Under the Raven Banner

The original of the article is published in: "Nargis" magazine, 2020 (August).

IN 1904, AN AMAZING FIND WAS UNEARTHED NEAR T;NSBERG IN THE NORWEGIAN PROVINCE OF VESTFOLD. WHEN A MOUND WAS EXCAVATED, A STRANGE SHIP APPEARED BEFORE THE AMAZED ARCHAEOLOGISTS. IT WAS A LOW-SIDED SEA VESSEL, WITH A GRACEFULLY ARCHED BOW
AND STERN, RICHLY DECORATED WITH CARVINGS. BUT THE MOST INTERESTING THING WAS FOUND INSIDE THE SHIP.

Although the burial mound was plundered in the Middle Ages, archaeologists found the remains of two noble women inside the ship, as well as fragments of eastern silk fabrics, a well-preserved chariot and even peacock bones. One of the ladies was older than the other. Scientists examined genetic material from the bones of these women. To everyone's surprise, the haplogroup U7 was found in the genome of
the youngest. This haplogroup is practically never found among Europeans, but is widespread in the territory of the geographic extents of Iranian civilisation.

This unexpected discovery turned out to be the same ‘rabbit hole’ that opened the way to a mysterious universe to the ancient northern navigators. How could a woman with such a strange heredity find herself in a Norwegian funeral ship? Where did the bones of a peacock come from, an exotic bird for Scandinavia?

By the eighth and ninth centuries AD the world of modern day northern Germany, lying among the seas frozen under ice, began to slowly warm up. The population was constantly growing, but the land was not enough for all the farmers and they began to gather in large groups under the leadership of the sea kings, their tribal leaders. It must be said that the ancient Germans were skilled sailors. The ancient Roman historian Tacitus writes about their ships, capable of moving both along rivers and by sea.

A real nightmare began in 793 AD, the symbol of which was the narrow and swift warship under the Raven banner, gliding on the sea waves. The northern aliens mercilessly plundered and burned the Anglo-Saxon monastery of Saint Cuthbert on
the island of Lindisfarne.

From then on, Viking ships began to terrorise the coastal regions of Western Europe. The legendary hero Sea-King Ragnar Lodbrok besieged and plundered Paris. His sons gathered the ‘Great Heathen Army’, which captured the city of York
in 867 AD. At the same time, they brutally killed the king of Northumbria, ;lla . Vikings attacked the Muslim states of Spain and the Mediterranean and Norsemen founded Kievan Russia, the Duchy of Normandy and Danelagh in England...

But Vikings were not only ferocious warriors. History remembers them as skillful sailors, thirsty for adventure, creators of a unique concept of longship, gifted wood-end stone-carvers, beautiful storytellers and poets and mystics who tried to solve the secrets of the world with the help of their runes.

The boat found in Oseberg is amazing. This vessel was not the largest; it contained only thirty rowers. Slender and fast, it could race across the sea at a speed of ten knots . But Vikings used this type of longship only for coastal navigation. The largest type of warship was called the ‘drakkar’ and could accommodate hundreds of warriors.

This amazing boat was constructed without a single nail, with a low silhouette that hid it among the ocean waves, extremely fast and agile. It was the first ocean ship in human history. A skillfully executed Sea Dragon head was installed on the bow of the ship. When sailors reached friendly shores, the Dragon's head was removed so as not to frighten off good spirits.

Sailing on such ships was a real feat. Warriors ate and slept in small chests, which served as their rowing benches. Sometimes they had to fall asleep in sleeping bags among the ominous Northern Lights in distant northern seas.

Amazingly, the highly developed civilisations of the Ancient World could not even think of such a heroic deed! Strong Norse women accompanied their husbands on these incredible travels.

The brave Norse sailors remained for many months of sailing in this tiny world, limited only to thirty or forty steps. On such a trip, they discovered Iceland in 860 AD, the country of fire-breathing volcanoes. In 875 AD, the famous leader of the northern seafarers Erik the Red saw the low shores of Greenland. Finally, Leif Erikson reached North America in 896 AD. There is even the most amazing evidence of their travels — the runic Kensington stone, discovered in 1898 in the State of Minnesota, USA. This find was so incredible that some scientists still consider it a fake. It indicates that two dozen Norsemen reached this place and were forced to engage in battle with aggressively-minded Indians.

Our story would not be complete without a description of the legendary Viking trips to the countries of the East, including Azerbaijan. The famous Ingvar the Far-Travelled, descending down the Volga River in longships, managed to travel into the Caspian Sea along the Kura River. Then he reached the shores of modern Turkmenistan, the most extreme eastern point of Viking voyages. The description of this journey is amazing and full of mystical incidents. There you can meet the dragon Yakulus, sleeping on gold; a crescent moon standing on the ground and the noble eastern Queen Silkisif, who owns the great proud Cytopolis. Ingvar the Far-Traveler died tragically on his way back to Silkisif. His companion Sven married her. This saga, gloomy and sad, like many Northern legends, is full of a kind of charm. Perhaps the remains of this mythical young Eastern Queen were found in a boat in Oseberg?