Home » Posts tagged 'Viking'
Tag Archives: Viking
Give Your Viking Character a Memorable Nickname
The folks at mental_floss show you how with “33 Crass and Creative Norse Nicknames.”
Before surnames were a well-established way of telling one Olaf or Astrid from another, identifying nicknames were far more prevalent. Historical figures had their share of quirky epithets—from Albert the Peculiar to Zeno the Hermit—but the Norse Vikings seem to have had them beat when it comes to comical range and sheer absurdity.
Rethinking Vikings
Listverse has a list of ten discoveries that cast the vikings in a new light. It’s quite interesting and worth a read.
Why mention vikings on Saint Patrick’s Day? Mainly because they were instrumental in the development of the city of Dublin:
The Vikings explored vast amounts of Europe and North America, but they eventually settled into the land that would eventually become Dublin. At the time, its relatively mild climate, thick tree cover, and river made it the perfect location for a winter home. There they repaired their ships and set up a trade network.
The number of Viking relics found in Dublin over the years has been staggering. Temple Lane was created by Viking settlers and has been called the oldest street in Dublin. Viking swords have been found in the area around Christchurch, and the earliest foundations of Dublin Castle are clay floors that were also dated to the Viking era. And just south of the River Liffey is a huge concentration of buildings that seem to indicate the center of the Viking settlement, including houses and buildings once used for metalworking and the production of other commodities like leathers, textiles, and jewelry. Also along the area of the Liffey was evidence of amber-working.
If You Ever Wanted to Visit a Stone Age Settlement…
Denmark has a theme park for that. Land of Legends (Sagnlandet Lejre) features living-history type recreations of life in several historical eras: Stone Age, Iron Age, Viking, and even some nineteenth-century farming cottages. As Atlas Obscura explains,
From the Stone Age to the Iron Age, Land of Legends attempts to mix fun with the gritty realities of pre-industrial society. The park was actually established in 1964 as a site where archeologists and anthropologists could attempt to recreate ancient civilizations among the natural bogs, lakes, and woodland of the area. The researchers would reconstruct Iron Age farming equipment and housing, attempting to learn more about era’s in the distant past by experiencing them. The actual benefit of the experiments were controversial, but people flocked to the site to watch the pioneering scientists work.
Today, the site has embraced the public’s interest in its work and evolved into a park that invites visitors to come and experience life in the past for themselves, all while the experimental reconstruction continues. The major historical reconstructions at the site now include the original Iron Age village, a Stone Age camp, a Viking market, and a smattering of 19th century farm-cottages. Visitors can try their hand at some labor intensive farming, ancient handicraft, or simply watch the archeologists work.
Darrell J. Pursiful 