Exploring the Viking Age

Archaeologist Johan Runer joins us to explore how Viking society was held together without kings, police, or central power. From burial rituals to land rights and runestones, we look at how authority, ownership, and identity were built from the ground up. We talk about decentralized power, grave goods as legal markers, and the invisible laws that shaped Viking life. This episode is about real people, not just warriors and sagas—and how archaeology brings their world back to life. Available on Spotify, YouTube, and all major platforms.

Jackson Crawford is a linguist, translator, and educator known for his clear and accessible approach to Old Norse. In this episode, we talk about what Old Norse actually sounded like — and how we even know that. We also explore how far we can trace our shared linguistic roots, and how Jackson left academia to bring Old Norse to a wider audience through YouTube.Jackson’s work has reached millions through his YouTube channel and new translations of the Poetic Edda and The Saga of the Volsungs.Subscribe to stay updated! Also available on all platforms where podcasts are found, such as Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and more. Find all the links in our linktree: https://linktr.ee/grimfrost

Håkan Altrock has built Viking ships, sailed them along the ancient Viking routes to the Caspian Sea, pulled them across land by hand—and been threatened and shot at in Russia. In this episode, he shares stories from decades of travel on open water in handcrafted ships: sailing the eastern river-routes, navigating storms, improvising repairs, and facing real-world threats far from home. This is a conversation about wood, wind, border crossings—and why the line between history and the present is sometimes thinner than we think.

Today’s guest is Jim Hansson — marine archaeologist, diver, and co-author of The Ships of Birka. In this episode, we dive deep (literally) into the world beneath the waves: underwater Viking harbors, preserved tools and textiles, how he found a fragment of what is likely a piece of a sail, and the magic of uncovering everyday life from over a thousand years ago. Jim shares wild stories from decades of diving, from finding Kalashnikovs and Santa masks to recovering 16th-century warships in the Baltic Sea.

Todays Guest is Rowdy Geirsson - American humorist, author, history nerd and Viking enthusiast currently living in Sweden. He’s the author of the Impudent Edda and Scandinavian Aggressors. We dive into why Norse myths still hit hard today, and what it means to bring ancient gods into modern-day Boston. From Thor losing his temper renewing his drivers license to poop feuds in Icelandic sagas.