicircular defence earthworks enclose the conurbation. The wall opens toward the beach of Höllviken to the west. In the north and south there are two town gates, with the main street of the town running between them. From this smaller streets lead down to the structures east of the main road. Buildings of various dimensions and styles crowd the area. In front of the town hall there's an open square for gathering."

Foteviken was the site of the Battle of Fotevik in 1134. The Foteviken Museum "recreates" this battle periodically, but from what I've seen their reenactments are particularly authentic since cavalry was involved in the actual fight.

The museum has recreated an authentic Viking ship, the Erik Emune:

"In the early 1980s five sunk viking ships were discovered in a barrier in the mouth of the Bay of Foteviken just north of where the Viking town now lies. During a marine archaeological examination one of the ships was recovered and it is this ship that Foteviken Museum has recreated a full scale copy of. The 11 meters long ship is named Erik Emune after the king who stood victorious at the Battle of Foteviken in 1134 AD." (Foteviken Museum) Next video shows the ship being launched in 2009.

Related: Foteviken during the Viking Age.

The Battle of Foteviken.

1783-84 Volcanic Eruption In Iceland Led To Unusually Cold Winter In Europe

Video from 2015.

"An enormous volcanic eruption on Iceland in 1783-84 did not cause an extreme summer heat wave in Europe. But, as Benjamin Franklin speculated, the eruption triggered an unusually cold winter, according to a new study. The study will help improve predictions of how the climate will respond to future high-latitude volcanic eruptions." Source: Science Daily.

Note: This violent eruption went on for about eight months and effected the climate around the world. "The consequences for Iceland, known as the Móðuharðindin or 'Mist Hardships', were disastrous. An estimated 20–25% of the population died in the famine and fluoride poisoning after the fissure eruptions ensued. Around 80% of sheep, 50% of cattle and 50% of horses died because of dental fluorosis and skeletal fluorosis from the 8 million tons of hydrogen fluoride that were released." (Wikipedia)

Volcanic Eruption Influenced Iceland's Conversion To Christianity

The Eldgja volcanic fissure, Iceland. Video from 2009.

"A team of scientists and medieval historians, led by the University of Cambridge, has used information contained within ice cores and tree rings to accurately date a massive volcanic eruption, which took place soon after the island was first settled." Source: Archaeology News Network (March 2018).

"Having dated the eruption, the researchers found that Iceland's most celebrated medieval poem, which describes the end of the pagan gods and the coming of a new, singular god, describes the eruption and uses memories of it to stimulate the Christianisation of Iceland. The results are reported in the journal Climatic Change."

Note: This was the Eldgja eruption of 939 AD, "the largest flood basalt in historic time," according to Wikipedia. As a result of the eruption, the summer of 940 was "one of the coolest summers in 1500 years." The eruption is apparently described in the "apocalyptic Vǫluspá (‘the prophecy of the seeress’)," the "first and best known poem in the Poetic Edda." (Wikipedia)

According to the Climactic Change paper (link above), the poem "contains literary references to the Eldgjá eruption and that these assume wider significance in the context of Iceland’s conversion to Christianity. The poem describes how the revered pagan god Odin raises a prophetess from the dead. She foretells the end of the pagan pantheon and the coming of a new (and singular) god in a series of portents, one being the rearing of a monstrous wolf that will swallow the Sun. The descriptions, found notably in stanzas 41 and 57, are strongly suggestive of an eruption of the magnitude, duration and likely impacts of the Eldgjá eruption..."

In Search Of The Dark Ages - Eric Bloodaxe

"Eric Haraldsson ... nicknamed Eric Bloodaxe ... was a 10th-century Norwegian ruler. He is thought to have had short-lived terms as King of Norway and twice as King of Northumbria (c. 947–948 and 952–954)." Source: Wikipedia.

According to History of York, "Eric was the son of Norwegian King Harald Fairhair [first king of Norway].  According to the colourful Icelandic sagas he began his Viking career aged 12.  On one expedition he met and married a witch called Gunnhild, the daughter of the king of Denmark."

Note: "Gunnhild was widely reputed to be a völva, or witch. Prior to the death of Harald Fairhair, Erik's popular half-brother Halfdan Haraldsson the Black died mysteriously, and Gunnhild was suspected of having 'bribed a witch to give him a death-drink.'" (Wikipedia)

"The sagas paint Eric Bloodaxe as a barbarian, a murderous tyrant whose savagery was shocking even by Viking standards. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is less vivid on Eric, and records the Northumbrians selecting Eric Bloodaxe as their king in 947. " Source: English Monarchs.