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VIKING

Warm weather scuppers classic Viking ice race

Sweden's yearly 'Viking Race', where ice skaters glide 80 kilometres along an old Viking route on a frozen lake, has been cancelled due to a lack of ice.

Published: 5 February 2014 09:00 CET
Warm weather scuppers classic Viking ice race
The Viking Race (Vikingarännet), the largest skating race in the world, was scheduled to take place on February 16th, but organizers pulled the plug after forecasts of more mild weather and temperatures above zero.
 
"This means that solid ice along the track will thin out and the surface will soften. This could result in conditions that put the skaters at risk, resulting in falls and injuries. In addition, the snow ploughs cannot move freely on the ice," they said.
 
Around 3,000 ice skaters take to Lake Mälaren each year for the race, which follows an old Viking transportation route southwards from Uppsala to Stockholm, a distance of roughly 80 kilometres. 
 
The first Viking Run took place in 1999. Last year's winner crossed the finish line after 2 hours and 35 minutes.
 
The cancellation of the 2014 race marks only the fourth time that warm weather has scuppered skaters' chances to strap on their blades and cruise the historic route.

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VIKING

Viking-age skeleton found under Norway couple’s house

Archeologists have now found a skeleton in the suspected Viking-era tomb a Norwegian couple discovered last week under their house -- but the bones have been broken into pieces.

Published: 1 June 2020 11:35 CEST
Viking-age skeleton found under Norway couple's house
The bones had been broken up. Photo: The Arctic University of Norway
“We have found several bones, and bones from a human,”  archaeologist Jørn Erik Henriksen from Tromsø University told Norway's state TV station NRK. 
 
“The big bones have been affected by some sort of violence, and we can't say what it is. A disturbance, or event has taken place after the body was buried.” 
 
Mariann Kristiansen from Seivåg near Bodø was pulling up the floor of her house with her husband to install insulation last week when they couple found a glass bead, and then a Viking axe. 
 
 
When they contacted the local county archeologist, he concluded it was a Viking-age grave, after which a team from Tromsø University came to inspect the discovery. 
 
Henriksen said his team had yet to carry out carbon dating which could confirm the age of the tomb, and had yet to ascertain the gender of the person buried, but said they still believed the grave was Viking era. 
 
All of the skeleton's larger bones were broken, he said. “We are excited to find out if there are any cut marks on them.”   
 
“We do not know when the grave was given this treatment, but everything indicates that it must have happened long before the house was built in 1914.” 
 
 
As well as the skeleton, archeologists have also found a knife. 
 
From the grave, Henriksen, it did not seem as if the person buried was from the upper echelons of society. 
 
“It may have been a free person, but hardly anyone who belonged to the aristocracy.
 
 
 
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