Remains Of Thousand-Year-Old Viking Hall Found In Denmark, Museum Says | Eastern NC Now

    Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the The Daily Wire. The author of this post is Ben Whitehead.

    Archeologists believe they have discovered the remains of a thousand-year-old Viking hall in Denmark, the Historical Museum of Northern Jutland said in a December press release.

    The remains were discovered as archeologists excavated the area before constructing a house in Hune, a small village in northern Denmark. Archeologist Thomas Rune Knudsen says the discovery is the biggest Viking Age discovery in over a decade.

    "This is the largest Viking Age find of this nature in more than ten years, and we have not seen anything like it before here in North Jutland, even though it has only been partially excavated," Knudsen, who is the excavation leader for the museum, said in the press release.

    Knudsen believes that the hall was once a "prestigious building" that could have been used for political meetings and Viking guilds. The hall is 130 feet long and 33 feet wide, according to the museum. There are 10 to 12 oak posts that once helped support the roof. The posts, which measure 90 by 50 cm, are rectangular cross-sections.

    Based on the style of the hall, archeologists believe it is from the time of King Harald "Bluetooth" Gormsson, who ruled Denmark and Norway from AD 958-985. The press release says "for this reason the hall can tentatively be dated to the late Viking Age, i.e. last half of the 9th century or the very first part of the 11th century."

    Today's Bluetooth, the wireless technology used to connect devices, is actually named after the Danish king. "Bluetooth" got his name from a dead tooth that appeared dark blue, according to the Bluetooth website. During a 1996 meeting between Intel, Ericsson, and Nokia to standardize the technology, Jim Karach of Intel pitched the name Bluetooth as a temporary solution.

    "King Harald Bluetooth...was famous for uniting Scandinavia just as we intended to unite the PC and cellular industries with a short-range wireless link," Kardach was later quoted as saying. Beyond uniting Denmark and Norway, "Bluetooth" is also known for converting the Danes to Christianity.

    Knudsen believes that there are likely more structures and houses within the vicinity of the hall, saying "a hall building of this nature rarely stands alone." In addition to the discovery of the Viking hall, researchers believe they even know who the plot of land might have belonged to. The museum says they had previously found a raised stone measuring one and a half meters high. The stone, dated AD 970-1020, has an inscription, reading "Hove, Thorkild, Thorbjørn set their father Runulv den Rådnilde's stone."

    "It is difficult to prove that the found Viking hall belonged to the family of Runulv den Rådsnilde, but it is certainly a possibility," Knudsen said. "If nothing else, the rune stone and hall represent the same social class and both belong to society's elite."

    Only half of the hall has been excavated, but archeologists have plans to resume operations in the new year when the weather improves. They will also use more scientific dating and are expected to release those results closer to the end of the year.