Scientists reconstruct face 1000 year old Viking warrior woman

The Viking warrior WOMEN: Scientists reconstruct the face of 1,000-year-old female with a 'battle wound' on her skull who was buried with a hoard of weapons in Norway

• The woman is based on skeleton found in a Viking graveyard in Solør, Norway
• She was buried surrounded by a hoard of deadly weaponry in the grave
• British scientists brought her to life using facial recognition technology 
• The female warrior has now been preserved in Oslo's Museum of Cultural History

Scientists have re-created the face of a female Viking warrior who lived more than 1,000 years ago. 

The woman is based on a skeleton found in a Viking graveyard in Solør, Norway, and is now preserved in Oslo's Museum of Cultural History.

While the remains had already been identified as female, the burial site had not been considered that of a warrior 'simply because the occupant was a woman', archaelogist Ella Al-Shamahi told The Guardian. 

But now British scientists have brought the female warrior to life using cutting-edge facial recognition technology. 

Scientists reconstructed the face of the female warrior who lived more than 1,000 years ago by anatomically working from the muscles and layering of the skin

And scientists found the woman was buried with a hoard of deadly weaponry including arrows, a sword, a spear and an axe. 

Researchers also discovered a dent in her head, which rested on a shield in her grave, that was consistent with a sword wound.  

It is unclear whether the brutal injury was the cause of her death however it is believed to be 'the first evidence ever found of a Viking woman with a battle injury', according to Ms Al-Shamahi. 

She added: I'm so excited because this is a face that hasn't been seen in 1,000 years… She's suddenly become really real.

Archaeologist Ella Al-Shamahi comes face to face with the skull of the Viking woman who was found buried among a hoard of deadly weaponry in a Viking graveyard in Solør, Norway

The expert who is a specialist in ancient human remains is set to present a National Geographic documentary featuring the reconstruction. 

The face was built up anatomically working from the muscles and layering of the skin. 

Dr Caroline Erolin, a senior lecturer at the University of Dundee in the Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification which worked on the reconstruction said: 'The resulting reconstruction is never 100 per cent accurate, but is enough to generate recognition from someone who knew them well in real life.' 

The technology also recreated the woman's grave showing the placement of the weapons. 

The documentary shows Ms Al-Shamahi travelling across Scandinavia examining Viking burial sites and using visualisation techniques to reconstruct the contents.      

Ms Al-Shamahi said while women risked being overpowered in hand-to-hand combat, they could have fired deadly arrows from horseback over longer distances making them 'an equal match for men'.

Viking expert and archaeological consultant on the project Professor Neil Price added: 'There are so many other burials in the Viking world… It wouldn't surprise me at all if we find more (female warriors).

By EMILY WEBBER 

Archaeologists uncovered two rare Viking burial boats

Archaeologists have uncovered two rare Viking boat graves in the Swedish village of Gamla Uppsala.

One of the boats is intact, still holding the remains of a man, a horse and a dog.

Experts from Arkeologerna, archeologists with Sweden's National Historical Museums agency, believed that it would be a routine dig, so they were were shocked to find the two ships, the group's Ninna Bengtsson said.

There are only about 10 other known boat burial sites like this in Sweden,Arkeologerna said. Ship graves of this kind were generally used in the Vendel Period, from about A.D. 550 to 800, and the Viking Age, from about A.D. 800 to 1050.

Most people at the time were cremated, with these sorts of boat burials reserved for society's elite.

"It is a small group of people who were buried in this way. You can suspect that they were distinguished people in the society of the time since burial ships in general are very rare," archeologist Anton Seiler said in a news release.

In this sort of burial, the person was placed along with his or her riches in a boat that was then put into the ground.

The archaeologists also found a sword, an ornate comb, a spear and part of a shield in the intact boat. The identity of the man remains unknown.

The other of the two boats did not hold up as well. It was probably damaged during work on the land in the 16th century.

The group began excavation on this site last fall but was forced to take a break in the winter due to cold weather. They restarted the process in June and are working to move the artifacts to a facility for further investigation.

