Ancient Greek, Cypriot, and Minoan (Cretan and Philistine) Connections tot he West
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2. Minoans, Mycenaean and Scandinavia
Prehistoric connections Crete / Norway
https://araenil.wordpress.com/2011/06/26/evidence-of-prehistoric-connections-crete-norway/
English version.
Resume of the researches:
In the Bronze Age an advanced culture had suddenly arisen in the southern Scandinavian countries with clear influence from the countries of the Aegean; first the Minoans, later also the Mycenaeans and the classical Greeks. The researchers concluded that it was most likely not only that the areas were visited by people from the south, but also that the population had visited the southern countries over a period that lasted about 1000 years! According to Kristiansen, inscriptions in both Minoan and Mycenaean Linear A and B have been found.
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3. Ancient Swedish Axes from Cyprus. Isotope Analysis
Ancient rock carvings in Sweden evidently aren't of local boats but show ships bringing the metal from the Levant.
Philippe Bohstrom May 11, 2016 3:38 PM
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/archaeology/1.719125
Extracts
The evidence is piling up now: 3600-year-old Swedish Axes Were Made With Copper From Cyprus;
Ancient rock carvings in Sweden evidently aren't of local boats but show ships bringing the metal from the Levant.
3600-year-old Swedish Axes Were Made With Copper From Cyprus
Bronze tools found in Sweden dating from 3,600 years ago were made using copper from the Mediterranean, archaeologists have shown. They now also believe that rock carvings of ships found in Bohuslan, Sweden were visual documentation of trade between ancient Scandinavia and the Mediterranean.
Most of the copper circulating in Bronze Age Europe apparently originated from Sicily, Sardinia, the Iberian peninsula - and Cyprus, going by isotope analysis.
The precious copper was exchanged for Nordic amber, which was as cherished as gold in Mycenaean Greece and in the prehistoric Middle East. And, it seems, cultural and religious influences joined on the ride.
Isotope analysis of some 70 bronze daggers and axes from Bronze Age Sweden by scientists from Sweden's University of Gothenburg, headed by Dr. Johan Ling, proved that at least some originated in Cypriot copper mines. Most probably, it was traded for amber.
Amber was used not only to pay for copper, which was turned into bronze weapons, but also for fripperies, such as glass beads imported from the Levant. A separate study of 271 glass beads found in Danish Bronze Age graves found they dated to around 1400 BCE and that 23 of them originated in Egypt and Syria.
Thousands of elaborate rock carvings dating to the Bronze Age have been found in Scandinavia, mostly in the region of Bohuslan, on the Swedish west coast. A recurring motif on the rock carvings is ships, and intriguingly, most of these ship carving sites also have images that resemble Mediterranean oxhide ingots.
A copper ingot found at Torsbo is the same in shape as ingots excavated in Crete, at the palace of Hagia Triada, Tylissos and Mochlos, and is just like the copper ingots found in the Uluburun shipwreck. And a markedly similar depiction of a copper even appears on the Tomb of Rekhmire.
Another peculiar feature of these carvings in Scandinavia is large bulls by the ships, and scenes of bull-leaping, a common motif of Middle Bronze Age figurative, notably of Minoan Crete and also found in Hittite, Anatolia.
The ancient Scandinavian art also features horned figures also found in southern Turkey, usually attributes of the Hittite weather god Tarhun.
The appearance of rock art depicting ships and oxhide ingots around 1600 BCE in Scandinavia is accompanied by Aegenized depictions of warriors, weapons, chariots, omega symbols and also, symbolic representations of Mesopotamian sun disks and ornaments on jewelry and sword hilts.
Identical spiral ornaments appear on a piece of jewelry found in the tomb of 'the distant traveller' at Simrishamn, Sweden, and in the necropolis of Asine at Argolis in Greece. The "Kings Grave" in Kivik, southeast Sweden, dating to around 3000 years ago, has numerous images and religious symbolism also found in the Mycenaean world.
Kaul Flemming, a researcher from the Danish national museum who studies beads in Danish Bronze Age burials, is convinced that there was a cultural transfer between the Aegean and Scandinavia. 'The motifs from the Kivik grave may well been taken from Mycenean Greece,' he tells Haaretz, adding, 'The chariots, the light two-wheeled cart, can also be seen on the Mycenaean grave steles.'
Chariots were common in the Bronze Age Mediterranean, where they were employed as fast and prestigious military vehicles, and were often depicted in art.
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4. Vikings from Coastal Areas in Scandinavia Pushed out by New Invaders
If the Vikings were so strong, why were they annihilated so quickly?
Lars Evensen
https://www.quora.com/profile/Lars-Evensen
I want to present this with a different point of view. Before the Viking Age, traditionally described as beginning with the attack on Lindisfarne in 793 A.D there was a time of great upheavel and unrest in the Nordic countries, at least in what became Norway and Sweden. A lot of people moved in from the east, i.e what they called 'stora Svithjod' (Greater Scythia). This increase in population caused 'overpopulation', as odd as it sounds today because the population wasn`t that big after all. It caused internal migrations in Scandinavia (little Scythia) and fertile land was scarce for the increased population. The newcomers are called the 'Battle Axe Culture' by historians because they used a particular kind of battle axe and also cremated their dead among other things.
This battle between the older inhabitants and the newcomers might be reflected in Norse Mythology by the three different kind of 'gods', namely the Jotner (Jotnir), Vaner (Vanir) and Aeser (Aesir). It seems the Aesir were the newcomers conquering former lands of the oldest inhabitants Jotner and also the Vaner, pressuring them westwards on the peninsula just like Celts were pressed westwards by the Anglo Saxons on the British Isles.
So it might therefore be absolutely plausible that the Viking Age started as a campaign to get new land both in the east and west because of 'overpopulation' and internal pressure in Scandinavia. Eventually a large part of the population must have emigrated elsewhere (presumably predominantly the Vanir and Jotnir part of the populace); to the British Isles, Iceland, Greenland, Normandy, Sicily and different parts of Eastern Europe. The pressure on the homeland was relieved and it became less important to seek new homelands to conquer. Of course another factor like Christianity like some point out was important too, and surely the tactics of Vikings over time became obsolete as the natives got more skilled in defending themselves against such attacks.6. Vikiongs from Coastal Areas in Scand
In conclusion the 'Vikings' were never annihilated as such but of course one can claim that the Norwegian loss at Stamford Bridge in 1066 marked the end of the Viking era. It would have ended anyway with or without this battle because as I said occupying new territory became less essential and Scandinavia could never sustain a population large enough to conquer all of Europe anyway.