NAVIGATION

Dragonships

The Norse ship was perhaps the greatest technical and artistic achievement of the European dark ages. These fast ships had the strength to survive ocean crossings while having a draft of as little as 50cm (20 inches), allowing navigation in very shallow water.

http://tinyurl.com/peffk

The drakkar, knerrir and buzur were all deep-sea ships which could cross even the depths of the Atlantic Ocean. The Vikings also had ships designed to stay close to land, sailing only in coastal waters. The most famous of these is the Oseberg ship. The average length of a longship was 28 metres. The largest ever excavated was seventy metres long. Its sixty oarsmen could swiftly deliver as many as four hundred warriors to a battlefield along the coast or well inland via a river. Osebergskibet" is one of the oldest well-preserved Viking ships discovered to date. It was found in Norway near Oseberg in the county of Westfold in 1903, resting on a "bed" of blue clay and covered with peat and many stones. Built in the latter half of the 9th Century, it was buried some 50 years later. It is 21.58 meters long suggested to be a cruise vessel.

The Oseburg Ship find:

http://tinyurl.com/nrj8c

Found in Slagen, Vestfold, Norway in a large burial mound. The Oseberg ship was built around 800 AC. The ship is of the "karv" type with riveted planks in oak. Lenght 21,5 m, width 5,0 m, 15 pairs of oars, 0,65 m from water to rail, joint in the keel, mast ca 9 m, sail approx. 6 x 12 m, mast base 1,75 m long, weight ca 11 tons. The mound was excavated in 1904, revealing a well preserved ship and tremendously rich grave goods. Remains of a woman of high rank was found in the burial chamber in the middle of the ship. Her identity is uncertain, but she was probably a leading member of the Ynglinge-clan which were in control of Vestfold and Agder in the 9th century. She may have been queen Åsa, which is mentioned in the Ynglinga-saga by Snorri Sturluson.

http://www.khm.uio.no/utstillinger/oseberg/indexE.html

Amongst many other discoveries the Oseberg grave chamber also contained the largest and most varied collection of textiles and textile tools that has ever been found in a single grave. It is without equal in Nordic Prehistory. The collection consists of a number of fragmented tapestries and other patternwoven blankets of wool and linen, tablet woven braids and a large collection of cloth fragments, which come from clothing, sails or tents, rugs and so on, and in addition remains of silk fabrics and silk embroideries. This has helped historians and archaeologist re-create the clothes worn by Viking women of that period.

FEMALE VIKING COSTUME

by Russell Scott

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This article is intended to clear up some confusion about the dress of female Vikings in our society. At the same time new evidence and research will be presented that will enable a more accurate portrayal of feminine clothing.

http://tinyurl.com/ljnvr

Viking Ships and Norse wooden boats:

http://home.online.no/~joeolavl/viking/index.htm

Hnefatafl - the Strategic Board Game of the Vikings

On Itha Plain met the mighty gods;
Shrines and temples they timbered high,
They founded forges to fashion gold,
Tongs they did shape and tools they made;
Played tafl in the court, and cheerful they were.

                                                            - Völuspá

A century ago, many experts on ancient Scandinavia were fascinated by a mysterious board game, called hnefatafl or tafl, which was often mentioned in the Sagas. Its reputation as intellectual pursuit was equal to that of chess today, and Norse noblemen were often boasting about their skills in tafl-play. In the early Middle Ages, when chess was introduced in Scandinavia, the noble game of the Vikings gradually became extinct and no explanation of the rules survived for the scientists in the 19th century. One of the first persons who became devoted to solving the puzzle of hnefatafl was Willard Fiske, an American expert on languages. He collected a lot of material that was published in the book Chess in Iceland in 1905, but he finally abandoned the problem as insoluble. The only conclusion he could make was that is was played between two groups of "maids" with a "hnefi" on one side. Hnefi is an Icelandic word and literally means fist, but since the hnefi had a role corresponding to the king in chess it is often translated as king. The word hnefatafl itself is a compilation of hnefa, genitive of hnefi, and tafl, which is the Old Norse word for board (originally borrowed from the Latin word tabula with the same meaning).

http://www.gamecabinet.com/history/Hnef.html

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