The Hnefatafl (alternatively known as King’s board or tablut) was a strategy board game similar to contemporary Chess that was invented and played by the Norsemen in the time of the Viking Age. From native Scandinavia, the Norsemen brought the hnefatafl to their overseas colonies, most notably in the North Atlantic ones (i.e. the Faroe…
The Norwegian stave churches (or singularly known in Norwegian as ‘stavkirke’) are doubtlessly some of the most illustrative examples of Norway‘s history and culture that date back to the Middle Ages. They have been classified as historical monuments in Norway. Once common throughout much of Northern Europe, the stave churches gradually disappeared, with only about…
Usage of the legendary sunstones is attested in several old Icelandic written tales to have helped슠the Norsemen during their lengthy maritime voyages from native Scandinavia abroad during the tumultuous Viking Age. According to several medieval allegorical stories such as, for instance, ‘Rau쎰쎺lfs 쎾쎡ttr‘ (meaning ‘The story of Rau쎰 and of his sons’) written sometime during…
J. R. R. Tolkien’s mythical universe with all of its realms as depicted in four of his high fantasy novels, namely ‘The Hobbit‘ (1937) and ‘The Lord of the Rings‘ trilogy (19541955), was actually inspired from real world locations in Europe and its vicinity. A superimposed detailed map of the Middle Earth and of the…
A recent discovery of a Viking Age settlement at Point Rosee headland in southwestern Newfoundland, Canada may rewrite the history of the Vikings in North America, especially in the context of the pre-Columbus European exploration of the New World. The possible Viking Age settlement was spotted using satellite imagery on the area of Point Rosee….
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