Tag: history

Vikings tagged the great lion in Venice with runes

Hundreds or thousands of Norwegian and Swedish Vikings went to the Mediterranean for ‘summer jobs’ as mercenaries. They left behind graffiti.

A mystery solved: Who killed the Swedish king Charles XII?

For centuries experts have debated who killed the Swedish King Charles XII. A new Finnish study in which the researchers shot at artificial skulls completely refutes the idea that he was killed by his own war-weary soldiers.

The culture of sleeping: Some slept in rose-painted beds, others barely had time to sleep

In his new book, cultural historian Bjørn Sverre Hol Haugen takes us back to a time when decorative beds were a status symbol, and having to share a bed with random relatives was quite normal.

For a long time people thought fossils were animals and dragons drowned in Noah’s flood. Then scientists discovered the Ice Age

In a new book, Reidar Müller describes the history of the climate and the people who pieced it together.

The Princess from Kyiv was Norway's last Viking queen

Harald Hardrada became the last Viking king of Norway. Ellisiv from today's Ukraine was his queen.

In the old days, people used rune staffs like this to count down to Christmas

The rune staff had no dates. Nevertheless, it kept track of many important days throughout the year, especially at Christmastime.

Men of the forest: What was it like to be a lumberjack?

Lumberjack attire and a full beard are today associated with hip and urban parts of modern cities. Professor of history Ingar Kaldal argues that loggers working deep in the forests back in the day, were in fact also modern, for their time.

What’s the truth about the Communist resistance in Norway during the second world war?

Few topics are as controversial in the history of WWII in Norway as the Communist sabotage actions and conflicts with the Norwegian Resistance. Recently, the foremost historians in the field met for a debate.

How do you build a Viking ship? These woodworkers are joined by researchers on their third Viking ship project

The prow of a Viking ship rises over Vikingodden in Tønsberg, Norway. The ‘Gokstad ship’ is being rebuilt.

Every Viking owned a stone like this - and they traded massive quantities of them too

Whetstones are one of the most common finds from the Viking Age. What looks like a simple stone however, tells the tale of extensive trading systems - and perhaps even the reason for why the Vikings started raiding overseas.

Cross stitch against German occupation: Is this Norway's first guerilla embroidery?

Caroline Moe embroidered. Astrid Løken spied. Women participated in resistance work during the Second World War, but are not mentioned in the history books.

This is what an ancient Mary and Jesus statue would have looked like 800 years ago

An ancient statue in Norway has been recreated. It shows us how Jesus and Mary may have looked when the statue came to Norway 800 years ago.

Prisoner of war Roar Antonsen smuggled letters and shoes out of Grini prison camp during World War II

Two pairs of children's shoes tell the incredible story of one man's dream of living in freedom, with his wife and the twins he has never met, and about resistance work at Grini, Norway's largest prison camp during World War II.

This hat marked the beginning of Norwegian national costumes - the bunads

Dark skirts and waists made of wool, with embroidered local patterns. This was how the traditional folk costumes were supposed to be, according to Hulda Garborg - who designed the first bunad.

Roald Amundsen’s final journal entries were about his lover and money

The polar explorer was waiting for his lover. He was just going to write a little more polar history by saving crashed Italian polar explorers first.

Why did somebody build a ceramics factory on this remote island 2000 years ago?

It's far off the Norwegian coast, and there isn't clay available to make ceramics. Still, somebody made a lot of pottery at Kirkhelleren in Træna, thousands of years ago.

Medieval excavation greatest hits: 800 years ago a fashion queen strolled the streets of Oslo in this elegant shoe

An exquisitely carved king holding a falcon, an elaborately decorated shoe and a rune stick are among the finds the archaeologists have picked for their top 11 list of finds from the recently ended excavation in the Medieval Park in Oslo.

Mysterious medieval moat found in the middle of Oslo: "Could suggest a desperate need for defense"

An untouched area of land in the middle of the city presented a puzzle to the archaeologists. Until they realized what it was: King Haakon Haakonsson’s moat. But why did the King build what was by then an outdated defense system?

Why didn't our ancient ancestors get cavities?

ASK A RESEARCHER: People used to not have cavities. So why do we get them today?

Why was this flimsy Roman-looking sandal buried beneath the snow in an ancient, dangerous Norwegian mountain pass?

