#Viking Age

[whereserpentswalk]

People don't realize how liminal it is to be a time traveler. How you don't ever really feel like you're in the time you are. Even when you're in your own time, everything is off, your coat was something you bought in interwar France, the book you're reading on the train is from a bookstore you had to visit in Victorian London, even your necklace was given to you by a Neolithic shaman, from a culture the rest of the world can never know. You find yourself acting strange even when in the present, much less in the past you have to work in.

You remember meeting a eunuch in 10th century China, and having him be one of the only people smart and observant enough to realize you were from a diffrent time. You could talk honestly with him, though still you couldn't reveal too much about your time. And it was still so strange hearing him talk casually about work and mention plotting assassinations. You're not allowed to but you still visit him sometimes.

You remember that the few times you were allowed to tell someone everything it was tragic. You knew a young woman who lived in Pompeii, who you had gotten close to, a few days before she would inevitably die. On your last day there you looked into her eyes, knowing soon they'd be stone and ash, that the beauty of her hair would be washed away by burning magma. And you hugged her, and told her that you wanted her to be safe, and told her she was wonderful and that you wanted her to be comfortable and happy. And you let her tongue know the joy of 21st century chocolate, and her eyes see the beauty of animation, knowing she deserved to have those joys, knowing it wouldn't matter soon. And you hugged her the last time, and told her she deserved happiness. And when you left without taking her it was like you were killing her yourself.

You want to take home everyone you're attached to. There's a college student you befriended in eighteen fifties Boston. And you can't help but see him try to solve problems you know humanity is centuries away from solving. And you just want to tell him. And it's not just that, the way he talked about the books and plays he likes, his sense of humor. There's so many people you want him to meet.

You feel the same way about a young woman you met on a viking age longship. She tells stories to her fellow warriors and traders, stories that will never fully get written down, stories that she tells so uniquely and so well. She has so many great ideas. You want so dearly to take her to somewhere she can share her stories, or where she can take classes with other writers, where she can be somewhere safe instead of being out at sea. She'll talk about wanting to be able to do something, or meet people, and you know you're so close to being able to take her, but you never can, unless she accidently finds out way too much then you can't.

You remember the longship that you met that young storyteller on. You were there before, two years ago for you, ten years later for the people on it. The young woman who told you stories wasn't there ten years later, you had been told why then but you only realize now, her uncle, who ran the ship, had been one of the first people to convert to Christianity in his nation. He killed her, either for not converting or for sleeping with women, you're not sure, but he killed her, and bragged about it when you met him ten years later.

You talk to the storyteller on the longship, ask her about the myths you're there to ask her about, the myths that she loves to tell. You look into her eyes knowing it's probably less then a year until her uncle takes her life. You ask her if you think that those who die of murder go to Valhalla. She tells you she hopes not, she doesn't see Valhalla as a gift but as a duty, she hopes for herself to go to Hel, where she wouldn't have to fight anymore. You slip and admit you're talking about her, telling her that you hope that's where she goes when she's killed. You hope to yourself you'll be forced to take her to the twenty first century, you're tempted even to make it worse, you want to have ruined her enough to be able to save her.

[illustratus]

The Sea Raiders by Albert Goodwin

Depicts four Snekkjas (Viking longships) at sea amidst a flock of seagulls

[rune-folk]

Sverd i fjell, Stavanger, Norway

July 2024

[broomsick]

Located in Denmark, Lake Tissø (Týr’s Lake) was probably one of the most prominent Týr cult sites of pre-Christian times. More than 12 000 objects have been excavated in this major holy site, many of which were gold or silver. It was customary to sacrifice weapons, tools or jewelry by throwing them into the waters of the lake, most likely as an offering to Týr or to ancestors. It was home to a large hall, a ritual hörgr and a handful of minor houses (ca. 550 – 650).

Some of the most famous artifacts excavated on the site include the Goats of Thórr brooch (late Iron Age), the 1.8 kg of gold neck ring (10th century), and the Valkyries (2nd is possibly Freyja) of Tissø.

[periodcostumefantasylover]

Emma of Normandy's green cloack in Vikings Valhalla Season 3

[woahhhgwendolyn]

Being With Bjorn’s Child Would Include…

-Bjorn would be so excited to hear that yoh are with his child.

-He could not wait for you to give birth and be able to meet his child

-Throughout the whole pregnancy he was by your side and helped you through every up and down

-He definitely loved the idea of having more kids with you after finding out about your first child together.

-He isn’t sure how many kids he would want. But he is definitely the man to say that if you’re able to give him many kids then he’ll want a lot of kids.

-When it’s time for you to give birth, he spent the whole day with you helping in any way he could

-And if you had a bad labor and birth he would wish he could take away all the pain for you even though he couldn’t help having a bad birth and labor.

[grimmborg-in-the-bog]

Am i a 10th century baddie yet?

