Medieval History
It's ironic that we remember the Vikings best for one small failure -- their frozen far-north Greenland colony. We should instead be praising the Vikings for struggling through the cold and stormy Dark Ages, for designing those fabulous dragon ships, for swaggering their way through the abundance of the Medieval Warming -- and ultimately for leaving many of their descendents in warmer locations to survive the Little Age..
Overall, the Norse were big winners in their struggles with the earth's abrupt climate change cycles. When the cold, stormy Dark Ages set in about AD 600, the Norse had just succeeded in clearing enough Scandinavian land to support their dairy cattle and a few hardy crops. They had also developed their famous long-ships, for catching codfish on the Dogger Banks offshore.
Then, suddenly, the Dark Ages shortened the northern farmers' already-short cropping season by weeks. The colder and stormier seas drove the codfish and herring further south, away from their nets and hand-lines. Even their trading voyages became far more dangerous.
Click here to read this article from Enter Stage Right
- Greenland?s Viking Settlers Gorged On Seals
Greenland?s Viking settlers, the Norse, disappeared suddenly and mysteriously from Greenland about 500 years ago. Natural disasters, climate change and the inability to adapt have all been proposed as theories to explain their disappearance. But now a...
- 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...
- Viking Navigation Secrets Explained?
Was it the hammer of the Gods that drove Viking ships to new lands, or the light-polarizing qualities of a crystal called Iceland Spar? Ancient Viking mariners may have been able to navigate the high seas from Norway to North America centuries before...
- Did Elephants Doom The Norse In Greenland?
A new article is examining the theory that Greenland's medieval Norse settlements were ruined by the collapse of the trade in walrus tusks, after ivory from elephants became more easily accessible for artisans in Europe. In her article, "Desirable...
- More Late Medieval News
It seems that being about a week behind is my reality this semester. In any case, here's last week's news: Ancient Norse Settlements Hit Cold Spell Saxon pottery at Wisbech playground site Life of Vikings seen through soil Trove of shipwrecks...
Medieval History
The Vikings: Victims and victors
It's ironic that we remember the Vikings best for one small failure -- their frozen far-north Greenland colony. We should instead be praising the Vikings for struggling through the cold and stormy Dark Ages, for designing those fabulous dragon ships, for swaggering their way through the abundance of the Medieval Warming -- and ultimately for leaving many of their descendents in warmer locations to survive the Little Age..
Overall, the Norse were big winners in their struggles with the earth's abrupt climate change cycles. When the cold, stormy Dark Ages set in about AD 600, the Norse had just succeeded in clearing enough Scandinavian land to support their dairy cattle and a few hardy crops. They had also developed their famous long-ships, for catching codfish on the Dogger Banks offshore.
Then, suddenly, the Dark Ages shortened the northern farmers' already-short cropping season by weeks. The colder and stormier seas drove the codfish and herring further south, away from their nets and hand-lines. Even their trading voyages became far more dangerous.
Click here to read this article from Enter Stage Right
- Greenland?s Viking Settlers Gorged On Seals
Greenland?s Viking settlers, the Norse, disappeared suddenly and mysteriously from Greenland about 500 years ago. Natural disasters, climate change and the inability to adapt have all been proposed as theories to explain their disappearance. But now a...
- 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...
- Viking Navigation Secrets Explained?
Was it the hammer of the Gods that drove Viking ships to new lands, or the light-polarizing qualities of a crystal called Iceland Spar? Ancient Viking mariners may have been able to navigate the high seas from Norway to North America centuries before...
- Did Elephants Doom The Norse In Greenland?
A new article is examining the theory that Greenland's medieval Norse settlements were ruined by the collapse of the trade in walrus tusks, after ivory from elephants became more easily accessible for artisans in Europe. In her article, "Desirable...
- More Late Medieval News
It seems that being about a week behind is my reality this semester. In any case, here's last week's news: Ancient Norse Settlements Hit Cold Spell Saxon pottery at Wisbech playground site Life of Vikings seen through soil Trove of shipwrecks...