DENMARK, EUROPE, WORLD

Oldest Viking Crucifix Uncovered In Denmark

Oldest Viking Crucifix Uncovered In Denmark

The tiny gold items, created in the picture of Christ on the cross, are thought to make up Denmark’s oldest crucifix.

This newly Found crucifix will show that Danes adopted the Christian faith earlier than previously thought.

An uncommon Viking crucifix pendant was Found in a Danish field by an amateur metal detectorist two weeks before Easter.

The small gold item, created in the shape of a man with outstretched arms, resembles the Picture of Christ on the cross.

It’s approximated to be Denmark’s oldest crucifix.

Dating back to the first half of the Tenth century, the pendant is evidence of early Christianity in Denmark, according to experts at the Viking Museum situated at Ladby, where the crucifix is currently kept.

It is said by the museum to be older than Harald Bluetooth’s runic stone in Jelling.

The stones in the town of Jelling have a figure on the cross to demonstrate respect to Harald Bluetooth’s conversion of the Danes to Christianity. Up until now, the large rune stones were calculated to date back to 965 AD.

They were thought to be the earliest Images of Jesus on the cross in Denmark.

The precious item was Found by Dennis Fabricius Holm in the fields near a church village of Aunslev, on the Danish island Funen.

It is very lucky that a piece of jewelry this small persevered for the last 1,100 years in the earth.

The figure measures only 1.6 inches in height and weighs about 0.45 ounces.

While the back surface is even, the front is made of finely jointed gold threads and small filigree pellets. Located at the top is a small eye for a chain to be attached.

It is stated by the museum that it looks similar to the gilded silver cross that was Found in 1879 in Birka, close to Stockholm in Sweden. It was in a female’s grave from the Viking Age.

This silver cross dated back to the first half of the Tenth century. Yet the Aunslev cross is the first Danish specimen that is in full figure.

It was most likely worn by a Viking woman. It has not yet been decided if the cross was to display that she was a Christian or if it was just a part of the pagan Vikings’ style.

As indicated by the Swedish archaeologist Martin Rundkvist, who first announced the discovery on his blog, the crucifixes are too much alike for more than 1 or 2 people to have created them.

The first crucifix was Found at Birka close to Stockholm. Yet the second, third, and the fourth one were discovered close to Hedeby, Denmark. This is probably where all of them were produced.

The Aunlev cross will be placed on exhibit at the Viking Museum in Ladby, until the Easter holiday. Then it will be conveyed to a lab for further preservation.

In the summer it will become part of an exhibit in the exhibition that will display several recent Viking Age discoveries that were made using metal detectors.

Jelling stones
A stunning, solid gold crucifix unearthed by a hobbyist with a metal detector may be the oldest Jesus on a cross in Denmark.

NORTH AMERICA, U.S.A, WORLD

The Pioneer cabin tree older than 1,000 years has fallen after a violent storm that hit California

The Pioneer cabin tree older than 1,000 years has fallen after a violent storm that hit California

After getting the news, it feels like the end of an age, the iconic Sequoia ‘ Tunnel Tree ‘ has gone down in history as a violent storm that struck California brought it to the Ground.

The Tunnel Tree was part of the Calaveras Big Trees State and was counted among the most famous trees across the United States. For over a century, it enchanted the hearts of the park’s visitors.

It is estimated that the gigantic tree was older than 1,000 years and measured 10 meters in diameter.

A California state park ranger

“The Pioneer Cabin Tree has fallen! This iconic and still living tree – the tunnel tree – enchanted many visitors.

The storm was just too much for it,” reads a status update at The Calaveras Big Trees Association’s page on Facebook. The Sequoia tree was grandeur, which allowed it to claim such an iconic status.

Reports suggest that in the past couple of years, the tree was barely alive, having only one branch alive at the top.

The storm which is considered to be the strongest one to hit the area in over a decade had apparently been too much for the tree. Flooding and the shallow root system of the gigantic tree are most likely to be the reasons for why the tree fell.

The Pioneer Cabin Tree

The Tunnel Tree had been among the most popular sites of the state park ever since the late 19th century.

Also known as the Pioneer Cabin Tree, it got its name for its distinctive hollow trunk, partially burnt after a forest fire. It had small compartments much like in a log cabin, burnt core as a chimney, and a small opening as a backdoor.

During the 1870s, its compartments were fused into a tunnel so that tourists could pass through it.

This particular tree was selected as it already had large forest fire scars. However, this enabled the tree to compete for attention with the Yosemite’s Wawona Tree and to attract more tourists to the park.

A stereoscope image of the Pioneer Cabin with people and horse passing through it (c. 1867–1899)

Since the 1880s, park visitors were encouraged to inscribe their names into the tree, but the practice was stopped during the 1930s in order to preserve it.