After four years of having my viking clothes mostly done, i've finally been made to finish them. My basics were all done back then, but this is more of a fancy summery fit that took a lot more work (especially the weaving)

Dress is based on the Vangsnes pleated dress, it's a super thin wool dyed with madder (the colour is a little uneven sadly)

Woven band is from a similar grave to vangsnes, but in Køstrup, because the vangsnes band is all swastikas

My brooches are NOT historical but just what i have rn :(

Half the beads are made by me, the other half were bought. it might be a bit much ngl but i felt very fancy

[blueiscoool]

Man Discovers Rare Viking Arm Ring in Sweden

Archaeologists say the iron armlet could also have been buried deliberately in a sacrificial bog.

Last fall, a Swedish man spotted something in a marsh on Oland, Sweden’s second-largest island. At first, he thought the circular object—found lying on the ground near a construction pit—might be a tool. But it turned out to be a Viking Age iron arm bracelet that could be more than 1,000 years old.

After the anonymous man discovered the artifact, he contacted a local archaeologist, who advised him to bring it to the government of Kalmar, the southeastern county where Oland is located. He did so earlier this month. Experts analyzed the ring, comparing it to similar objects from the Swedish History Museum in Stockholm.

The C-shaped artifact is decorated ornately. Rows of raised dots grace its length, and its ends are shaped into animal heads, according to a statement posted on Facebook. “From the ornamentation, we were able to date it to the Swedish Viking Age, somewhere between 800 and 1050 C.E.,” Karl-Oskar Erlandsson, an archaeologist at the Kalmar County Administrative Board, tells the Viking Herald’s Jonathan Bennett.

The Vikings were a group of Scandinavian warriors who violently colonized coastal Europe between the 9th and 11th centuries. Viking men and women of all classes wore jewelry, including necklaces, brooches and arm rings (also known as armlets). Powerful men commonly gave armlets to their followers to both secure loyalty and demonstrate wealth. According to the statement, most surviving Viking armlets are crafted out of silver or bronze.

“What is unusual is that this one is made of iron,” Erlandsson tells radio station P4 Kalmar, per a translation by Sweden Herald. Of the more than 1,000 arm rings in the Swedish History Museum’s collection, only three are made of iron.

This doesn’t mean that iron jewelry was uncommon during the Viking Age. Iron accessories may just be more difficult to find today, as the metal is particularly susceptible to corrosion. When it’s exposed to water and oxygen, iron rusts and degrades. Luckily, the soils and sediments of wetlands lack oxygen. The newly discovered ring’s marsh burial may therefore have helped preserve it through the centuries, per the statement.

Swedish laws may also account for the lack of rediscovered iron Viking jewelry. Unlike with artifacts made of silver or gold, Swedes are under “no obligation to contact authorities when [they] find an object made of iron,” Erlandsson tells the Viking Herald.

The island of Oland has a long anthropological history. Hunter-gatherers first settled there more than 6,000 years ago. The area is home to at least 15 Iron Age ring forts—circular, fortified settlements built up from the fourth century onward. Several Viking graves have been found on Oland.

As for how the iron armlet got into the marsh, Erlandsson tells P4 Kalmar that it probably wasn’t part of a grave, as the Vikings wouldn’t have buried someone in a wetland. The marsh also rules out a Viking settlement as a source.

“It could be a sacrificial bog, that they have sacrificed to the gods or higher powers,” Erlandsson says. “So then there may be more objects in this wetland.”

If the armlet’s finder chooses to donate the artifact to the county, it will be preserved and further studied, according to the statement. Hoping the marsh is hiding more Viking objects, experts will soon search the area with metal detectors.

By Sonja Anderson.

[fjorn-the-skald]

Okay, friends—so the University of Oslo is doing a Thing called The Great Viking Survey.

It explores “both popular portrayals and personal perceptions of the viking figure, with a particular focus on the concepts, themes, and ideologies of ‘warriorhood’.” And they plan to use the data to “to paint a more comprehensive and representative picture of the many ways in which the Viking Age continues to resonate in the present day.”

It takes 15-20 minutes, requires that you be 18 or older, and has no wrong answers. And, for those concerned about privacy, they note that “all personal data will be rendered anonymous and protected in accordance with Norwegian and EU law.”

So yeah, if you’re interested in participating in their survey, here’s a link to get started (and also learn a bit more about it, perhaps):

[artschoolglasses]

Bossed penannular brooch, found in Ireland, 9th-10th Century

From the British Museum

[ltwilliammowett]

First fibula chain finished - made by myself

[fyribua]

listen

I have a so far 20 chapter original content book in my google drive

It’s about magick in the Viking age. It’s low/mid fantasy, involving many references to actual myth, legends and stories from the sagas and eddas of the Viking age. The gods (not marvel but OG Norse gods) occasionally join the story in Midgard.

It also has a Manacled-style enemies to lovers (or maybe lovers to enemies), slow burn and with a hopefully unforeseeable, gut wrenching twist. Definitely dark at times. Not smut and no non-con tho.

I’m plucking a flower. Do I post it, do I not, do I post it, do I not. I think I’m gonna post it.

[illustratus]

Charlemagne anxiously observes the approach of ships carrying Norman raiders by Alphonse de Neuville

[queenfredegund]

Women in History Month (insp) | Week 1: Leading Women

[everaylark]

httyd x gravity falls!

a universe where dipper is hiccup and pacifica is astrid. here are some doodles! let me know if you have any questions or would like to know more <3