Latest news with #Niemi
Yahoo
a day ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Archaeologists Unearth Extremely Rare Viking Burial
Archaeologists in Norway have unearthed the Viking burial of a high-status woman who was buried with her dog in a boat, Science in Norway reported. The grave was first excavated in 2022 after its discovery by metal detectorists. On top of the tomb was an assortment of jewelry closely associated with Viking women. As scientists dug deeper, they discovered an 18-foot-long boat made of joint wooden planks, which contained the body of a woman and her dog. Around her body were items which researchers believe nodded to her status in the community and a rich domestic life, such as a ring-shaped pendant, a weaving sword carved from whale bone, bone and amber beads, a spindle whorl, a whetstone, and an iron sickle. The latter objects, scientists say, indicate the woman had a hand in textile production during her life. "Only the elite would receive a burial like this,' said lead archaeologist Anja Roth Nemi. 'Perhaps only one or two individuals per generation were honored this way.' The small dog, situated at the woman's feet, 'appears to have been placed with real care,' she explained. 'We know from saga literature that Vikings valued their dogs deeply. This suggests a personal bond that transcended death." Some textiles were also recovered within the skeleton of the boat, which remained terrifically well-preserved, as did the woman's body and that of her dog. The soil and sand of northern Norway are particularly rich in lime, which, in addition to the country's chilly climate, helped preserve the remarkable find for more than 1,000 years after the burial. Niemi and her colleagues will continue to analyze the woman's remains to determine her exact age at the time of death, as well as her diet and any possible ailments. "It's a humbling experience," Niemi said. "We get very close to those who lived long ago. This woman walked the Earth over a thousand years ago, and yet here she is, telling us her story."Archaeologists Unearth Extremely Rare Viking Burial first appeared on Men's Journal on Jun 11, 2025
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Viking woman buried in ceremonial boat with her dog
In 2023, metal detector enthusiasts scouring Norway's remote Senja Island stumbled across a remarkable archeological find. While searching near a rural road, they noticed a pair of partially exposed bronze brooches sticking out from the dirt. A closer inspection also revealed what appeared to be rib bones barely eight inches below the soil. The amateur metal hunters contacted archeologists at Norway's Arctic University Museum, who upon arriving at the site, ordered a full excavation. Now that recovery work is underway, the team has confirmed the site holds an unexpected scene: a Viking boat grave for a respected local woman buried with her beloved pet dog. '[Her pet] appears to have been placed with real care,' archeologist Anja Roth Niemi told Science Norway. Niemi added that while not unheard of, such a burial companion was rare in Viking culture. The trove dates to around 900–950 CE, and features numerous artifacts in the roughly 18-foot-long burial vessel. Apart from the skeletal remains and ornate bronze brooches, these include agricultural tools, what appears to be a weaving sword made from whale bone, and a spindle whorl indicative of her domestic responsibilities. 'We believe the woman buried here held significant status locally, and perhaps even across the region,' said Niemi. 'She wasn't at the very top of the social ladder, but she was clearly an important figure.' The region where the grave was discovered is particularly well-suited for preserving ancient bodies and archeological items. Accompanying metal artifacts help prevent bacterial growth, while the soil's rich lime and shell sand contents aid in conserving skeletal material. There are signs indicating that more Vikings (and possibly their pets) are buried nearby. In the course of their excavation work, Niemi's team found another brooch located multiple feet beyond the main grave. This suggests other graves may be present. Experts plan to conduct a more expansive survey of the area using ground-penetrating radar and other tools to see if anything else awaits discovery.
Miami Herald
04-06-2025
- Science
- Miami Herald
Metal detectorists stumble on treasure — and locate Viking boat grave. See it
On a remote island in northern Norway, metal detectorists stumbled upon a pair of bronze treasures. The small artifacts sparked a larger investigation and led archaeologists to find a Viking boat grave of a woman and dog. Metal detectorists visited a low embankment on Senja island a few years ago and unearthed two bronze buckles shaped like bowls. In the process, they also exposed some rib bones, the Arctic University Museum of Norway said in a May 31 Facebook post. Archaeologists initially suspected the site might be a Viking-era grave but didn't know for sure — until now. In May, a team excavated the Senja site and identified it as a roughly 1,000-year-old Viking boat grave, the museum said. Photos show the exposed burial. The wooden boat was about 18 feet long, mostly built without iron rivets and poorly preserved, archaeologists said. In the center of the boat were two skeletons. The larger skeleton belonged to a deceased woman, the museum said. She was buried on her side with her knees bent and her arms in front of her. At her feet is the skeleton of a small dog, possibly her pet or companion. Dog skeletons have been found in Viking graves before but are generally not common, archaeologist Anja Roth Niemi told Science in Norway. Excavations also uncovered an iron sickle, stone tool, bronze pendant, a pair of beads possibly made of amber and a whalebone tool, the museum said. The artifacts suggest the ancient woman was considered high status and important but not among the highest tier of elites, Niemi told Science in Norway. Archaeologists plan to remove the Senja grave's contents, store their finds and eventually analyze the remains in a laboratory, the museum said. Senja is an island off the northern coast of Norway and a roughly 1,000-mile drive northeast from Oslo. Facebook Translate and Google Translate were used to translate the Facebook post from the Arctic University Museum of Norway. Google Translate was also used to translate the article from Science in Norway.
