In AD 1362, a terrible storm broke through the medieval dykes in the Wadden Sea, protecting people living in the marshy foreland. Later called the Grote Mandrenke – The Great Drowning of Men – a whole town, Rungholt, together with 42 parishes, disappeared.
New research reveals a marked shift in the landscape of Northwestern France in Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages
When the Black Prince, Edward of Woodstock, died in 1376, he left precise specifications for his burial as well as his effigy. New studies of the cast gilded brass sculputure have yielded a new understanding of the sculpture
A magnificent Viking burial took place at Chernihiv more than a thousand years ago. Recent studies of the find in the tomb has uncovered an extraordinary new “Viking artefact”
Did climate changes in pre-Viking societies really matter? Did people adapt their agricultural strategies? Or were such changes just registered as temporarily “whacky weather” by the people of the past?
How devastaing was the Black Death in the Later Middle Ages? New scientific studies of pollen raise serious questions as to the death rate
Archaeologists have been working for decades to excavate the early medieval settlements at Thurnau near Gars in Eastern Austria. Recent studies of the burial ground excavated in 1975-2000 tell the story of the burial of the unbaptized destined for limbo.
During the 4th-8th century, vast stretches of Europe shifted from growing wheat to rye. Careful studies indicate the shift was a reflection towards a new, more balanced peasant economy.
In the 14th century, it became fashionable to decorate tables at noble or royal banquets with models of ships, symbolising “Good Luck” and “Fair Wind”. Later, the wealthy merchants in the cities picked up this fashion. The Schlüsselfeld ship is one of the more famous.
Ships were prized ornaments decorating the tables of kings and lords into the 16th and 17th century.
A newly discovered travel account of a Florentine merchant visiting Canterbury and the shrine of Thomas Becket sheds light on late medieval devotion
New research points to the role distinct brooches played in the formation of “ethnic” identities in the North Sea region during the migration period and in the Early Viking Age
Norwegian archeologists are revisiting the old mounds ind which Viking Ships were buried. It appears, these mounds were carefully created as part of the burial traditions.
Last year, ten million euros were granted to the project, HistoGenes, to study the aDNA of 6000 individuals from AD 400-900.
A new interdisciplinary research project - The impact of food culture in Medieval towns (FOODIMPACT) will analyse more than 30.000 items in the Cultural Museum in Oslo
Last week, the Gjellestad excavation was live streamed by Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation