Viking

Topic description and stories

World’s largest-ever DNA sequencing of Viking skeletons reveals they weren’t all Scandinavian

16 Sep 2020

Invaders, pirates, warriors – the history books taught us that Vikings were brutal predators who travelled by sea from Scandinavia to pillage and...

Left: Upper jaw bones of a walrus, with tusks removed. Right: an elaborately-carved ecclesiastical walrus ivory plaque.

Lost Norse of Greenland fuelled the medieval ivory trade, ancient walrus DNA suggests

08 Aug 2018

New DNA analysis reveals that, before their mysterious disappearance, the Norse colonies of Greenland had a “near monopoly” on Europe’s walrus ivory...

Glacial archaeologists systematically survey the mountainous areas of Oppland, Norway

Frozen in time: glacial archaeology on the roof of Norway

24 Jan 2018

Artefacts revealed by melting ice patches in the high mountains of Oppland shed new light on ancient high-altitude hunting.

Where to find a dragon in Cambridge

24 Jun 2015

̽��ֱ��Cambridge Animal Alphabet series celebrates Cambridge's connections with animals through literature, art, science and society. Here, D is for...

An 1826 painting of the Battle of Clontarf by the Irish artist, Hugh Frazer, Credit: Isaacs Art Centre, via Wikimedia Commons

Ireland’s Troy?

23 Apr 2014

As Ireland marks the millennium of the Battle of Clontarf – portrayed as a heroic encounter between Irish and Vikings which defined the nation’s...

Viking mass grave linked to elite killers of the medieval world

25 Jan 2012

A mass grave found in Dorset could belong to a crew of Viking mercenaries who terrorised Europe in the 11th century – according to a new documentary...

Vikings offered early lessons in effective immigration

13 Mar 2009

New evidence which reveals how the Vikings successfully blended into British and Irish culture long before they were consigned to history as barbaric...

Cod history

01 May 2008

̽��ֱ��humble cod may be about to have its biggest impact on history since sparking “war” with Iceland in 1972.

̽��ֱ��