CBC
19-03-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Patrick Watson and Charlotte Cardin's sublime duet, and 4 more songs you need to hear this week
Songs you need to hear is CBC Music's weekly list of hot new Canadian tracks. Scroll down to discover the songs our producers are loving right now. Gordon in the Willows, Patrick Watson feat. Charlotte Cardin "It's been a long, long time," Charlotte Cardin gently sings, inviting us into a new and exquisite collaboration with fellow Montrealer Patrick Watson. The artist, recently named Global Woman of the Year by Billboard Canada, last partnered with Watson for the song Next to You, off her 2023 album, 99 Nights, and this time they've gathered for Watson's new project. Gordon in the Willows is the second single from an upcoming album, inspired by a recent time when the pianist and composer lost his voice, unable to speak or sing for nearly three months. "A few months ago, Patrick played me a piano piece — just the music, no words — and the moment I heard it, it felt like the whisper of an old friend," Cardin explained in a press release. Cardin's voice and Watson's piano lace together like those old friends finding each other after years apart — and if it doesn't make you too cold, you can watch their live performance on Mount Royal on a snow-covered February night. — Holly Gordon Something Over Nothing, Jesse Gold and Katie Tupper Over the past year, Toronto crooner Jesse Gold has been releasing videos of himself singing off-the-cuff, acoustic covers of songs by Beyoncé, Billie Eilish, Sabrina Carpenter, Kings of Leon and more. At the start of March, he dropped one with Katie Tupper, singing Natasha Bedingfield's Pocketful of Sunshine. It was a treat to hear their voices melding together, and not even two weeks later they released an official duet, Something Over Nothing. The downtempo, guitar-led R&B number is a plea for affection from someone whose feelings aren't reciprocal: "Just to know how it feels, even if it's not real/ I take something over nothing every time." The two singers trade verses, coming together on the chorus, the round smokiness of Tupper's voice a sonic complement to the clear brightness of Gold's. — Kelsey Adams DM BF, Eliza Niemi Eliza Niemi's latest single, DM BF, poses the question, "Do you get lonely?" But as the song moves through its gentle, grooving melody, one starts to wonder who that question is directed toward: someone Niemi is yearning for, or perhaps herself. The title itself stands for "Dogman Boyfriend," a strange ode to what is assumed to be the 2023 Luc Besson thriller and not the children's graphic novel series of the same name. In a Talkhouse essay where she wrote about this track, Niemi explained: "I felt connected to him. I thought of how love can feel like this — like being connected to something that might not even exist, or might just all be in your head." Niemi's vibrant sense of humour is balanced by a sincere exploration of what it means to be alone and the relationship one has with oneself. It's all wrapped in a dreamy soundscape complete with airy flute accents and a billowing guitar riff that feels like the beaming sun Niemi sings about. DM BF is the perfect song to listen to as you enjoy the first warm days of the year. — Melody Lau TMTK, Ardn Ardn's first release of 2025 is TMTK, a boisterous jazz rap song about tinted whips, Parisian women and designer silks. Having no time to kill (because he's too busy being successful) is a timeless hip-hop trope, and the Edmonton rapper gleefully leans into the canon, boasting about having his wealth and attitude on lock: "Spending my penny wise, came from the sewer," he raps before spitting, "I am legend, surname is Smith." It's playful and flows easily over a looping hook. However, it's not simply his flow, which sweeps along and draws out each line to tell the story of his come-up, but also Ardn's steady cadence that gives the song its oomph. He slightly mirrors the rhythmic stylings of rapper Isaiah Rashad — there are a few similarities to From the Garden — with his bouncy delivery over TMTK 's twisting beats. On each listen, he sounds more and more self-assured. — Natalie Harmsen AMPM, Luna Elle On her latest single, AMPM, Luna Elle is insatiable. The Toronto R&B singer's voice is buttery and rich, as she begs to be completely wrapped up in her lover: "I want you in the AM, PM/ weekday, weekend/ all day, all night/ don't turn out the lights." As she shared on Instagram, this is a song "for lover girls and lover boys" who just can't seem to get enough of the objects of their affection. Luna Elle's voice floats over a shimmering groove, and although she makes it clear she wants that 24/7 kind of loving, the song feels perfectly suited for the coziness of dusk. AMPM is her first release since September's Halfway Broken, a song that nabbed the artist a Juno Award nomination for traditional R&B/soul recording of the year. — KA
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Commissioners host meetings on jail project
Feb. 13—JEFFERSON — The Ashtabula County Board of Commissioners hosted a pair of public meetings on proposed plans for an expanded Ashtabula County Jail Wednesday. The first of two meetings Wednesday was well-attended, with nearly every seat in the commissioners' conference room filled. J.P Ducro, president of the commissioners, started the event by thanking everyone for attending. Commissioner Casey Kozlowski said the jail project has significant public interest. Commissioner Kathryn Whittington said the purpose of the meetings was full transparency. Sheriff William Niemi said the current jail does not meet the county's needs. "I have an obligation to keep my community and the county safe, and I can't do that properly with the current facility that we have," he said. "So this is something that had to be addressed a long time ago, and I'm glad the county commissioners are listening to me." Ducro said while the jail may look great on the outside, the inside is a completely different story. "It's kind of become a money pit," he said. "We've put hundreds of thousands of dollars into just the elevator repairs over the course of the last few years." How corrections was addressed 50 years ago is completely different from today, Ducro said. "Because it's a multi-story facility, it's operationally inefficient, and it's undersized to meet the needs of today's incarceration," he said. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the jail housed as many as 170 inmates. The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections recently lowered the maximum number of inmates to 98, Ducro said. "It's housing half as many people, and that's all we're allowed to house by law," Ducro said. The county has contracted with the Geauga County Jail to house inmates there. The jail is not equipped to deal with many complex issues, including inmates who are detoxing or on suicide watch, Ducro said. "Because of the size of the jail, also, we have one room in our current facility that is used for GED classes, for parenting classes, for budgeting classes, for religious, faith-based observation, for Alcoholics Anonymous or other programs like that," Durco said. There are many different programs in the community that exist, but there is not room in the jail to accommodate them, he said. "We're housing gang members, murderers, you name it, they're in our county jail," Niemi said. "And we have to separate people, by law, we can't have them all in one room." He suggested adding on to the current facility to the commissioners. "I don't need anything fancy, I need a jail and I need space to house people, that's all I need," Niemi said. "I don't need anything like a Taj Mahal, I don't need that." He said people who steal are given summons, and some have received five or 10 for minor crimes and do not show up to their court dates. "We're dealing with a whole different type of individual now than we did 10 years ago," Niemi said. He said there are people who have been turned away four or five times when trying to serve their time. The Geauga County Sheriff cut the county a break with the deal to house inmates, which has helped them out, but it is not a permanent solution, Niemi said. "Our situation is dire," he said. "So I suggested we add on to our current footprint, it saves the county money, and it gives us a 209-bed facility." The current booking area will have to be modified, he said. Niemi said adding onto the current facility is the cheaper route, and easier to do. Whittington said this is not a new issue, and the commissioners have been working on it for several years. In 2021, the commissioners put a sales tax increase on the ballot in order to pay for the construction of a new jail north of Jefferson. Voters rejected the proposal. Whittington said the commissioners started saving money and looking at where they could reduce things after voters rejected the proposal. The new plan would be an addition on the north side of the current facility, which would cover the entire Sheriff's Office parking lot, Whittington said. The proposed expansion is approximately 55,000 square feet. Potential additional costs would include purchasing additional property for parking. The construction cost estimate is $36 million, Whittington said. Kozlowski said there have been two components to the discussion — construction and operations. "We've learned that actually building the jail is the easy part, we're told," he said. "The hard part is actually going to be able to ... afford to maintain it and run it for many years to come." He said the current jail was undersized to begin with. The proposed jail would have an operationally-efficient design, with a mezzanine, Kozlowski said. The design is an open concept, so corrections officers can keep an eye on everyone in the jail. He said a few additional corrections officers will have to be hired, because of the increase in inmates. "We're calling this an addition, but really it's a new facility added on to our existing Sheriff's Department," Kozlowski said. The county is applying for $15 million in grant funds from the state, and has saved an additional $15 million for the project, he said. "I think that's a pretty aggressive grant application, because we can say we have a 100% match," Kozlowski said. Kozlowski said the commissioners saved the money from federal COVID-19 relief funds, along with spending less on general fund items and taking in increased revenue. That leaves a $6 million difference, plus any ancillary costs. "It would be our desire, the commissioners' desire, for us to borrow funds to pay for that difference," Kozlowski said. Niemi said he expects the county will likely hear about whether or not the county received the grant by June. In response to a question from the audience about what would happen to the old jail, Whittington said the space would need to be renovated before it could be used for anything else. She said the commissioners have been fiscally conservative over the last eight years to save money. Niemi said there is a lot of work that would need to renovate the current jail space before it could be used again. The county cannot demolish the current facility, because the second floor is connected to the courts, Kozlowski said. He said construction is expected to take three years, in response to a question from Ashtabula City Manager Jim Timonere. The county needs the grant for the project to move forward, Kozlowski said. However, Gov. Mike DeWine included $130 million in his proposed state budget for jail renovation and construction, he said. Whittington said this is not the first grant the county has applied for. "Our chances are getting better, because others have already been funded through the other grant opportunities that, unfortunately, we were not awarded," she said. Ducro said the county has not had funds to put forward as a match for grant requests before. Kozlowski said the county is being methodical in their grant request. "We learned, don't ask for the full amount and hope we're going to get less," he said. After the meeting, Niemi said the county has to do something. "I can't keep the community safe as they deserve and they way it should be, because you've got to put people in jail when needed," he said. "It's a law and order issue, it's a safety issue. It affects the entire county. This is an option for us to do it, to where we don't have to go to the taxpayer and ask for more money."
