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Viking Ships
Viking ships were marine vessels of unique structure, used in Scandinavia from the Viking Age throughout the Middle Ages. The boat-types were quite varied, depending on what the ship was intended for, but they were generally characterized as being slender and flexible boats, with symmetrical ends with true keel. They were clinker built, which is the overlapping of planks riveted together. Some might have had a dragon's head or other circular object protruding from the bow and stern for design, although this is only inferred from historical sources. Viking ships were used both for military purposes and for long-distance trade, exploration and colonization. In the literature, Viking ships are usually seen divided into two broad categories: merchant ships and warships, the latter resembling narrow "war canoes" with less load capacity, but higher speed. However, these categories are overlapping; some transport ships would also form part of war fleets. As a rule, ship lanes in Scandin ...
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Votive Offerings
A votive offering or votive deposit is one or more objects displayed or deposited, without the intention of recovery or use, in a sacred place for religious purposes. Such items are a feature of modern and ancient societies and are generally made in order to gain favor with supernatural forces. While some offerings were apparently made in anticipation of the achievement of a particular wish, in Western cultures from which documentary evidence survives it was more typical to wait until the wish has been fulfilled before making the offering, for which the more specific term ex-voto may be used. Other offerings were very likely regarded just as gifts to the deity, not linked to any particular need. In Buddhism, votive offering such as construction of stupas was a prevalent practice in Ancient India, an example of which can be observed in the ruins of the ancient Vikramshila University and other contemporary structures. Votive offerings have been described in historical Roman er ...
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Franks
The Franks ( la, Franci or ) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was first mentioned in 3rd-century Roman sources, and associated with tribes between the Lower Rhine and the Ems River, on the edge of the Roman Empire.H. Schutz: Tools, Weapons and Ornaments: Germanic Material Culture in Pre-Carolingian Central Europe, 400-750. BRILL, 2001, p.42. Later the term was associated with Romanized Germanic dynasties within the collapsing Western Roman Empire, who eventually commanded the whole region between the rivers Loire and Rhine. They imposed power over many other post-Roman kingdoms and Germanic peoples. Beginning with Charlemagne in 800, Frankish rulers were given recognition by the Catholic Church as successors to the old rulers of the Western Roman Empire. Although the Frankish name does not appear until the 3rd century, at least some of the original Frankish tribes had long been known to the Romans under their own names, both as allies providing soldiers, and as e ...
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Portage
Portage or portaging (Canada: ; ) is the practice of carrying water craft or cargo over land, either around an obstacle in a river, or between two bodies of water. A path where items are regularly carried between bodies of water is also called a ''portage.'' The term comes from French, where means "to carry," as in "portable". In Canada, the term "carrying-place" was sometimes used. Early French explorers in New France and French Louisiana encountered many rapids and cascades. The Native Americans carried their canoes over land to avoid river obstacles. Over time, important portages were sometimes provided with canals with locks, and even portage railways. Primitive portaging generally involves carrying the vessel and its contents across the portage in multiple trips. Small canoes can be portaged by carrying them inverted over one's shoulders and the center strut may be designed in the style of a yoke to facilitate this. Historically, voyageurs often employed tump lines ...
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Kvalsund Ship
The Kvalsund ship (Norwegian: ''Kvalsundskipet''), also known as ''Kvalsund II'', is a late 8th century rowing ship, discovered embedded in a marsh at Kvalsund in Herøy, Møre og Romsdal near Ålesund, Norway, in 1920. It was about long and was discovered together with a smaller, long rowboat called ''Kvalsund I''. Detailed dendrochronology analysis has placed the construction of the Kvalsund ship at 780-800 AD (originally, it was believed to be older), which is the start of the Viking Age. The Kvalsund ship is of an earlier and less advanced construction than the Oseberg ship, also found in Norway, which dates to the early ninth century. Being from around the start of the Viking Age and likely part of an offering in a pond or bog, the Kvalsund ship represents an important link between later Viking Age ships and earlier, pre-Viking Age vessels (like the Nydam boat) and rituals. Both the ship and the smaller rowboat that was found with it were deliberately destroyed before bein ...
