Unwritten Histories

The Unwritten Rules of History

Tag: archaeology (Page 13 of 14)

Vikings in the News – Discovery Breakdown

July 27, 2016 / / 3 Comments

 

Teva Vidal

Dr. Teva Videl in front of the Rök runestone in Sweden. Photo used with permission, please do not repost. Click to embiggen.

Welcome to Part 2 of our three-part series on the Point Rosee discovery! You can read Part 1 by going here and Part 3 by going here.

Now, I’m not an expert on the history of the Norse, but I do know someone who is — Dr. Teva Vidal, a real life Vikingologist and all around awesome person.

Here’s his bio:

Teva Vidal is a native of Ottawa and an alumnus of the University of Ottawa, where he got his first taste of medieval history. He completed a PhD in Viking Studies at the University of Nottingham, UK, during which his research took him to places far and wide in the Viking World, including Iceland, Scandinavia, and throughout the UK. After returning to the University of Ottawa to teach about Vikings, medieval history, and medieval material culture, he has now taken on new opportunities as a researcher and analyst for the Federal Government. Teva also shares his expertise on the Viking World with Carleton University’s Learning in Retirement programme, and has been a historical consultant for the Crash Course online educational video series on Youtube.

What to know just how awesome Dr. Vidal is? He teaches classes dressed as Friar Tuck and  as a Viking (photos are posted below. ;). He knows how to make chainmail and carves the most amazing pumpkins for Halloween (with intricate Celtic designs).

As soon as I read about Dr. Parcak’s discoveries, I knew exactly who to turn to. In Part 1 of the interview that follows, I ask Dr. Vidal about Parcak’s findings, whether her conclusions were sound, and how these findings fit into the larger history of the Norse in North America.

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Vikings in the News – Background and Overview

July 26, 2016 / / 4 Comments

 

By Joyce Hill (Image uploaded to en:) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons

Reenactment of Viking landing at L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, Canada 2000, by Joyce Hill GFDL, via Wikimedia Commons

Are you ready for a week full of Vikings?

Ever see a news story about an amazing historical discovery and wonder what is so special about it? Or read a news article about a “historic moment,” only to wonder what they were talking about? In this series, “History in the News,” I take you behind the headlines, explaining the history behind these findings and announcements, giving you a historian’s perspective on why they are important.

This week, we’ll be discussing the latest discovery of a second possible Viking settlement in Newfoundland. On April 1, 2016, Dr. Sarah Parcak announced she and her team of researchers had discovered evidence of what might be a Viking-style hearth and eight kilograms of early bog iron in a part of Newfoundland called Point Rosee. This discovery was even featured in a NOVA documentary, Vikings Unearthed (which featured Parcak and others horrifyingly mispronouncing “Newfoundland” and the typical sensationalizing of Vikings as murdering barbarians). Parcak and NOVA believe that Parcak’s findings are strong evidence for what they describe as only the second Viking settlement in North America. But are they correct? We will explore the answer to this question over the course of three blog posts. The first post, which you are reading right now, will discuss the history of Viking sites in North America and give you an overview of Parcak’s discovery. The second post, which comes out tomorrow (Wednesday) will be Part 1 of an interview with Vikingologist and dear friend, Dr. Teva Vidal, who will discuss Parcak’s findings and the significance of such a find. The third post, which comes out on Thursday, will be Part 2 of the interview with Dr. Vidal, and will discuss why we seem to care so much about when Europeans arrived in North America and where they went. Are you excited? I know I am!

 

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