The trail through the tree was initially for pedestrians only. Later on, automobiles could also drive through as part of the “Big Trees Trail.”

It was one of the few “drive-through” trees within the area of California. The trail was kept open to hikers only afterwards.

A report by the United States Forest Service, as of 1900, suggests that the tree was 85 meters tall. Bearing in mind its glorious past, it really is like the end of an epoch.

EUROPE, NORWAY, WORLD

Viking temple to Thor and Odin unearthed in Norway

Viking temple to Thor and Odin unearthed in Norway

Archaeologists have uncovered a Viking temple devoted to Ancient Norse gods like Thor. In Norway, the ruins of the 1,200-year-old pagan temple have been dug up and provide a rare insight into the Viking religion.

The Old Norse “god house” was built from wood about 1200 years ago to worship gods like Odin, Thor, and Freyr. Post-holes that show its distinctive shape, including its central tower, have been unearthed at the site.
The god house (shown here in a digital reconstruction) was strongly built of beams and walls of wood; some lasted for hundreds of years. It included a central tower, patterned on Christian churches seen in lands further south.

Archaeologists have dated the remains of the large wooden building to the end of the 8th century. They think it would have stood 40 feet high and was 45 feet long and 26 feet wide.

That’s just over half as tall as Buckingham Palace.

It’s thought sacrifices and feasts would have occurred inside to honour the gods during the midsummer and midwinter solstices.

A large white penis-shaped stone was previously found near the site and was linked to ancient fertility rituals.

This is the first Old Norse temple to be found in Norway.

Old Norse is the ancient language associated with the Vikings.

Archaeologist Søren Diinhoff of the University Museum of Bergen told Live Science: “This is the first time we’ve found one of these very special, very beautiful buildings.

“We know them from Sweden and we know them from Denmark. … This shows that they also existed in Norway.”

He added: “It is a stronger expression of belief than all the small cult places. “This is probably something to do with a certain class of the society, who built these as a real ideological show.”

The temple was unearthed during a dig taking place before planned housing

The foundations of the ancient building, or “god house” as they’re often called, were unearthed last month in a Norwegian riverside village called Ose.

Digging was happening there in preparation for new houses.

Traces of early agricultural settlements were also found nearby. They dated to the earlier time of around 2,000 to 2,500 years ago.

The remains of the temple date to a later time when the area is thought to have been dominated by elite wealthy families.

It is thought the families would have led the cult worship.

Experts think the elite likely wanted a “god house” built based on more Christian structures with a high tower on top.

Before this time, Viking gods were more commonly worshipped in simplistic settings.

The wood of the temple no longer remains but you can see the postholes where the main beams would have stood and the area where the tall tower would have been.

Evidence of cooking pits and animal bones fit in with the theory that feasts and sacrifices occurred there.

Food, drink, animal sacrifices and precious metals were often offered to Old Norse gods. The worshippers would then feast and enjoy the goods themselves because they knew the gods couldn’t come and join them.

Instead, wooden figurines may have been used to represent the gods. Popular Old Norse gods include storm god Thor and war god Odin.

Norway’s kings enforced Christianity from around the 11th century so burned down a lot of Old Norse temples and religious sites. There’s no current evidence to suggest the Ose temple was burned down.

ASIA, ISRAEL, WORLD

Jerusalem’s Western Wall yields four 1,000-year-old gold coins

Jerusalem’s Western Wall yields four 1,000-year-old gold coins

Four gold coins were recently found in a pottery jar uncovered during an excavation in West Wall Plaza in the Old City of Jerusalem.

The valuable 1000-year-old coins show the political and historic power change between the two Muslim dynasties that controlled the city at the time.

A little juglet or bottle was discovered about two months ago by inspector Yevgenia Kapil of the Israel Antiquity Authority about two months ago, during preliminary digging as part of a plan by the Jewish Quarter Development Corporation to build an elevator facilitating access to the plaza from the Jewish Quarter.

The four gold coins were discovered in mint condition, stashed away with soil inside a juglet.

Last month, archaeologist David Gellman, director of the excavation, emptied out the dirt inside the juglet and discovered four gold coins in excellent condition.

Robert Kool, the antiquities authority’s coin expert, examined them and determined that they dated from the late 940s through 970s C.E., the early Islamist era.

Two of the coins are gold dinars that were minted in Ramle under the rule of the Caliph Al-Muti’ (946-974) and his regional governor, Abu ‛Ali al-Qasim ibn al-Ihshid Unujur (946-961 C.E.).

The other two coins were minted in Cairo by the Fatimid rulers al-Mu‘izz (953-975 C.E.) and his successor, al-‘Aziz (975-996 C.E.).

