Long before the age of heroes, the Norse Sagas spoke of a universe born from the violent collision of two extremes: the blistering heat of Muspelheim and the frozen silence of Niflheim. In the center ...

An 800-year-old Norse saga makes a glancing mention of a dead man tossed in a drinking well after a raid on a castle in Norway, almost as an aside. The poor guy doesn’t even get a name. Scientists now ...

In TV series from Vikings to Game of Thrones, the icy wastes of the north provide the backdrop to dramatic, often violent, stories of kings and warriors, dragons and trolls. The source for many of ...

A recreation of Viking structures at L’Anse aux Meadows Dylan Kereluk via Wikimedia Commons under CC by 2.0 Three rough pieces of wood—discarded sections of branches and tree stumps found among the ...