Excavation finds

[albrecht]

Always neat when they are building a new parking lot or rehabing an old building and find ancient remains or Viking hoards, etc. Here is some amazing stuff from Norway, one find confirms the ancient saga!
http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/06/2016/body-in-well-confirms-viking-saga
http://www.newsinenglish.no/2016/06/14/parking-garage-work-reveals-historic-graves/

In the case you don't remember some of this stuff:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birkebeiner
There are some famous races done based on the famous incident

[3OctaveFart]

They are pretty regularly finding plague pits in London, during rail projects.

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-26770334

[K_Dubb]

Always neat when they are building a new parking lot or rehabing an old building and find ancient remains or Viking hoards, etc. Here is some amazing stuff from Norway, one find confirms the ancient saga!
http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/06/2016/body-in-well-confirms-viking-saga
http://www.newsinenglish.no/2016/06/14/parking-garage-work-reveals-historic-graves/

In the case you don't remember some of this stuff:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birkebeiner
There are some famous races done based on the famous incident

Very cool!  The Birkebeiners I had heard of, but not the Lofthuus rebellion.  I had always heard that Norway's inherent conservatism kept them out of the various revolutionary movements that swept Europe, but I guess not!

I've always wondered what exactly was meant by a castle in Scandinavia at that time, whether it'd be recognizable as such to the rest of Europe or just a particularly strong wooden hut hahaha.  From the pictures, it looks pretty impressive:





A couple artistic reconstructions:





Though there was once a restaurant on top:

[starrmtn001]

Very cool!  The Birkebeiners I had heard of, but not the Lofthuus rebellion.  I had always heard that Norway's inherent conservatism kept them out of the various revolutionary movements that swept Europe, but I guess not!

I've always wondered what exactly was meant by a castle in Scandinavia at that time, whether it'd be recognizable as such to the rest of Europe or just a particularly strong wooden hut hahaha.  From the pictures, it looks pretty impressive:





A couple artistic reconstructions:





Though there was once a restaurant on top:

You must have an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, K_Dubb.  Your posts are some of the most informative, and enlightening posts on BellGab.  Well done sir.  Keep up the good work!

[K_Dubb]

You must have an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, K_Dubb.  Your posts are some of the most informative, and enlightening posts on BellGab.  Well done sir.  Keep up the good work!

You're too kind, Star.  Thank you.

Norwegian Wikipedia has it that the skeleton in the well was spotted during excavations in the late '30s, but plans to recover it were postponed by the war.

The castle was named Sion, which was either an echo of Jerusalem or from sjon, referring to the view from the hill.

[saintdick]

Thank you

[K_Dubb]

In case anybody missed it, a possible second Viking settlement on Newfoundland has been found.  The first one, L'Anse aux Meadows, is on the northeastern tip; this one is on the southeastern.  The scientist used her TED money to fund the project after spotting what she interpreted as possible structures in infrared satellite images.

Despite the usual tension-building nonsense, the documentary does a good job of showing how modern archaeology is done -- precisely placed small trenches with the best chance of finding some tiny piece of evidence from which a momentous scenario can be constructed.  In this case, it's a few dark striations in the soil suggesting a wall made of turf blocks and a singe piece of fire-roasted bog iron.  It's kind of annoying that full-site excavations and interpretive reconstructions are largely a thing of the past, but the new info is priceless.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HLOUs3ZxV0

There was a Canadian documentary a couple years ago where they found spun wool I think on Baffin Island which was interpreted as more evidence.  Strangely, this isn't referenced at all.  I wonder what happened with that.

[K_Dubb]

The Baffin Island evidence sounds far more convincing, too:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/10/121019-viking-outpost-second-new-canada-science-sutherland/

A suggestion as to why it wasn't mentioned:

http://newobserveronline.com/has-political-correctness-sunk-the-baffin-island-viking-research-project/

[K_Dubb]

Early brunost-making in Denmark?

http://sciencenordic.com/burnt-cheese-casts-light-3000-year-old-family-drama

I've made gjetost/Gudbrandsdalsost (same idea, but with whole goat's milk and sugar, not just whey) and it is tricky not to burn -- I used several crock pots.  Four gallons of milk reduce, after about 24 hours, to a lump you can hold in one hand.  Technically not a real cheese since it's not cultured, it's really more of a milk fudge related to the Mexican cajeta.

[Uncle Duke]

http://m.bristolpost.co.uk/wwii-bomb-safe/story-29270488-detail/story.html

Remembered this story from a few months back, imagine finding out there was a live 500 lb bomb found under the playground where your children and grandchildren had played for years.

Finding live munitions in Europe during excavation is not all that uncommon.  Most are aerial bombs from WWII, but on occasion an unexploded artillery or mortar round will be unearthed under the battlegrounds of WWI.  Not long ago I read about a WWII sea mine that was discovered along the shore of one of the Channel Island as well.

[(Sandman) Logan-5]

Here's one to blow your mind. I've always suspected King Sol - Om - On  's mines were in S.America.

Oldest known 10 Commandments is in America, in Ancient Hebrew Script-From time of king Solomon
June 14, 2009, 7:43 am

Ohio Decalogue Stone and Keystone

[pate]

non contest, you all.