Excavation director David Gellman of the antiquities authority pointing to the place where the juglet with the coins was found, opposite the Western Wall Plaza.

“The profile of the coins found in the juglet is a near-perfect reflection of the historical events.

This was a time of radical political change, when control over Eretz Israel passed from the Sunni Abbasid caliphate, whose capital was Baghdad, Iraq, into the hands of its Shiite rivals – the Fatimid dynasty of North Africa,” Dr Kool explains.

Dr. Robert Cool of the antiquities authority examining the coins found in the Western Wall Plaza in Jerusalem. They date from the late 940s to the 970s C.E.

“Four dinars was a considerable sum of money for most of the population, who lived under difficult conditions at the time.

It was equal to the monthly salary of a minor official, or four months’ salary for a common labourer,” he says, adding that for members of the elite in those days, however, it was a relatively small sum.

“The small handful of wealthy officials and merchants in the city earned huge salaries and amassed vast wealth.

A senior treasury official could earn 7,000 gold dinars a month, and also receive additional incomes from his rural estates amounting to hundreds of thousands of gold dinars a year.” 

WORLD

Archaeological Destination – Tips That Will Change Your Experience

Archaeological Destination – Tips that will change your Experience

The absolutely most desired thing among people is travelling, especially when the destination you are visiting is of any archaeological value. There is something freeing when you are away from your everyday life and getting a chance to travel through time and experience something that has been existing many years ago. However, planning these trips can be a rather difficult activity that might take a lot of your time. That is why today we are going to show you some of the most helpful tips that will turn over your travelling experience as they will give you a chance to learn something valuable and appreciate the archaeological aspect of it.

If you continue reading you will find out the most important points that will imprint the journey into your travelling memories. So, let’s begin.

Engaging Activity for Your Journey

People say that the journey leading to the destination is often the most boring part of travelling. This is the case just because we are constantly waiting to reach our destination and the journey seems like it is taking forever to finish – obviously if you rent a private jet, the element of luxury and prestige that it brings makes the journey a joy. But, being prepared in advance for this part of your travelling experience is something that will change your trip overall.

We are talking about exploring the world of online gaming as it will give you a chance to virtually prepare for the destination you have chosen to visit. You can easily achieve this as you will engage in the most interesting games that are available online. If you take a look at casimba.com you will get a chance to explore an abundance of travel-themed games that will depict the current situation that you are in.

This way you will be able to fill out the waiting period in a way that you will virtually explore some of the most popular travelling destinations. This is also a great chance to find the perfect inspiration for your next big adventure.

Value Your Experience

One of the best things you get in return when travelling is your memories so you need to learn how to live in the moment and value your experience. When you are on your next travelling journey look for the most exciting things to do, try out everything, and do not hesitate.

You will see how much you will take back with you. The experiences we have are determining the success of our travel, so keep in mind to value them.

Choose Your Destination Wisely

Even though this is our last trip it is definitely not the least, in fact, you should take care of this in the planning process of your travelling so that you do everything else accordingly. This means that the destination you choose to visit will play a huge role in your overall experience.

So, take your time, find your inspiration, do your research, make a decision, and incorporate the helping tips we mentioned above, and you will be able to change the whole travelling experience.   

EUROPE, FRANCE, WORLD

Carrier pigeon’s secret WWI message found over a century later

Carrier pigeon’s secret WWI message found over a century later

More than a century after it was dispatched by a German soldier, a message sent via carrier pigeon has been found by chance.

In September, a couple out for a stroll in the eastern French Alsace region came across a tiny aluminium capsule in a field.

Inside was the message, written in barely legible German on a kind of tracing paper.

The message appears to carry the date 1910, or 1916.

Dominique Jardy, curator of the Linge Museum, near where the discovery was made, thinks 1910 is more likely, Le Parisien reports (in French).

Describing the find as “super-rare”, he told the paper the capsule was likely to have come to the surface of the soil over time as have many militaries remains from the First World War.

The soldier was based in Ingersheim, then part of Germany but now in France.

The museum, in Orbey, commemorates the battle for the hilltop of Le Linge in the Vosges mountains in 1915 – one of the bloodiest encounters of the 1914-18 war.

The couple brought their find to the museum, where the message and its container will now become an exhibit.

Mr Jardy contacted a German friend to translate the dispatch, which was written in German Gothic script and details German military manoeuvres.

EUROPE, SCOTLAND, WORLD

‘Very Angry Badger’ Seizes Part Of 500-Year-Old Scottish Castle

‘Very Angry Badger’ Seizes Part Of 500-Year-Old Scottish Castle

A 16th-century Scottish castle noted for its impressive defences has proved to be no match for a “very angry badger“.