“It looks almost like a sandal. It’s pretty astonishing, we’re up here at almost 2000 metres, and we find a shoe with fashion elements, similar to those found on the Continent at the time,” says glacial archaeologist Espen Finstad.

This pile of rubble is actually an ancient fort. Historians have discovered 450 of them around Norway

In times of shifting power relations during pre-viking times, many may have needed a stone structure for protection. But were they also used for other means?

The Norwegian medieval kings were known to give the best gifts: Falcons

Norwegian falcons given as gifts from the Norwegian king during the Middle Ages are said to have been valued more highly than silver and gold by the English royal family.

New study: The Black Death did not kill half of Europe’s population

An international research group has found that the pandemic affected different areas of Europe differently. Norway may have been hit hard.

What is the rose from the famous Norwegian Selbu mitten doing in the remains of a medieval cathedral in Sudan?

What is the rose from the Selbu mitten doing in the remains of a medieval cathedral in Sudan?

And is it even a rose?

Christmas cards haven't always been cute. Rowdy, drunk Christmas gnomes were a popular motif back in the day.

“Some of the early Christmas cards are quite a bit darker than what we’re used to today,” says research librarian at the National Library in Norway.

Knife handle in the shape of a king from the 13th century found in the Medieval Park in Oslo

It may be the oldest of its kind in Scandinavia, researchers believe.

The 12 most exciting finds from the Gjellestad Viking ship dig

A large amber bead, an axe placed under the ship, 25 horse teeth and pieces of wood that will tell us exactly when it sailed are among the results from Norway’s first excavation of a monumental Viking ship burial in a century.

Political myths and the making of fascism

In a recently published book, Nathaniël Kunkeler compares the political cultures of the Swedish National Socialist Workers’ Party (Nationalsocialistiska Arbetarepartiet, NSAP) and the Dutch National Socialist Movement (Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging, NSB). Central to the analysis is the construction of political myths: myth-making or mythopoeia of the largest fascist parties in these countries, neither of which ever came close to seizing power in the 1930s.

UN Lebanon-mission in 1978: Norway wanted to support the UN and the US – sent troops off in a hurry without really understanding the consequences

Historians have now gone through classified documents to understand what really happened behind the scenes when Norway almost immediately agreed to participate in the UN force. Former UNIFIL soldier Harald Stanghelle is sceptical of some of the researchers' analyses.

Was there such a thing as a female Viking warrior?

OPINION: Are the changing answers to this question a direct result of our own changing views on gender?

Medieval scribes wrote about religion, medicine and magic in the margins

Ildar Garipzanov has gone through several thousand manuscripts from the Middle Ages in search of the smallest texts.

Is this Norway's new national dish?

A couple of decades ago, Norwegians thought tacos were exotic and exciting. Now 80 per cent eat tacos and other Tex-Mex food more than once a month.

On the ideological and cultural diversity of current antisemitism

In May this year, the latest round of hostilities in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict set in motion a wave of antisemitic attacks targeting Jews in Europe and the US. A closer look at these incidents demonstrates the ideological and cultural diversity of current Jew-hatred. In order to understand this diversity, a broader historical perspective is helpful.

Cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. Biathlon is Norway's secret martial art.

Whenever danger of violent conflict erupted in Norway, biathlon shifted from being purely sport to becoming more of a military activity.

Why do we love the Vikings so much?

Violent vikings might be the ones we see in movies and on TV, but Vikings are also popular today because they represent a return to our roots and nature, researchers claim.

Vikings had a completely different relationship to animals than we have today

The Vikings and their ancestors looked at animals with awe and admiration, researchers at the Museum of Cultural History say.

Research fraud is nothing new: Here's how scientists manipulated data in the 1800s

SHARE YOUR SCIENCE: Fraud and manipulation, big data challenges and the decline of science. None of this is new. These issues were already on the agenda in the UK in the 1830s.

Women's liberation and homoerotic desire in Knut Hamsuns works

New research demonstrates expressions of women’s liberation and homoerotic desire in Knut Hamsun’s works from the 1890s.

Norwegians were intimidated by the labour movement in the United States

The Norwegians emigrating to the United States were Republicans and agreed with the northern states. But the Republican Party was a completely different animal from what it is today.

Many Norwegians supported slavery in the United States

But the persecuted Haugean Christians were clear in their belief: No one has the right to own another human being.

