Nordic history and culture

09/01/2026

Long before the Viking Age, Scandinavian tradition already had heroic kings, and Hrólfr Kraki may be one of the earliest.

Regaled in early medieval literature and lore as the epitome of a warrior king, this semi-legendary monarch has a life shrouded in much mystery and myth. We uncover what can be said about Hrólfr Kraki, who later tradition treats as one of the earliest Scandinavian royal figures.

06/01/2026

A dig in the Grynmalaren district of Lund, Sweden has uncovered bone fragments with runes, along with a range of medieval objects.

An excavation in Lund's Grynmalaren district has uncovered bone fragments with runic inscriptions, with several other finds from the Middle Ages also in the mix.

05/01/2026

Late-10th-century Norway had no shortage of power plays. Haakon Sigurdsson sits at the center of that chaos, with old gods on one side and new politics on the other.

By the mid-970s, Haakon Sigurdsson ruled Norway in all but name. Saga tradition presents him as loyal to the old ways and the Old Norse Gods, yet his fall came bloody, swift, and tragic.

03/01/2026

In Rígsþula, a brief Old Norse poem from the Poetic Edda, the three social classes of the Viking Age gain a divine origin story.

A seminal poem of Norse literature attempts to explain the surprising origins of the three social classes of deeply hierarchical Viking society.

31/12/2025

A small New Year card from Norway, ca. 1890. The text reads Godt Nytaar, an older form of Godt nyttår ("Happy New Year")

Credit: Wilhelm Larsen (1854–1893), "Godt Nytaar", ca. 1890. Publisher: N. W. D. & S. Source: Nasjonalbiblioteket (National Library of Norway), via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Godt_Nytaar,_ca_1890_blds_05653.jpg
License: CC BY 2.0

31/12/2025

Sometimes history feels closest when it talks about morning routines instead of kings. A comb can tell a whole story about daily life, craft, and what people valued in public.

Combs are some of the most common finds by archeologists during excavations of Viking-era graves and settlements. Their analysis enables us to gain insights into notions of cleanliness and how people in Viking societies presented themselves.

31/12/2025

Adolph Tidemand, "Norwegian Christmas Tradition (Norsk juleskik)," 1846

30/12/2025

A big move for Viking Age heritage in Norway as several famous burial mounds move closer to UNESCO recognition.

The list of seven sites includes the burial mounds where the Gokstad and Oseberg ships were unearthed.

23/12/2025

The dísir were honored with sacrifice in pre-Christian Scandinavia and remembered in saga and verse as spirits who could guard households, aid in childbirth, or signal the approach of death.

The dísir occupy the space between deities, ancestral spirits, and protective guardians in Norse mythology. More mysterious than Valkyries or Norns, they embodied Norse ideas of life, death, protection, and destruction.

21/12/2025

A stave church from southeastern Norway with a long, documented life.

More than eight centuries ago, the inhabitants of the village of Hegge, Norway, built a parish church. Said to date to around 1215 CE, the church, a place of peace and tranquility, rose in a time of violence and strife, with civil war within the Kingdom of Norway.

18/12/2025

A wetland excavation in Sweden uncovered a large male dog buried about 5,000 years ago, with a bone dagger and signs of ancient fishing nearby.

The burial remains were found at a Stone Age site that has also revealed evidence of ancient fishing techniques.

17/12/2025

A quick tour of key harbor sites across the Viking world, from Kaupang in Norway to Paviken on Gotland, then on to Hedeby, Birka, and routes that ran east into Rus lands.

Behind every Viking raid, trade expedition, or settlement voyage lay a plethora of harbors that made these seaward journeys possible. We look at some of the best examples of these bustling hubs that were the economic backbone of the Viking world.