Medieval History
A Viking legend tells of a glowing 'sunstone' that, when held up to the sky, revealed the position of the Sun even on a cloudy day. It sounds like magic, but scientists measuring the properties of light in the sky say that polarizing crystals ? which function in the same way as the mythical sunstone ? could have helped ancient sailors to cross the northern Atlantic. A review of their evidence is published today in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B1.
The Vikings, seafarers from Scandinavia who travelled widely and settled in swathes of Northern Europe, the British Isles and the northern Atlantic from around 750 to 1050 AD, were skilled navigators, able to cross thousands of kilometres of open sea between Norway, Iceland and Greenland. Perpetual daylight during the summer sailing season in the far north would have prevented them from using the stars as a guide to their positions, and the magnetic compass had yet to be introduced in Europe ? in any case, it would have been of limited use so close to the North Pole.
Click here to read this article from Nature.com
Click here to read a similar article from MSNBC
Click here to read the article published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society
- Asnc On Radio 4
Tomorrow morning (Thursday 11th November) at 9am, Dr Elizabeth Ashman Rowe, lecturer in Scandinavian History in ASNC, will be one of the guests on Melvyn Bragg's Radio 4 programme 'In Our Time', where the topic of discussion will be the 'Volga...
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- Vikings Not Alone When They Crossed The North Atlantic ? Mice Hitched A Ride Too
New research has revealed that when the Vikings sailed across the North Atlantic to places like Iceland, Greenland and Newfoundland, they brought with them the common house mouse. An international team of researchers from the UK, USA, Iceland, Denmark...
- Archeologists Find Gateway To The Viking Empire
For a century, archeologists have been looking for a gate through a wall built by the Vikings in northern Europe. This summer, it was found. Researchers now believe the extensive barrier was built to protect an important trading route. Their attacks out...
- 10th Annual Comitatus Conference On Medieval Studies: "north Atlantic Connections: Texts And Interpretations Of The Medieval North"
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Medieval History
Did Vikings navigate by polarized light?
A Viking legend tells of a glowing 'sunstone' that, when held up to the sky, revealed the position of the Sun even on a cloudy day. It sounds like magic, but scientists measuring the properties of light in the sky say that polarizing crystals ? which function in the same way as the mythical sunstone ? could have helped ancient sailors to cross the northern Atlantic. A review of their evidence is published today in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B1.
The Vikings, seafarers from Scandinavia who travelled widely and settled in swathes of Northern Europe, the British Isles and the northern Atlantic from around 750 to 1050 AD, were skilled navigators, able to cross thousands of kilometres of open sea between Norway, Iceland and Greenland. Perpetual daylight during the summer sailing season in the far north would have prevented them from using the stars as a guide to their positions, and the magnetic compass had yet to be introduced in Europe ? in any case, it would have been of limited use so close to the North Pole.
Click here to read this article from Nature.com
Click here to read a similar article from MSNBC
Click here to read the article published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society
- Asnc On Radio 4
Tomorrow morning (Thursday 11th November) at 9am, Dr Elizabeth Ashman Rowe, lecturer in Scandinavian History in ASNC, will be one of the guests on Melvyn Bragg's Radio 4 programme 'In Our Time', where the topic of discussion will be the 'Volga...
- Oar Walking, Underwater Wrestling And Horse Fighting ? Historian Examines The Sports And Games Of The Vikings
Playing ball games is an activity played by children around the world. While today?s parents might worry that their sons and daughters might get scrapes and bruises, in the Viking world such a game could end with an axe being driven into an opponent?s...
- Vikings Not Alone When They Crossed The North Atlantic ? Mice Hitched A Ride Too
New research has revealed that when the Vikings sailed across the North Atlantic to places like Iceland, Greenland and Newfoundland, they brought with them the common house mouse. An international team of researchers from the UK, USA, Iceland, Denmark...
- Archeologists Find Gateway To The Viking Empire
For a century, archeologists have been looking for a gate through a wall built by the Vikings in northern Europe. This summer, it was found. Researchers now believe the extensive barrier was built to protect an important trading route. Their attacks out...
- 10th Annual Comitatus Conference On Medieval Studies: "north Atlantic Connections: Texts And Interpretations Of The Medieval North"
10th Annual Comitatus Conference on Medieval Studies: "North Atlantic Connections: Texts and Interpretations of the Medieval North" Purdue University West Lafayette, IN Feb. 24?25, 2012 Keynote Speaker: Marianne E. Kalinke CAS Professor Emerita of Germanic...