Visiting children who were quarantined in hospital over a hundred years ago

For infection control reasons, family members were only allowed to visit their children and husbands through windows at Ullevål hospital. The state had the prerogative to forcibly admit people with infectious diseases.

Vaccine resistance is nothing new. What can we learn from sceptics of the past?

In order to get married in the 19th century, Norwegians had to present a certificate showing that they had received the smallpox vaccine. In the UK, the vaccine requirements were enforced even more strictly.

Covid-19 memorials: How people around the world are remembering those who have died

SHARE YOUR SCIENCE: As hospitals keep filling up, and the death toll rises, people around the world are finding traditional and new ways of remembering those we have lost so far.

Here's how Vikings celebrated Christmas

They drank, and they ate horse meat.

Kindergartens in the olden days

A lot has changed since childcare centres in the 19th century. But the reason children went to them was the same as today: parents needed to go to work.

Do White Supremacist Women Adopt Movement Archetypes of Mother, Whore, and Fighter?

White women have long been part of white supremacist movements in the U.S. and elsewhere. That continues today. But what place do they occupy in deeply misogynist movements that force white women into idealized categories of white mother, sexual partner, or racial fighter?

Netflix triumphs over the history books. Our brain remembers what we see on the screen better than what we read

The Crown and the new Norwegian series Atlantic Crossing are fiction, not fact. But research shows that viewers remember them as factual. One Norwegian historian argues that the series creators need to take responsibility for this misperception.

St. Lucia's Day: An Italian saint, a German child and a female demon all play a role in the story of 13 December

The St. Lucia celebration in Sweden can be traced to the end of the 1700s or early 1800s, while it is still fairly new in Norway.

Viking children practiced with swords and quickly grew up to become adults

They grew up playing with swords, and were adult at puberty. Here's what we know about the life of a Viking child.

Mercury, bloodletting and animals were weapons in the fight against the shameful epidemic of the 18th century

Sexually transmitted diseases spread through Norway in the 1700s. But was sex their only means of transmission?

How dirty and stinky were medieval cities?

People in the Middle Ages were aware that a putrid urban environment was unhealthy, and according to Norwegian researchers they confronted the problem.

The tiny island of Hitra was home to a large-scale cannery — without electricity or running water

As many as 18 canneries were in operation on the islands of Hitra and Frøya at the mouth of Trondheim fjord from the 1890s until 2011.

Is this the world’s simplest mill?

The export of millstones was probably a major industry in Norway during the Viking Age.

«Pandemics affect women and men differently»

The history of and experiences from previous pandemics give us important information about how to handle today’s corona pandemic.

When bathing was medicine:What can we learn from doctors who promoted sea bathing back in the day?

During the late 1800s and early 1900s, Norwegian doctors believed that salt stimulated the nerves and that cold water could boost a person’s metabolism.

New research supports Thor Heyerdahl's theory on South Americans in the Pacific

There was contact between Polynesia and America long before the arrival of Europeans, a large new DNA study shows. One Norwegian researcher says the new findings are solid.

Archaeologists have found astonishingly well-preserved gear from a fisherman who lived 5,000 years ago

Stone Age harpoons found in southern Norway speak of perilous fishing. But now the traces from this time are slowly crumbling away.

Should Norwegians tear down their Churchill-statue?

OPINION: Campaigns to remove statues from our common spaces is history making, not a rejection of history, as many have recently claimed. Statues are representations of who we want to be, not what the past was. This issue is being debated contentiously and with insufficient historical awareness around the world, including in Norway.

Why archaeologists call for an immediate Gjellestad Viking ship dig

One reason is the ship is under attack by a fungus that is consuming the wood. "It’s being eaten from all directions and we don’t know how long this siege has been going on,” says Archaeologist Christian Rødsrud.

Blackface in the name of tradition: the controversy around the Dutch ‘Sinterklaas’ festivities

In the aftermath of the festive month, Dutch PhD candidate Iris Beau Segers looks back on the annually recurring issue of Black Pete in the Netherlands, whose blackfaced appearance has been at the heart of a controversial public debate for almost a decade.

How the Germans used Ibsen to spread Nazi ideology

Nazi Germany created its own distinctive movie versions of Ibsen's Norwegian plays - downplaying strong female characters and creating happy endings. The movies were intended both to entertain and to teach people to become moral citizens of the Third Reich, according to Ibsen researcher.