Norwegian Vikings grew hemp

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8zdI3hWhaPQrCwKpuTQqbYSjcKpVlOdUlMn8RASZnMntE8o2SfJBFDAc6GdMlLJD_L0xw3XhtoJ-QRIKfzVJUv4qWrgSeUlRCa5vrNgPI0NjEy99SQ6Meg19Tvbb0z85wqrKDDe2htPo/s1600/norsehemp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8zdI3hWhaPQrCwKpuTQqbYSjcKpVlOdUlMn8RASZnMntE8o2SfJBFDAc6GdMlLJD_L0xw3XhtoJ-QRIKfzVJUv4qWrgSeUlRCa5vrNgPI0NjEy99SQ6Meg19Tvbb0z85wqrKDDe2htPo/s320/norsehemp.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><i><b>Cannabis was cultivated 1,300 years ago at a farm in Southern Norway</b></i><br /><br /><br />The Sosteli farmsted, in Norway's southermmost Vest-Agder County, offers strong evidence that Vikings farmers actively cultivated cannabis, a recent analysis shows. The cannabis remains from the farmsted date from 650 AD to 800 AD.<br /><br />This is not the first sign of hemp cultivation in Norway this far back in time, but the find is much more extensive than previous discoveries. “The other instances were just individual finds of pollen grains. Much more has been found here,” says Frans-Arne Stylegar, an archaeologist and the county's curator.<br /><br />Sosteli is also further away from current-day settlements than other sites where cannabis finds have been made. Hemp is the same plant as cannabis, or marijuana. But nothing indicates that the Vikings cultivated the plant to get people high.<br /><br />Most likely it was grown for making textiles and rope.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://sciencenordic.com/norwegian-vikings-grew-hemp" target="_blank">Click here to read this article from Science Nordic</a></b><br />

Norwegian Vikings grew hemp

Cannabis was cultivated 1,300 years ago at a farm in Southern Norway The Sosteli farmsted, in Norway's southermmost Vest-Agder County, o...

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Vikings grew barley in Greenland

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeybi15mgGetBjjY3ZfppuZlO7NgyQnN_1FycLoX7lQyj4Byc7fGS2Sheyzt9o6UQVQRGoZEamntb-l6qfBW2n3PxlEgkhqZL3zvn04Xq-GpWtypZlEz7xDLi9j2XvYVDAhyphenhyphenZ4jsyQRGo/s1600/greenland.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeybi15mgGetBjjY3ZfppuZlO7NgyQnN_1FycLoX7lQyj4Byc7fGS2Sheyzt9o6UQVQRGoZEamntb-l6qfBW2n3PxlEgkhqZL3zvn04Xq-GpWtypZlEz7xDLi9j2XvYVDAhyphenhyphenZ4jsyQRGo/s320/greenland.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>A sensational find at the bottom of an ancient rubbish heap in Greenland suggests that Vikings grew barley on the island 1,000 years ago.<br /><br /><br />The Vikings are both famous and notorious for their like of beer and mead, and archaeologists have discussed for years whether Eric the Red (ca. 950-1010) and his followers had to make do without the golden drink when they settled in Greenland around the year 1,000.<br /><br />The Greenland climate was mild when they landed, but was it warm enough for growing corn?<br /><br />Researchers from the National Museum in Copenhagen say the answer to the question is ‘yes’. In a unique find, they uncovered very small pieces of charred grains of barley in a Viking rubbish heap on Greenland.<br /><br />The find is final proof that the first Vikings to live in Greenland did grow barley – the most important ingredient in brewing beer, making a form of porridge or baking bread, traditionally seen as staple foods in the Vikings’ nutritional diet.<br /><br />“Archaeologists have always believed that the Vikings tried to cultivate the soil on their farms in fertile southern Greenland,” says Peter Steen Henriksen, who holds an MSc in agriculture. “But this hasn’t been proved until now.”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://sciencenordic.com/vikings-grew-barley-greenland" target="_blank">Click here to read this article from ScienceNordic</a></b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.medievalists.net/2011/02/04/vikings-in-greenland/" target="_blank">Click here to see our feature on Vikings in Greenland</a></b><br /> <div style="width:425px" id="__ss_10381941"> <strong style="display:block;margin:12px 0 4px"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/dkmuseer/19-peter-steenhenriksennordboernesagerbrugigroenland" target="_blank" title="Peter Steen Henriksen Nordboernes agerbrug i groenland">Peter Steen Henriksen Nordboernes agerbrug i groenland</a></strong> <object height="355" id="__sse10381941" width="425"> <param name="movie" value="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=19petersteenhenriksennordboernesagerbrugigroenland-111129062557-phpapp02&stripped_title=19-peter-steenhenriksennordboernesagerbrugigroenland&userName=dkmuseer" /> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/> <param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/> <param name="wmode" value="transparent"/> <embed name="__sse10381941" src="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=19petersteenhenriksennordboernesagerbrugigroenland-111129062557-phpapp02&stripped_title=19-peter-steenhenriksennordboernesagerbrugigroenland&userName=dkmuseer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed> </object> <div style="padding:5px 0 12px"> View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/" target="_blank">presentations</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/dkmuseer" target="_blank">Association of Danish Museums / Organisationen Danske Museer</a> </div> </div>

Vikings grew barley in Greenland

A sensational find at the bottom of an ancient rubbish heap in Greenland suggests that Vikings grew barley on the island 1,000 years ago. Th...

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Study examines rise of agriculture in Stone Age Northern Europe

One of the most debated developments in human history is the transition from hunter-gatherer to agricultural societies. This week’s edition of Science presents the genetic findings of a Swedish-Danish research team, which show that agriculture spread to Northern Europe via migration from Southern Europe.<br /><br /><br />“We have been able to show that the genetic variation of today’s Europeans was strongly affected by immigrant Stone Age farmers, though a number of hunter-gatherer genes remain,” says Assistant Professor Anders Götherström of the Evolutionary Biology Centre, who, along with Assistant Professor Mattias Jakobsson, co-led the study, a collaboration with Stockholm University and the University of Copenhagen.<br /><br />“What is interesting and surprising is that Stone Age farmers and hunter-gatherers from the same time had entirely different genetic backgrounds and lived side by side for more than a thousand years, to finally interbreed,” Mattias Jakobsson says.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://historyoftheancientworld.com/2012/04/study-examines-rise-of-agriculture-in-stone-age-northern-europe/" target="_blank">Click here to read this article from History of the Ancient World</a></b><br />

Study examines rise of agriculture in Stone Age Northern Europe

One of the most debated developments in human history is the transition from hunter-gatherer to agricultural societies. This week’s edition ...

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Ancient Egyptian cotton unveils secrets of agricultural evolution

Scientists studying 1,600-year-old cotton from the banks of the Nile have found what they believe is the first evidence that punctuated evolution has occurred in a major crop group within the relatively short history of plant domestication.<br /><br />The findings offer an insight into the dynamics of agriculture in the ancient world and could also help today’s domestic crops face challenges such as climate change and water scarcity.<br /><br />The researchers, led by Dr Robin Allaby from the School of Life Sciences at the University of Warwick, examined the remains of ancient cotton at Qasr Ibrim in Egypt’s Upper Nile using high throughput sequencing technologies.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://historyoftheancientworld.com/2012/04/ancient-egyptian-cotton-unveils-secrets-of-agricultural-evolution/" target="_blank">Click here to read this article from History of the Ancient World</a></b>

Ancient Egyptian cotton unveils secrets of agricultural evolution

Scientists studying 1,600-year-old cotton from the banks of the Nile have found what they believe is the first evidence that punctuated evol...

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