Viking necklace discovered in western Ireland

Viking necklace discovered

in the western part of Ireland

A Viking necklace that suppose to be about 1150 year old has recently been discovered in Burren National Park. The cave, in which the necklace was found, is located in the western parts of Ireland.

Photo: Thorsten Kahlert, copyright Marion Dowd

Archaeologists are surprised about the discovery, since the evidence of Norse settlements in this region of Ireland hasn’t been very much.

Dr. Marion Dowd announced the finding this week. She is an archaeologist from the Institute of Technology Sligo, and she is the leader of the excavation.

“The necklace is the largest Viking necklace to have been found in Ireland. Normally, Vikings necklaces that have been found have five to six glass beads, but this has 71 glass beads covered with gold foil.“, she said to the reporters.

She continues;  “It is really bizarre how this necklace from a high-status Viking came to be in a cave in the Burren. There is no parallel for it in Ireland and it is puzzling on a number of fronts. The necklace would have been imported into Ireland from Scandinavia in the late 9th and early 10th century.

Small numbers of these beads have been found with Viking burials at Kilmainham, Dublin, but nothing like the number found in Glencurran Cave. Such necklaces were worn by high-status Viking women and they might denote a woman’s cultural and religious affiliations. These were certainly prestigious items.”

How the Viking necklace got there

The 9th century Viking necklace is believed to have come from Gaelic chieftains from Burren, whom bought the necklace from the town of Limerick and brought it back home.

The Burren National Park is quite small, just about 1500 hectares and the cave in which the necklace was found is located in a remote site of the park.

Dr Dowd says that the park “has been the site of important archaeological discoveries since 2004. It is the largest cave excavation in Ireland and the finds have been enormously significant.”

If you want to read more about this, please visit the following sites:
Remains.se – pictures from Ireland (Donegal, Glencolumbkille, Malinbeg, Enniskillen, Slieve League)
Irish Times
Irish Herald
Independent

The photo of the necklace:  Photo: Thorsten Kahlert, copyright Marion Dowd

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Going to Estonia

Estonia

- the little country that I love

At last! I’m going back to Estonia in a short while. Hopefully I will be able to drive around and take some pictures. I’d love to go to Narva. The thing is that I thought the coolest part of the fortress there was on the russian side of the border, but I just got the wonderful info that it is in Estonia!

I’m still working on the new design for remains.se, but so far I haven’t come up with anything new. Next step is to upload ALL remaining photos I’ve got, it’s about 5000+ pictures! Gulp.

Well, stay tuned!

Unique grave ship found in Sweden

Grave ship found

- an unique grave ship was recently found by swedish archaeologists.

The viking-aged grave ship’s discovery was placed in Sunnerby, a place clos e to the castle of Läckö, near the lake of Vänern (see a map from the area here) . The ship is probably from the 7th century.  At least two human remains, one young and one old person, was found. It seems to have been a very highly placed person’s funeral.  There was also remains of sacrified animals. The ship was burnt after the funeral.

Only in England has a grave ship like this been found before.

At remains.se, you can find a photo gallery from the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo, Norway.

UNESCO removes Dresden of World Heritage site title

Dresden no longer in the UNESCO’s World Heritage site

In thursday, Dresden Elbe Valley was removed as a U.N. World Heritage site. It is the the second landmark that has been removed from the list ever. The reason was that a four-lane motorway bridge was built over the river.

Read more at UNESCO’s website

For pictures of castles, forts and other historical remains, visit http://www.remains.se