Viking Artifacts in England -- myArmoury.com

Steve Fabert · Posted: Tue 07 Sep, 2004 8:08 am Post subject: Viking Artifacts in England

Recently discovered Viking burial artifacts, including weapons, are due to be put on public display in a British museum. They are described as the first full Viking burials found in England.
http://www.bfinternet.co.uk/cgi-bin/news/news...use.co.uk2
Hopefully someone who lives in the area of this exhibit can check it out and post some pictures.

Sean Flynt · Posted: Tue 07 Sep, 2004 10:15 am Post subject: Viking arms

In case y'all missed this AP release this morning (let's all keep an eye out for photos of the grave goods!) :

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Viking Burial Site Found in England
Tue Sep 7, 8:05 AM ET

LONDON - Archaeologists in northwestern England have found a burial site of six Viking men and women, complete with swords, spears, jewelry, fire-making materials and riding equipment, officials said Monday.

The site, discovered near Cumwhitton, is believed to date to the early 10th century, and archaeologists working there called it the first Viking burial ground found in Britain.

The only other known Viking cemetery was found in Ingleby east of Cumwhitton. It was excavated in the 1940s, but the bodies had been cremated and not buried.

Local metal specialist Peter Adams made the find at the end of March and reported it to the Portable Antiquities Scheme, which is run by the Museums, Libraries and Archive Council.

"This is tremendous news, a unique discovery which will improve people's understanding of the area and its history," council chairman Mark Wood said.

The Vikings, inhabitants of Scandinavia from 800 to 1100, traded with, and raided, much of Europe, often settling there. They invaded and conquered England in 1013.

The burial ground was unearthed when Adams found two copper brooches. The grave of a Viking woman was found underneath, and further excavation led to the discovery of the graves of another woman and four men.

Among the items found in the graves were weapons, spurs, a bridle and a drinking horn, as well as a jet bracelet and a copper alloy belt fitting.

Adams described it as "the find of a lifetime."

Rachel Newman, of Oxford Archaeology North, said: "We could not have expected more from the excavation of the site.

"We knew the brooches found by Mr. Adams came from a burial of a Viking Age woman, which was exciting and of great importance in itself. But we did not expect to find five other graves complete with such a splendid array of artifacts. It truly has been an amazing few months excavating this extremely important Viking Age site."

Arts Minister Estelle Morris said: "We should all be grateful to Mr. Adams, who recorded his find so promptly. As a result, the experts have been able to learn more about this fascinating site and uncover the secrets of a time capsule more than 1,000 years old."

Some of the items found were to be shown Tuesday at the Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery in the nearby city of Carlisle.

Nathan Robinson · myArmoury Admin

Awesome news. I can't wait for more info, especially details.

(I merged these two topics, as they were the same announcement)

Lee Watts · Posted: Tue 07 Sep, 2004 2:27 pm Post subject:

picture of one of the swords they found. as you can see its in a sorry state. Sad

Alexi Goranov · myArmoury Alumni

Steve Fabert · Posted: Tue 07 Sep, 2004 3:44 pm Post subject:

Kirk Lee Spencer · Posted: Tue 07 Sep, 2004 5:37 pm Post subject:

It looks like some form of calcium carbonate concretion has developed around the hilt... This probably helped preserve the metal. The conservators will need to remove it to get a good idea of what the hilt looks like.
It probably will look something like this...

ks

Steve Maly · Posted: Tue 07 Sep, 2004 7:09 pm Post subject:

Do you think it could look like these? Quite similar in profile to the Thegn in Albion's Next Gen line (bottom photo from their website).

Patrick Kelly · Posted: Tue 07 Sep, 2004 7:25 pm Post subject:

Judging from the shape of those fragments I'd say that the sword definetly showed some Anglo-Saxon influence. Too bad it wasn't in as good of shape as the other items found.

Steve Ouellette · Posted: Sun 12 Sep, 2004 2:38 pm Post subject: Viking Hilt

I've seen speculation that the traditional five lobed pommel is a metal representation of an older style pommel where the user wrapped a bag onto the pommel which added weight and perhaps had items of talismonic (Hey is that a word?) significance.
So, I wonder if that creasant shaped pommel was a frame for recieving a bag with some balast in it and tied into a five lobed package?
Thanks for the alert-this is going to be interesting.