Bracteates were thin golden sheets stamped with North West Germanic motifs. A recent overview shows how they were included in various rituals in Northwestern Europe ca. 400-600.
Category: Medieval Research
The Oldest Odin Inscription in the World Discovered among the Vindelev Gold
In December 2020, an impressive hoard of gold bracteates, pendants and a scabbard mount was discovered. Dated to c. AD 335-540, the hoard is unique. Recently, the Runic inscription on one of the bracteates was deciphered, presenting us with the earliest Odin inscription.
New Research about Mikulčice in Greater Moravia
Mikulčice was a Slavic settlement from the 9th century. With the remains of fortifications, a palace, twelve churches, a huge acropolis and extensive suburbs, it continues to yield new insights into the early history of Moravia
How can we Hide from Climate Changes?
What Happens During Rapid Climate Changes? What can we learn from History?
Horses and dogs accompanied the Vikings on their raids to England in the 9th century.
Strontium analyses of cremated remains of a Viking and his hound and horse demonstrate he arrived from Norway or Sweden accompanied by his animals.
What to do with the Vikings?
A review of two major new Viking exhibitions in Stockholm and Copenhagen, raises the question of how to impart knowledge of the Viking Age to the interested public.
The Early Medieval State
Looking at Early Medieval States from a strategic-relational aspect reveals the inner workings of the politics of land, grants, charters and gift-giving, establishing hegemonies.
The Genetic Origin of Huns, Avars, and conquering Hungarians
Who were the Huns? The Avars? And the conquering Hungarians? New studies of aDNA tell the story of a series of nomadic peoples, who may have kept themselves apart when migrating across the Eurasian Steppe.
Why did the Norse Disappear from Greenland?
Why did the Norse People in Greenland upend their settlements in the late 15th century? A new explanation refers to their culture and way of life inherited from 9th century Viking Society.
Life in the Medieval town of Rungholt in 1362
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.
Brittany in the 6th century – abandoned, wet, cold and covered in forests
New research reveals a marked shift in the landscape of Northwestern France in Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages
Camera reveals details of the tomb of the Black Prince in Canterbury Cathedral
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
Black Grave in Chernaya Mogila in Ukraine
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”
Climate Changes in Pre-Viking Societies had Profound Consequences
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 devastating was the Black Death?
How devastaing was the Black Death in the Later Middle Ages? New scientific studies of pollen raise serious questions as to the death rate
Limbo at Thunau
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.