It's been 50 years since the last burial ship was found in Gamla Uppsala, according to Seiler.

"It is extremely exciting for us since boat burials are so rarely excavated," he said. "We can now use modern science and methods that will generate new results, hypotheses and answers."

Skeppsgrav från vikingatiden

Arkeologernas nya fynd

Enligt Vestfolds kommun handlar det av allt att döma om ett skepp från vikingatiden.

Skeppet som ligger relativt nära markytan har hittats med hjälp av georadar, vars bilder visar en tydlig båtform under marken.

– Bilderna visar en båtform och vi kan se svaga spår av en cirkulär fördjupning runt båten. Kanske är det ett tecken på att en gravhög tagits bort från platsen, säger Terje Gansum, som är sektionschef för kulturarv i Vestfolds kommun.

Historisk dag

Det är fortfarande oklart hur mycket av farkosten som finns kvar, men vikten av fyndet går inte att underskatta, enligt norske klimat- och miljöministern Ola Elvestuen.

– Det här är en historisk dag, en stor begivenhet. Det är unikt i norsk historia och internationellt, det går inte att överdriva betydelsen av det här, säger han.

Unikt fynd

Sedan tidigare har bara sju skeppsgravar från vikingatiden (år 800 till 1050) bekräftats i Europa. Tre av dessa finns i just Vestfold.

I fjol hittades dock en förmodad skeppsgrav på ett gravfält i Haldens kommun i sydöstra Norge och nu har alltså troligen ytterligare ett vikingaskepp hittats i Borreparken.

Archeologists find Viking sword

Archeologists find Viking sword in southern Turkey

Searching through the ancient city of Patara in Turkey's Mediterranean resort city of Antalya, Turkish archeologists uncovered a sword dating back to over a millennium.

Lead excavator Professor Havva Iskan Işık of Akdeniz University told Anadolu Agency that they identified a Viking sword from the ninth or 10th century.

Işık said they have been carrying out excavation works for 30 years and have discovered important archaeological evidence so far.

"Finding a Viking sword in a harbor city in the Mediterranean area is of great importance," she said.

She said the sword offers a clue to how the Vikings served the Eastern Roman Empire, adding that the preserved total length of the sword is 43.2 centimeters (around 17 inches).

The sword was inside a wooden sheath, Isik said, and could have been left in the grave of a Viking soldier.

According to research, Viking swords in wooden sheaths were left in tombs as a "gift to dead", she said.

Swedish girl pulls Viking era sword from lake

Photo: Jönköpings läns museum

An eight-year-old Swedish girl came across an exciting find swimming at her local lake, when she pulled an ancient sword from its depths.

"It's not every day that one steps on a sword in the lake!" Mikael Nordström from Jönköpings Läns Museum told The Local when explaining the significance of the find.
But that's exactly what happened to Saga Vanecek, who found the Viking Age relic at the Vidöstern lake in Småland earlier this summer.
"I felt something in the water and lifted it up. It was a handle, and I told my dad that it looked like a sword!" Saga told Sveriges Radio, recalling the moment. "It was pretty cool and a bit exciting."
The sword is estimated to be at least 1,000 years old and has prompted huge interest from archaeologists and historians.
"It's about 85 centimentres long, and there is also preserved wood and metal around it," explained Nordström. "We are very keen to see the conservation staff do their work and see more of the details of the sword."
"Why it has come to be there, we don't know," he said. "When we searched a couple of weeks ago, we found another prehistoric object; a brooch from around the same period as the sword, so that means – we don't know yet – but perhaps it's a place of sacrifice. At first we thought it could be graves situated nearby the lake, but we don't think that any more."
The sword has prompted teams including museum staff to carry out further searches in the area, though none have resulted in such an important find. The first led to the discovery of the brooch but the oldest object found in the second search, on Wednesday, was a coin from the 18th century, "and a lot of quite recent trash, to be frank", Nordström said.
"We asked Saga [not to tell anyone about the sword] because we were afraid that if this find would go public too soon, there would be a lot of people there, perhaps destroying our possibility to find things later," he added. "So she has finally been able to tell her story after waiting for a couple of months."
Anyone hoping to see the sword in the museum will have to wait at least a year, according to Nordström, who said: "The conservation process takes quite a long time because it's a complicated environment with wood and leather, so they have several steps to make sure it's preserved for the future."
As for whether Saga will be involved in future projects or receive a reward for her discovery, the case has now been handed over to the National Archives of Sweden, who will be responsible for making the decision.

