Dr. Eleanor Barraclough

Yes. So we've got a Norse grave, and I can't remember if it's stuck in their ribs or something, but it's an arrowhead. This is not a Norse arrowhead. The only thing they found that is sort of equivalent to that is over in the cultures of people who were living on that edge of the North American continent. And actually, that's how one of Leif's brothers is said to be killed in the saga.

Yes. So we've got a Norse grave, and I can't remember if it's stuck in their ribs or something, but it's an arrowhead. This is not a Norse arrowhead. The only thing they found that is sort of equivalent to that is over in the cultures of people who were living on that edge of the North American continent. And actually, that's how one of Leif's brothers is said to be killed in the saga.

So an arrow basically hits him. So it could be him. It could be him. Let's say it's him.

So an arrow basically hits him. So it could be him. It could be him. Let's say it's him.

We found him. Now we've got Leif's brother.

We found him. Now we've got Leif's brother.

Let's say it is.

Let's say it is.

OK, so what I would say is that big names such as Leif the Lucky and Erik the Red are the ones we tend to know about. But I want to make the case for the everyday people who are just bumping along, living their lives through the Viking Age, because they're every bit as interesting, if not more so than the larger than life characters who end up in the sagas and history books.

OK, so what I would say is that big names such as Leif the Lucky and Erik the Red are the ones we tend to know about. But I want to make the case for the everyday people who are just bumping along, living their lives through the Viking Age, because they're every bit as interesting, if not more so than the larger than life characters who end up in the sagas and history books.

We just don't get to hear about them so often, although a book coming out in September called Embers of the Hands, which may be very much about that subject. So it's this idea of looking at the everyday people who slip between the cracks of history and the little bits and pieces of them that survive. And Greenland is actually a really exciting example of this.

We just don't get to hear about them so often, although a book coming out in September called Embers of the Hands, which may be very much about that subject. So it's this idea of looking at the everyday people who slip between the cracks of history and the little bits and pieces of them that survive. And Greenland is actually a really exciting example of this.

It's my favourite part of the Norse world because its remoteness and that permafrost we talked about means that tons of material from Norse Greenland has actually been frozen in time. And I'll give you two examples, but they give us more names, names of ordinary humans that we wouldn't know about otherwise. Now, one of those comes from a coffin in a graveyard.

It's my favourite part of the Norse world because its remoteness and that permafrost we talked about means that tons of material from Norse Greenland has actually been frozen in time. And I'll give you two examples, but they give us more names, names of ordinary humans that we wouldn't know about otherwise. Now, one of those comes from a coffin in a graveyard.

There's no body in that coffin, but there's a rune stick. And carved onto this little piece of wood is an inscription that can be translated as this woman who was called Gulveig was laid overboard in the Greenland Sea. So earlier when we were talking about those great voyages across the ocean...

There's no body in that coffin, but there's a rune stick. And carved onto this little piece of wood is an inscription that can be translated as this woman who was called Gulveig was laid overboard in the Greenland Sea. So earlier when we were talking about those great voyages across the ocean...

We have to remember how many ordinary people and how many women were there and how many of them may have actually not reached the other side. The other example, again, runes, this time on a stone found high in the Arctic, hidden in a cairn. And these runes refer to three men, Erling Sigvadsson, Bjarni Thordarson and Eindri the Oddson.

We have to remember how many ordinary people and how many women were there and how many of them may have actually not reached the other side. The other example, again, runes, this time on a stone found high in the Arctic, hidden in a cairn. And these runes refer to three men, Erling Sigvadsson, Bjarni Thordarson and Eindri the Oddson.

And it says they built these cairns the Saturday before Rogation Day, which is in late April. They were probably hunters. Perhaps they were up there looking for walrus because of that really, really precious ivory. But if they're there that early in the year, they probably got stranded. Maybe they overwintered there. We never know if they got home. But we don't know what happened to them.

And it says they built these cairns the Saturday before Rogation Day, which is in late April. They were probably hunters. Perhaps they were up there looking for walrus because of that really, really precious ivory. But if they're there that early in the year, they probably got stranded. Maybe they overwintered there. We never know if they got home. But we don't know what happened to them.