Archeologists Find Gateway to the Viking Empire

[Melvadius]

SpiegelOnline International have a very interesting article and associated photographs on a little known aspect of Northern European culture the Danevirke (work of the Danes) which "is considered the largest earthwork in northern Europe" (sic).

 

I suppose it is if you don't count the Antonine Wall as being in Northern Europe or if it considered as possibly the longest section of 'surviving' earthworks .

 

 

For a century, archeologists have been looking for a gate through a wall built by the Vikings in northern Europe. This summer, it was found. Researchers now believe the extensive barrier was built to protect an important trading route.

 

Their attacks out of nowhere in rapid longboats have led many to call Vikings the inventors of the Blitzkrieg. "Like wild hornets," reads an ancient description, the Vikings would plunder monasteries and entire cities from Ireland to Spain. The fact that the Vikings, who have since found their place as droll comic book characters, were also avid masons is slightly less well known.

 

 

The proof can be seen in northern Germany, not far from the North Sea-Baltic Canal. There, one can marvel at a giant, 30-kilometer (19-mile) wall which runs through the entire state of Schleswig-Holstein. The massive construction, called the Danevirke -- "work of the Danes" -- is considered the largest earthwork in northern Europe.

 

Archeologists have now taken a closer look at part of the construction -- a three-meter-thick (10 feet) wall from the 8th century near Hedeby (known as Haithabu in German). It is constructed entirely out of stones collected from the surrounding region. Some of them are only as big as a fist, while others weigh as much as 100 kilograms (220 pounds). "The Vikings collected millions of rocks," says archeologist Astrid Tummuscheit, who works for the state archeology office of Schleswig-Holstein.

 

A Customs Station, an Inn and a Bordello

....continued

 

And before anyone asks I have not come across the surveying equipment being used in photograph six so I cannot tell you what it is called. However looking at it I suspect it may operate in a similar way to the old 'Rotadraw' system enabling the archaeologists to make accurate scale drawings of the section they have cut in the wall. In my experience most archaeologists make do with basically doing it freehand with a grid and tape measures.

[Ursus]

Fascinating!