HISTORY NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2025
VIKING FUNERALS
To the joy of archaeologists, Viking burials of the elite were very ornate. Spectacular ships formed the centerpiece of some. Other burials were stacked with drinking horns, sacrificed animals, and treasure—all to equip the soul on its journey to the afterlife.
Other features in this issue include:
• Miracle on the Nile – The annual flooding of the silt-rich Nile was an agricultural wonder. Central to the elaborate rituals practiced during the flood season was the god Hapy, the embodiment of the
river. “When he rises,” Egyptians sang, “then the land is in joy; then every belly is glad.”
• The Lost Relic – The house the Tablets of the Law, the Israelites built the Ark of the Covenant—a portable chest made of wood and gold—featured several times in the Bible. But then it vanished. It contested whereabouts have been the subject of stories for centuries.
• Vietnam’s Brutal Legacy – Conflict in Indochina became the focal point of the Cold War in the 1950s, as both Americans and Vietnamese paid a heavy price. Years of suffering took a toll on civilians and combatants on all sides. Meanwhile, views of the war left people in the U.S. deeply divided.
