Ancientist

  • A ‘Bearskin’ in Museum Storage Turns Out to Be Sweden’s Oldest Known Shoe

    A ‘Bearskin’ in Museum Storage Turns Out to Be Sweden’s Oldest Known Shoe

    Leather fragments kept for decades in a Swedish museum under the label “bearskin” have been reidentified as something far rarer: the oldest known shoe remains from Sweden. The fragments were excavated in 1943 from a large Iron Age cairn at Igelsta–Västerängen in Roslagen, eastern Uppland. They were long thought to be part of a bear…

  • Viking Sea Power May Have Emerged in the Roman Era — Not the 8th Century

    Viking Sea Power May Have Emerged in the Roman Era — Not the 8th Century

    The Viking Age is traditionally dated to AD 793, when Scandinavian raiders attacked Lindisfarne. But new archaeological interpretations suggest that the foundations of Viking-style sea power may reach back to the Roman Iron Age — between AD 180 and 540. In reporting highlighted by Science Norway, archaeologist Frans-Arne Stylegar argues that organized naval infrastructure existed…