Runstensfynd i Eskilstuna

FOTO: FREDRIK SANDBERG/TT

En helt annan runsten. Arkivbild.

Hade det inte varit för en förbipasserande cyklist hade en tusenårig runsten förvandlats till krossat fyllnadsmaterial i Eskilstuna.

Den jättelika stenen upptäcktes redan för drygt en vecka sedan under ett arbete med att schakta för den blivande gång- och cykelbanan mellan Skiftinge och Sundbyholm. Då var den mest i vägen – ingen upptäckte runskriften på det tre meter långa och en meter breda blocket.

Häromdagen skulle man så ta beslut om hur stenen skulle krossas på bästa sätt, men då kom en cyklist förbi som genast såg att det inte rörde sig om någon vanlig stenklump utan snarare årets fynd.

Stenen har nu uppgraderats från problem till kulturarv och visade sig finnas med i en arkeologisk förteckning över kända men försvunna runstenar och minnesmärken. På stenen finns texten "Ingulv och Visäte reste denna sten efter Bugge och Sigsten. Gud hjälpe deras själ" inristat.

Fyndplatsen har nu spärrats av i avvaktan på besked om en större utgrävning ska göras.

Mass Grave in England

Mass Grave in England May Hold a ‘Lost’ Viking Army

BY BECKY LITTLE

Photograph of the juvenile grave. (Credit: Martin Biddle/University of Bristol)

In the mid-ninth century, a Viking military force known as the Great Heathen Army invaded England. It marked the transition among Vikings from raiding cities to conquering them, and is considered an important historical event in the creation of England. Yet for decades, no one could find any archaeological evidence to back this up.

Now, a group of researchers at the University of Bristol in England think they might have found that evidence—i.e., the soldiers’ bones.

However, initial carbon dating placed the skeletons in earlier centuries, leading researchers to conclude that they couldn’t be Viking soldiers. It was only after adjusting for Vikings’ seafood diet that researchers were able to correctly carbon date them to the 9th century.

The bones come from a mass grave of at least 264 skeletons at St. Wystan’s church in Repton, Derbyshire, that archaeologists first excavated in the 1970s and ‘80s. Historical records tell us the Viking army spent the winter in Repton in 873 A.D., so many thought carbon dating would show the bones came from that time period.

“When we eat fish or other marine foods, we incorporate carbon into our bones that is much older than in terrestrial foods,” said lead archaeologist Cat Jarman, according to a University of Bristol press release. “This confuses radiocarbon dates from archaeological bone material and we need to correct for it by estimating how much seafood each individual ate.”

Other clues support the theory that these are remnants of the Viking army. Many of these skeletons showed signs of violent injury. And near these remains, researchers also discovered an axe and several knives that dated to 872-875 A.D. About 20 percent of these skeletons were female, a fact that had previously raised doubts that this was a grave for Viking soldiers. But since their discovery, DNA evidence has proven that not all Viking soldiers were male.

A double grave discovered. (Credit: Martin Biddle/University of Bristol)

The Great Heathen Army gets its name from the English Christians whose land the Vikings began invading around 865 A.D. Also known as the Great Viking Army, this military force defeated Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and established a Viking state, before losing to King Alfred when it tried to take his kingdom of Wessex. After this defeat, Alfred captured English territories that the Vikings had taken—such as London—thereby expanding his own rule.

“This was a key part in the story of how England was made,” Jarman told the BBC. “But because of the lack of physical evidence, it has not been given the attention it deserves.”

Now that this staggering mass grave from the Viking era has been made public, that may change.