Norse mythology comes from the northernmost part of Europe, Scandinavia: Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland. The myths depict a universe in which gods and giants battle among themselves in a cosmic conflict fated to end in the destruction of the world.

Myth Encyclopedia

In modern usage, the term Viking or Norse people is generally applied to medieval Scandinavian culture as it flourished between the 790s and roughly 1000. Although Christian annalists normally portray the Vikings as uncivilized and unprincipled men, the evidence of their achievements proves the sophistication in term of technology.

Vikings were expert shipbuilders and navigators

The Vikings were daring masters of the sea. Their ability to build large, reliable seafaring ships and their advanced naval skills allowed them to travel long distances and expand their territory. According to recent discovery Vikings’ claim to be the first Europeans to reach North America, which is the farthest known westerly point of the Norse exploration across the Atlantic.

Scientists claim to have uncovered what they believe to be a Viking settlement on the Canadian island of Newfoundland that appears to have been built between 800AD and 1300AD. This evidence suggests the Vikings may have discovered North America nearly 500 years before Christopher Columbus.

Skidbladnir, the ship of the Gods

According to the stories compiled within the books of the Eddas, Loki (in Norse mythology, a cunning trickster god who had the ability to change his shape and sex) gave to the god name Freyr a ship called Skidbladnir.

Skíðblaðnir sometimes anglicized as Skidbladnir or Skithblathnir, is the best of ships in Norse mythology. ( Image Source

Freyr’s ship, Skidbladnir, was the most fine craft that ever was in the water. It could go anywhere at great speed, and then, if you needed it to be small, you could put in a small pouch to carry it around. Skidbladnir is remarkable, because you can fold it up and stick it in your pocket. But when you unfold it, it’s one of the greatest Viking ships ever.

The ship was big and impressive and when its sail was hoisted the wind always blew from behind.

To be able to fold up your boat and put it in your pocket really has to be about the greatest thing that you can imagine if you’re a Viking shipbuilder.

But could it be that Skidbladnir was not the product of mythic imagination, but was, in fact, an actual spacecraft? One that was witnessed by early Scandinavians?

Rich descriptions and references to the cosmos

Yggdrasil is an important element of Norse mythology as the eternal ash that contains the nine worlds of the cosmos. Source: Historic Mysteries. ( Image Source

In Norse mythology Yggdrasil is the name of an enormous glistening ash tree that cradles the nine realms of the cosmos within its branches and roots, thereby connecting all things. The holy tree is evergreen, and is covered in moist white loam. It supports all of creation – gods, giants, man and beasts – some of which eat directly from the branches and roots of the tree. Yggdrasil is also called the World Tree or Tree of Life, because it contains all the worlds and represents the cycle of birth, growth, death, and rebirth.

The Nine Worlds as a group are mentioned in a poem in the Poetic Edda. However, no source gives a list of exactly which worlds comprise the nine. Based on the kinds of beings found in Norse mythology and the reference to their homelands in various literary sources, however, we can compile the following tentative reconstruction:

Midgard – the world of humanity

Asgard – the world of the Aesir tribe of gods and goddesses

Vanaheim – the world of the Vanir tribe of gods and goddesses

Jotunheim – the world of the giants

Niflheim – the primordial world of ice

Muspelheim – the primordial world of fire

Alfheim – the world of the elves

Svartalfheim – the world of the dwarves

Hel – the world of the eponymous goddess Hel and the dead

Bivröst – Burning rainbow bridge

The powerful Norse gods can ride across the bridge easily, but it is difficult for anyone else to enter Åsgård. ( Image Source

Some Nordic legends are telling about cosmic bridges linking planet Earth to an otherworldly realm. The sacred Rainbow Bridge connects Midgard (the realm of humankind) with Asgard (the realm of the Gods). Also known as Ásbrú (“Bridge of Gods”), Bivröst was magically constructed from fire, water and air. Bivröst is said to be covered with flames and having three colors.

The Bridge of the Gods, Bivröst (“Moving Way” in Old Norse) is mentioned in Viking epics like Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda, written around 1220 and in the Poetic Edda which is probably much older.

Overall, these sources describe an unstable fire-red bridge between heaven and earth, sometimes taking other colors and sometimes being crossed by warriors.

The bridge is however described in another way in the passage from the Prose Edda in which it is said that the Bridge:

the descriptions of Bivröst in Nordic sources closely correspond to how Northern Lights have been described throughout History. Interesting fact that Auroras are not just an earthly phenomenon: they can also be seen on other planets, including Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. A far away brown dwarf (a word bigger than a planet but smaller than a star) hosts the most powerful auroras ever seen – one million times brighter than our northern lights.

Was it possible that this rainbow bridge was some kind of wormhole that would take people literally to another planet? And epic journeys to the far ends of the planet? If one ancient man would not understand a technological description to describe a wormhole, but this path of light sounds very similar.

Ulfberht Sword – technology from the future

Ulfberht sword is made of metal so pure it baffled archaeologists, who thought the technology to forge such metal was not invented for another 800 or more years, during the Industrial Revolution.

This sword was used by warriors in different regions in Europe. In fact, to be more precise it was the Vikings which employed it from 800 to 1100 AD. The best of the warriors of the era could get hands on this piece of excellent craftsmanship.

The sword has the inscription of the word – Ulfberht. However, the implication of the name is still unknown. It is because no such reference could be found anywhere in the written texts of that tenure. In accordance with the research scholars the name could be of the Frankish origin.The sword has a cross which is instigation that it is associated with Roman Catholic Church. At that time, a Greek cross was placed before the name, a practice pursued by the bishops and abbots. Since, the sword has it too; there is the instigation that Ulfberht was the name of a bishop, abbot or a monastery.

The swords have not been made by single craftsmen, but many of them.

The sword is made of crucible quality. It was the smelted iron, which has been used to make weapons for thousands of years. Iron was too soft, and hence, the sword makers were required to add coal or charcoal to make it into steel. In the Viking age it was really tedious to add coal to the iron, hence, it was pursued incidentally by fire. Yet again, the only way to eradicate slag from metal was to hammer out the impurities. But, when Ulfberht sword was analyzed the researchers were indeed surprised. The Ulfberht sword was made of steel which has a carbon content of up to 3 times more than the average medieval steel. Today, it is the same material used years ago, that is called crucible steel.

How were the Vikings able to develop such an advanced civilization? Were their achievements in technology and exploration their own? Or did they receive otherworldly help?

Perhaps the answers can be found by deeper studying of ancient Viking texts or carvings on the surface of an ancient stones.

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