Craignethan Castle in South Lanarkshire, south-east of Glasgow, was breached by the nocturnal mammal, forcing staff to close the stronghold’s cellar tunnel to the public.

“We’re trying to entice it out with cat food [and] send it home,” Historic Scotland tweeted.

It is believed the badger has since retreated from the tunnel.

“Our works team have used a Go Pro this morning to view the tunnel and it seems our visitor has vacated.”

“We’ll keep the tunnel closed in the interim while we do a little housekeeping following its visit.”

According to Historic Environment Scotland, Craignethan Castle is the last great private stronghold built in Scotland.

Craignethan Castle, which was under siege by a “very angry badger.”

Badgers are a protected species in the United Kingdom and cannot be willfully killed, injured or taken.

Their burrows, also known as setts, are also protected.

Badgers are described by the Scottish Wildlife Trust as one of Scotland’s “most charismatic mammals”.

Badger takes cat nap

Craignethan Castle was not the first time a badger has found itself under the wrong roof.

In October, Scotland’s Animal Welfare Charity was called to a home in Linlithgow, west of Edinburgh, after a badger snuck in through a cat flap.

Animal Rescue officer Connie O’Neil said the badger ate all the cat food before going for a sleep on the cat bed.

“I got a surprise when I arrived at the property and saw a badger having a nap,” Ms O’Neil said.

“He didn’t seem too happy when I tried to move him but I was able to slide the cat bed round and it was then that the badger noticed the back door was open so made a run for it.”

Scottish SPCA chief superintendent Mike Flynn said it was highly unusual for a wild badger to enter a house and urged people not to go near them as they could be aggressive when injured or cornered.

EUROPE, GERMANY, WORLD

‘Lady Of Bietikow’ May Have Died Of A Tooth Infection 5,000 Years Ago

‘Lady Of Bietikow’ May Have Died Of A Tooth Infection 5,000 Years Ago

In Germany, a middle-aged woman who died more than 5,000 years ago has been found. The Neolithic woman was found during excavations in the northeastern city of Uckermark for the construction of a new collection of wind turbines.

Experts are still seeking to ascertain aspects of her life, including her cause of death, nicknamed the ‘Lady of Bietikow‘ after the town she was found near.

As they were extremely worn, possibly a symptom of a fatal tooth infection, her teeth may provide clues, experts speculate. According to local media, the skeleton had been buried in a village in a squatting place, one of the oldest known forms of burial.

Dubbed the ‘Lady of Bietikow’ after the town she was found near, experts are now trying to determine details of her life, including her cause of death

Investigations have shown that she was between 30 and 45 years old and died more than 5,000 years ago. 

All that is left of Lady Bietikow are bones and some fragments of clothing, but researchers have still managed to piece together some details about her life.

During the time she was alive, during the Neolithic period, humans were just starting to eat grains, as they could be stored more easily than meat and could also be used as a means of payment, according to anthropologist Bettina Jungklaus.

However, this led to a deterioration in people’s general health. This can be seen in the state of the Lady of Bietikow’s teeth, which are severely eroded and missing completely in some places, Jungklaus said.

Investigations have shown that she was between 30 and 45 years old and died more than 5,000 years ago. All that is left of Lady Bietikow are bones and some fragments of clothing

‘Normally there is enamel on the surface of the teeth. But here it is heavily worn, chewed off,’ she said.

‘This allows us to draw conclusions about her diet: it was probably very rich in fibre, very hard. There are certain grains that cause the teeth to wear out easily.’

It remains unclear whether the condition of Lady Bietikow’s teeth indicates an illness or even the cause of her death, and further analysis will aim to determine this. 

Researchers are now hoping to find out more about her life, including whether she came from the Uckermark region or had immigrated there from elsewhere.

Both the Lady Bietikow and the famed skeleton ‘Oetzi the Iceman’ lived during the same period of time.   

Oetzi is a stunningly preserved corpse that was found in 1991 by two hikers in the Oetztal Alps on the border between Austria and Italy.

Ötzi, also called the Iceman, is the natural mummy of a man who lived between 3400 and 3100 BCE. The mummy was found in September 1991 in the Ötztal Alps, hence the nickname “Ötzi”, near Similaun mountain and Hauslabjoch on the border between Austria and Italy.

His body was extremely well preserved, with organs, skin and other organic material still intact – researchers were even able to see what he had eaten hours before he died. 

‘You can compare Oetzi and the Lady of Bietikow in terms of age,’ said Philipp Roskoschinski, one of the two archaeologists who made the discovery in the state of Brandenburg, which surrounds Berlin.  

‘The discovery of Oetzi was much more spectacular due to the conditions of preservation,’ Roskoschinski said.

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