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Viking cemetery found at new Saxavord spaceport in Scotland

Archeologists have discovered a Viking “ritual cremation cemetery” about 4,000 years old near the launch site at the new Saxavord spaceport in Scotland.

The burnt bones were found inside an arc of large granite boulders set into pits in the ground. A small platform of white quartz pebbles was also discovered which may have once been linked to a burial. Quartz is often associated with burial tombs in the prehistoric, and covered the entire outside wall of Newgrange in Ireland.

Test launches at Saxavord are expected to begin in the fall, with the first orbital launch next year. This schedule of course assumes launch licenses can be obtained from the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 

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"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

9 comments

  • Yngvar

    *Bronze Age.

  • pzatchok

    I can not see the construction being allowed to continue without a year or two of archeological research. Then a decision on if they want to allow the new construction to destroy the sight.
    Or both will learn to cohabit..

  • James Street

    Israel has the same problem. Every time they stick a shovel in the ground for a new building or highway they hit a 4,000 year old historical site. So they’ve had to find an expeditious solution that satisfies both the builders and the archeologists.

  • Col Beausabre

    2000 BC is pre-Viking.

  • Col Beausabre: A very good point.

  • Col Beausabre

    Bob, I think Yngvar made it too. He correctly pointed out that in many areas, 2000 BC is considered to be in the Bronze Age, but Scandanavia was still Neolithic (Humans in settlements with domesticated animals and plants, but still employing stone tools). The Vikings, however, were an Iron Age civilization. There is a very good, if old, series available on line called Out of the Fiery Furnace that describes mankind’s relationship with the metals. The seven episodes were

    “From Stone to Bronze”
    “Swords and Plowshares”
    “Shining Conquests”
    “The Revolution of Necessity”
    “Into the Machine Age”
    “From Alchemy to the Atom”
    “The Age of Metals: Can it Last?”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vDDMYyhLBw

    The Nordic Bronze Age

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQQDsEgm9oA

  • Col Beausabre

    Bob, I think Yngvar made it too. He correctly pointed out that in many areas, 2000 BC is considered to be in the Bronze Age, but Scandanavia was still Neolithic (Humans in settlements with domesticated animals and plants, but still employing stone tools). The Vikings, however, were an Iron Age civilization. There is a very good, if old, series available on line called Out of the Fiery Furnace that describes mankind’s relationship with the metals. The seven episodes were

    “From Stone to Bronze”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vDDMYyhLBw

    “Swords and Plowshares”
    “Shining Conquests”
    “The Revolution of Necessity”
    “Into the Machine Age”
    “From Alchemy to the Atom”
    “The Age of Metals: Can it Last?”

    A program on the Nordic Bronze Age

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQQDsEgm9oA

  • Andrew Winter

    As said above. There weren’t and VIKINGS in 2000BC. In fact the Scotii didn’t even migrate into Scotland. In fact the Scotti were a tribe of Gaels From IRELAND who were still just raiders in Areas of Roman Rule in the province of Britania! Indeed Rome owned the lands North of Hadrian’s wall and held the Antonine Wall From 142. It took 12 years to build and was abandon 8 years after that. All of this was done against The Caledonians, who were NOT Scoti.

    Scotland didn’t event exist until the Christian Era.

    So what are those people talking about a VIKING burial Site for? That’s utter nonsense.

  • Max

    A burial pit lined with stones in the shape of a boat is a Viking custom. I wonder if the similarities is the only evidence they have?
    Here is an example in a Viking documentary showing pictures of Viking cremation pits in Scandinavia. Two minutes after beginning.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgKycy23AZs&pp=ygUadmlraW5nIGhpc3RvcnkgZG9jdW1lbnRhcnk%3D

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