By Jenn Gidman (Newser)
–
Goran Olsen was enjoying a leisurely hike recently in Norway when he
stopped near the fishing village of Haukeli, about 150 miles west of
Oslo. Under some rocks along a well-traversed path, he made a discovery
that's now the envy of every detectorist in Scandinavia: a 30-inch
wrought-iron Viking sword, estimated to be about 1,200 years old, CNN
reports. One would think a sword that old would be so decrepit it could
never be wielded again, but a Hordaland County archaeologist says it
just needs a little polish and a new grip to be good to go.
"The sword
was found in very good condition," Jostein Aksdal notes, per the Local.
County conservator Per Morten Ekerhovd adds, per CNN: "It's quite
unusual to find remnants from the Viking age that are so well preserved …
it might be used today if you sharpened the edge."
The
extreme weather in the area likely had something to do with the sword's
relatively unscathed condition: The mountains are covered in snow and
ice six months out of the year, and there's no humidity in the summer,
so the sword would have been protected. No one's sure what the blade's
backstory is yet, but scientists are already thinking beyond winter and
into the springtime thaw.
"When the snow has gone in spring, we will
check the place where the sword was found," Aksdal says. "If we find
several objects, or a tomb, perhaps we can find the story behind the
sword."
Ekerhovd says the weapon could have been from a burial site or
belonged to someone passing through who may have died. But "it was a
costly weapon, and the owner must have used it to show power," Aksdal
tells the Local. The Viking artifact has been sent for conservation at
the University Museum of Bergen. (The inscription on this medieval sword has become a real head-scratcher.)
*The photo shown above is not the actual sword, it is for illustration purposes only.
Getty Images
On a packed Sunday that saw the fall TV season in full swing and
the NFL season really starting to kick, the New York Giants won but (5.8/16) was thrown for a loss. Maybe it was the return of blockbuster The Walking Dead
on AMC at 9 PM for its sixth season, or the baseball playoffs, but in
metered market results, last night’s primetime Giants-San Francisco
49ers game on NBC got a 13.1/22 in metered-market results to hit a
season low. Although it was a rise of just 2% over last year’s SNF
Week 5 game, the Giants’ 30-27 victory was down 11% from the MM result
that the New Orleans Saints’ OT victory over the Dallas Cowboys drew on
October 4.
A tight and tense game, with some determining moves by Eli Manning
and Larry Donnell, saw the Giants win at home, but fast nationals-wise
it was a no win for the network or the NFL. The result among adults
18-49 took a 33% hit from the final numbers of the October 4 game. Fast
nationals to fast nationals, last night’s Giants-49ers matchup was down
24% from last week. Viewershipwise, the zombie apocalypse was probably
most profound, with a 33% drop to 16.13 million compared with last week.
Now, those numbers will obviously change later as they always do for
live events like SNF – though TWD may be already repeating its numerous wins over SNF
of last season when we see the AMC show’s numbers. As things are right
now, NBC easily wins the night with a 5.0/15 rating and 14.11 million
total viewers.
NFL overruns on CBS pushed that net’s primetime start back to 7:33 PM
in the East and Central time zones – which means their numbers are
tentative. As it stands, a new 60 Minutes (3.0/9), with a sitdown with President Barack Obama, is up 114% over last week, and Madam Secretary (1.5/4), with a cameo by former Secretary of State Madeline Albright, bopped up 7% over last week’s premiere. The Good Wife (1.2/3) was even with last week’s non-NFL overrun airing, and CSI: Cyber (0.9/3) took a 10% ratings power-down from its soft October 4 Season 2 debut.
Over on ABC, 10 PM freshman Quantico
(1.6/5) saw a 16% drop in the demo for its third week after holding on
strong from its debut to Week 2. Again, with the Season 6 premiere going
90 minutes last night, count in the TWD factor here. Lead-in Blood & Oil (0.8/2) stumbled 38% in direct competition with SNF and TWD. The early part of ABC’s night had the season premiere of America’ Funniest Home Videos (1.1/4) dip 8% from last year’s opener to a debut low in fast nationals. At 8 PM, Once Upon A Time (1.6/5) saw an 11% decline.
Unlike last week, Fox did not have an NFL lead-in and it saw a number
of declines last night compared to two weeks ago — plus, not to become
boring, there was the TWD issue. Bob’s Burgers (1.0/3) started Fox’s originals with a 17% drop from its last new show of September 27. The Simpsons
(1.5/5) was even with its season premiere two weeks ago, but down a
hard 44% from the NFL-boosted numbers of October 4. Obviously down from
last week, Brooklyn Nine-Nine (1.3/4), Family Guy (1.4/4) and Last Man On Earth (1.1/3) were also down — 13%, 27% and 21%, respectively — from their non-NFL airings two weeks ago.
And yes, those Walking Dead numbers will help sort all this out when they come in later today or tomorrow.
