A real-life Ragnarok plunged Scandinavia into years of darkness and killed up to half of the people in Norway and Sweden, new research reveals.
In Viking belief, Ragnarok is the end of the world, when the Norse gods die battling demons and giants in an apocalyptic final clash.
And the agony of Ragnarok begins with the Fimbulvetr – a winter lasting three years that ends almost all human life.
Now new research has shown that the Nordic world really faced such a long winter, and its impact on human life was devastating.
By analysing tree rings, scientists at the National Museum of Denmark proved a real-life climate catastrophe took place 1,500 years ago.
Morten Fischer Mortensen, a senior researcher at the museum, said it was the result of volcanic eruptions enveloping the world in a veil of ash and sulphur.
He said: ‘I imagine it would have been terrifying – the volcanic eruptions happen so far away from Europe that no one would have known the cause.
‘Then you realise – perhaps overnight – that the sun is hidden behind a veil, and it is not warm and yellow, but cold and bluish.
A real-life Ragnarok plunged Scandinavia into years of darkness and killed up to half of the people in Norway and Sweden, new research reveals (artist’s impression)
By analysing tree rings, scientists at the National Museum of Denmark proved a real-life climate catastrophe took place 1,500 years ago
‘Even in the middle of the day, no shadows were cast and for more than a year no stars could be seen in the sky.’
To complete their research, scientists analysed 650 pieces of oak from between 300 and 800 AD.
They found growth rings became dramatically smaller starting in 536 AD, and even more so between 539 and 541 AD.
Mortensen described the impact on civilisation.
He continued: ‘Based on our studies of the tree rings, we can see that for several years there were really poor growing conditions, which must also have been true for the farmers’ crops.
‘We are in a period where everyone lives off, and on, the land, and is 100% self-sufficient.
‘So when the harvest fails for several years in a row, it’s really critical.’
For many, it was unsurvivable.
Morten Fischer Mortensen, a senior researcher at the museum, said the event was the result of volcanic eruptions enveloping the world in a veil of ash and sulphur
Photo shows a depiction of the final battle of the gods during Ragnarok by Johannes Gehrts
Mortensen said: ‘Landscape reconstructions based on pollen analyses shows that some areas were abandoned and forest spread over the abandoned fields.
‘Power structures shifted and, in Denmark, we have many large deposits of gold that have been interpreted as offerings to the gods to bring back the sun.
‘Many settlements ceased to exist, and it is easy to imagine that hunger, famine, and disease took the lives of a large part of the population.’
He added: ‘In Norway and Sweden, researchers believe that up to half the population died, and it is not inconceivable that the same happened in Denmark.
‘It almost gives me chills to see these small, narrow annual rings because I know how much sorrow, death and misfortune they represent.’
Furthermore, the similarity with the Fimbulvetr of Ragnarok legend may be no coincidence.
Mortensen said: ‘It is remarkable that for three summers in a row the oak trees have virtually no summer growth.
‘The myth of Ragnarok starts with a three-year-long winter with no summer in between.
‘Of course, we can’t prove a direct link between the climate event and the myth, but there is a strong correlation.
‘It is therefore conceivable that elements of what people have experienced have found their way into the myths and are thus an echo of previous experiences.’
Which volcanoes caused the long winter has not been determined.
But candidates have been proposed in Papua New Guinea, El Salvador, Indonesia, Iceland, and North America.
In any case, the disaster was not limited to the Nordic world – climate modelling shows a global temperature drop of several degrees.
Written sources from as far apart as the Roman empire and China attest to the change in climate.
It’s even been suggested that the drop in temperature boosted crop fertility in the Arabian Peninsula, boosting the food supply and contributing to the Islamic conquests.
For the Danes, however, the winter left another – less dramatic – legacy.
Mortensen explained: ‘Danes have a great love for rye bread.
‘Rye is a cereal that arrives very late to the country and only becomes common in the centuries after the climate crisis.
‘At the same time, rye can survive with the fewest hours of sunshine and can grow on relatively poor soil.
‘Therefore, it’s likely that rye is a crop we adopt as a hedge against bad times – a crop that has the best chance of yielding a return in the bad years.’
Mortensen and his colleagues published their study in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.
DID THE VIKINGS DISCOVER NORTH AMERICA?
Some experts believe the Vikings may have discovered North America nearly 500 years before Christopher Columbus made his famous journey to the New World.
L’Anse aux Meadows was the first Viking settlement believed to have been found in North America in the 1960s.
In 2016, scientists claimed to have uncovered another Viking settlement in Newfoundland that was built between 800 AD and 1300 AD.
Some experts believe the Vikings may have discovered North America nearly 500 years before Christopher Columbus made his famous journey to the New World
The site, discovered in an area called Point Rosee in southern Newfoundland, is 400 miles (643km) south west of a Viking settlement found in L’Anse aux Meadows during the 1960s.
Now, one expert claims to have found a mysterious location known as ‘Hop’.
Based on Viking descriptions, three key things identify this mystical settlement – an abundance of grapes, salmon and canoes made from animal hide.
An archaeologist claims the only place that matches this description is the Miramichi-Chaleur bay area in northeastern New Brunswick in Canada.
This would be the third Viking settlement claimed to have been found in North America, although it could be hard to ever prove it for once and for all.
It is thought the Vikings first discovered America by accident in the autumn of 986 AD, according to one historical source, the Saga of the Greenlanders.
It tells how Bjarni Herjolfsson stumbled across North America after being blown off course as he attempted to sail from Norway to Greenland, but he did not go ashore.
Inspired by his tales, however, another Viking Leif Ericsson then mounted his own expedition and found North America in 1002.
Finding it a fertile land, rich in grapes and berries, he named it Vinland.
Eriksson also named two further ‘lands’ on the North American coast – one with flat stones, which he called Helluland, and one that was flat and wooded, named Markland.
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