Grave of headless Vikings discovered in England

@Walter Hinteler,

And speaking about violence: remains of the earliest (known) massacres in Europe were found in Germany.
(I've seen those Talheim skeletons with A2K'ers - fantastic what and how sciences "revived" those days!)

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@Setanta,

Setanta wrote:

Those we call Danes were from several different tribes which coalesced over time, but they were never in any doubt about the use of a common language.

Which reminds me on the forgotten 'Jutes' in the "Anglo-Saxon-heritage" Wink

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@Walter Hinteler,

Not only the Jutes, but as appears from Beowulf, Danes, Helfdanes, Geats and Helfgeats . . . whatever those meant . . .

I believe that modern scholarship identifies the Geats with the southern part of what is now Sweden, which was still in Danish hands as late as the early 17th century when Gustav II Adolf (Gustavus Adolphus) began his public career. Helfgeats may have been those who were mixed with Danish or Jutish tribes.

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@Setanta,

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@Merry Andrew,

Why wouldn't you bother to explain, Merry? It's readily apparent. You don't have the faintest idea of what you're talking about. I truly don't think I've ever heard you explain anything. Odd for a man who knows the English language so well, odd for a newspaper "editor".

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@Setanta,

Quote:

Although nationality as we conceive of it was not known at the end of the first millennium of our era, certainly language and custom were commonalities. The Norse (calling themselves Norge, and whom we would call Norwegians) were considerably different from the Goths (as the Swedes called themselves then). Those we call Danes were from several different tribes which coalesced over time, but they were never in any doubt about the use of a common language.

This issue doesn't need more bafflegab. Nothing here refutes what McTag said, but everything so far has refuted your contention.

Why not man up, Setanta and admit you made a mistake?

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@Merry Andrew,

Quote:

1. I wasn't aware of being a member of any such "prescriptivist" club.

2. Setanta is correct in stating that the word 'viking' is properly not a noun but a verb. These people didn't call themselves Vikings. They were Scandinavian farmers of old who, in their spare time, went a-viking to supplement their income by either raiding or trading.

After all this time and after all your posturing, Merry, you don't have a clue what prescriptivism is. You are a prescriptivist.

And it seems that remains the only option for you as it's abundantly clear from this posting of yours [and others] that you don't have the requisite knowledge nor any desire to acquire it, in order to be anything but a prescriptivist.

Those, above, are keepers.

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@JTT,

I will bow to Saab's superior knowledge (not to your usual senseless ranting, JTT) and freely admit that I was mistaken in the contention that viking is primarily a verb rather than a noun. My mistake.

Oh, and, btw, can we get back to the original subject? The archeological find in England, I mean?

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I was a bit suprised that they could indentify them as Vikings on their teeth.
I thought a tooth was a tooth.

They must have been naked before they were beheaded as there was no trace of cloth or other personal belongings.
The teeth show that they lived in a climate colder than England´s. Also the teeth showed a high level of protein. Some were Danes others from Sweden and probably one even from north of the Polar circle.
This information I have from a Danish Paper.

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@Merry Andrew,

You've got a tiny measure more honor than Setanta, Merry. That I'll give you.

However before Saab ever happened on the scene, you knew full well that capital 'V' Viking was a noun and you admitted as much in your first response to Setanta.

Now you think people are going to believe you when you make the ludicrous suggestion that of all the times you've used and heard Viking in your life you took it to be a verb.

And immediately after an extremely minor measure of honesty issues forth you fall back to deception and your usual disingenuous offerings.

You're lucky you have only two feet, Merry 'cause I'm sure that you'd find a way to get whatever number stuffed firmly in your mouth.

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@saab,

That info was in the link I gave on the previous page as well:

Daily Echo wrote:

[...] Piecing the parts of the 900-year-old puzzle together, archaeologists revealed the 50-strong Viking party was captured by the local Saxon population, taken to the Ridgeway and had their heads chopped off. ... The heads and the bodies were then buried separately in a pit close to where the A354 main road stands. Isotope results from the teeth reveal the men grew up in countries with a colder climate than Britain, with one individual thought to be from north of the Arctic Circle. [...]

It's only when the burial ground is very appropriate for conservation that you find the clothes - any weapon and armament will have been taken away by the Anglo-Saxons as they did on the continent, I suppose. [Especially the Saxons still had had connections to their 'home tribes', even at that period.]

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give it a rest, JTT.

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@MontereyJack,

i don't think it was a massacre at all, i think they cut their own heads off, after having spent hours listening to a relative of JTT's burble on about nouns and verbs

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@Walter Hinteler,

The examination of the teeth is explained here a bit:

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@Walter Hinteler,

Thanks Walt, most interesting.

We evidently had a more robust and direct means of dealing with unwanted immigrants in those days.

And the Scandinavians still have better dentistry than the Brits, dammit.

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Of course, when their heads are a few feet away from their bodies the question of whose teeth are better becomes kind of moot.

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@McTag,

A common intension in 9th century Germany was A furore normannorum libera nos Domine.

We don't have a lot of Viking artefacts here in (West-) Germany. (Of course, there's Haitabu in Northern Germany, but that is nearly Denmark Very Happy

)

However, Regino of Prüm wrote a bit about it, see e.g. HERE [Ask George for a translation - I'd had enough difficulties to get it in German Wink

]

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(Unhelpful interjection -- every time I see this title I think it's going to be something about Brett Favre. Carry on.)

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@JTT,

JTT wrote:

Why wouldn't you bother to explain, Merry? It's readily apparent. You don't have the faintest idea of what you're talking about. I truly don't think I've ever heard you explain anything. Odd for a man who knows the English language so well, odd for a newspaper "editor".

Why are you so nasty? Lately you have taken to making scathing attacks on all sorts of people for no discernible reason. Are you having problems in your life and taking it out on people here? What is your point?

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@JTT,

What a disgustingly rude person you are.

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Grave of headless Vikings discovered in England

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