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Skuldelev Ships
The Skuldelev ships are five original Viking ships recovered from the waterway of Peberrenden at Skuldelev, north of Roskilde in Denmark. In 1962, the remains of the submerged ships were excavated in the course of four months. The recovered pieces constitute five types of Viking ships and have all been dated to the 11th century. They are thought to have been sunk to prevent attacks from the sea. When the remains were unearthed, they were thought to comprise six ships, but "Skuldelev 2" and "Skuldelev 4" were later discovered to be parts of one ship. Together, the five Skuldelev ships provide a good source of information about the shipbuilding traditions of the late Viking Age and are now exhibited at the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde. The museum has built accurate reconstructions of all five of the original Skuldelev ships; some of them have also been reconstructed by other groups across the world. Skuldelev 1 Skuldelev 1 was a sturdy seagoing cargo-vessel, possibly of the kna ...
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Hanseatic League
The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label= Modern German, Deutsche Hanse) was a medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central and Northern Europe. Growing from a few North German towns in the late 12th century, the League ultimately encompassed nearly 200 settlements across seven modern-day countries; at its height between the 13th and 15th centuries, it stretched from the Netherlands in the west to Russia in the east, and from Estonia in the north to Kraków, Poland in the south. The League originated from various loose associations of German traders and towns formed to advance mutual commercial interests, such as protection against piracy and banditry. These arrangements gradually coalesced into the Hanseatic League, whose traders enjoyed duty-free treatment, protection, and diplomatic privileges in affiliated communities and their trade routes. Hanseatic Cities gradually developed a common legal system governing ...
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Cog (ship)
A cog is a type of ship that first appeared in the 10th century, and was widely used from around the 12th century on. Cogs were clinker-built, generally of oak. These vessels were fitted with a single mast and a square-rigged single sail. They were mostly associated with seagoing trade in north-west medieval Europe, especially the Hanseatic League. Typical seagoing cogs ranged from about 15 to 25 meters (49 to 82 ft) in length, with a beam of 5 to 8 meters (16 to 26 ft) and were 30–200 tons burthen. Cogs were rarely as large as 300 tons although a few were considerably larger, over 1,000 tons. Although the name cog is recorded as early as the 9th century, the seagoing vessel of that name seems to have evolved on the Frisian coast during the 12th century. Cogs progressively replaced Viking-type ships in northern waters during the 13th century. Why this was the case is uncertain, but cogs could carry more cargo than knarr of a similar size. Their flat bottoms allowe ...
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North Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe and Asia from the "New World" of the Americas in the European perception of the World. The Atlantic Ocean occupies an elongated, S-shaped basin extending longitudinally between Europe and Africa to the east, and North and South America to the west. As one component of the interconnected World Ocean, it is connected in the north to the Arctic Ocean, to the Pacific Ocean in the southwest, the Indian Ocean in the southeast, and the Southern Ocean in the south (other definitions describe the Atlantic as extending southward to Antarctica). The Atlantic Ocean is divided in two parts, by the Equatorial Counter Current, with the North(ern) Atlantic Ocean and the South(ern) Atlantic Ocean split at about 8°N. Scientific explorations of the Atlan ...
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Faering
A faering is an open boat with two pairs of oars, commonly found in most boat-building traditions in western and northern Scandinavia. History Faerings are clinker-built, with planks overlapped and riveted together to form the hull. This type of boat has a history dating back to Viking-era Scandinavia. The small boats found with the 9th century Gokstad ship resemble those still used in Western and Northern Norway, and testify to a long tradition of boat building. Faerings may carry a small sail, traditionally a square sail, in addition to oars. The only significant difference being a conversion from a side-mounted rudder to stern-mounted. They are used as small fishing vessels in areas of modern Norway, and occasionally raced. Etymology The word ''faering'' comes from the Norwegian word ''færing'' (Old Norse ''feræringr''), literally meaning "four-oaring". See also *Knarr *Spritsail *Oselvar * Nordland References Other sources * Greenhill, Basil (1976) ''Archaeology of ...
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