Vikings...

...get a facelift:

"They raped and raided. They pillaged and plundered. With their horned helmets and deadly weapons, the Vikings terrorized Europe for centuries.

Or did they?"

"The Vikings are traditionally known for leaving destruction in their wake as they travelled around Europe raping, pillaging and plundering.

But Cambridge University has launched a campaign to recast them as "new men" with an interest in grooming, fashion and poetry.

Academics claim that the old stereotype is damaging, and want teenagers to be more appreciative of the Vikings' social and cultural impact on Britain.

They say that the Norse explorers, far from being obsessed with fighting and drinking, were a largely-peaceful race who were even criticised for being too hygienic."

I think I liked the old image better:

Hip, hip,...

...boo hoo:

Vikings did not replace Orkney population, concludes DNA study

"Their findings, published in the scientific journal Nature, show that just 25 per cent of the Orcadian DNA was of Norwegian origin, showing “clearly that the Norse Viking invasion (9th century) did not simply replace the indigenous Orkney population.”

The study showed that the UK was divided into 17 genetically distinct clusters of people – three of which are in Orkney."

New genetic study of UK shows 10,000 years of immigration and invasions

Britons’ DNA much more German than Norman, Roman or Viking

Oh, Those...

...Vikings:

ARRRRRRG

The World Just Keeps Getting Murkier And Murkier...

Native American Woman May Have Made It to Europe 500 Years Before Columbus Was Born


American Indian Sailed to Europe With Vikings?

"Five hundred years before Columbus sailed the ocean blue, a Native American woman may have voyaged to Europe with Vikings, according to a provocative new DNA study.

Analyzing a type of DNA passed only from mother to child, scientists found more than 80 living Icelanders with a genetic variation similar to one found mostly in Native Americans.

This signature probably entered Icelandic bloodlines around A.D. 1000, when the first Viking-American Indian child was born, the study authors theorize."

Oops. (Makes sense to me. It's perfectly possible.)

ARRRRGH!!!!

Arrrgh!

I've been watching a lot of YouTube videos lately. This one, about the Vikings, is very interesting:

I like this one. Ivor the Boneless! He must have been one awesome dude.

AAAARGGGHHHH!!

I remember taking a "History of the Middle Ages" class at university and missing the first couple of days when the Vikings was the topic of the lecture. Alas, I had an abscessed tooth and was busy at the dentist office having a tooth pulled and drugging myself into oblivion with painkillers, so I missed this. But thank God for YouTube (Sorry. Embed not available):


The Vikings: who were they? 1/3

The Vikings: who were they? 2/3



But Haflan was here first!!! (About 21:06 in above video.)

The Vikings: who were they? 3/3

Super Cool!

Evidence of Viking Outpost Found in Canada

Speaking of which. BWHAHAHAHA!