It's a Mystery

Everyone enjoys a good mystery with a happy ending, however, some mysteries remain... One hundred years had passed and it was time to open the “Mystery Package”. It was sealed in 1912 by the municipality mayor of Sel, Norway , Johan Nygaard, and labeled “Kan aabnes i 2012” – “Can open in 2012.” The package was almost discarded, but survived one hundred years and two world wars. It was time to have the contents revealed.

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In a ceremony attended by Princess Astrid of Norway, the parcel was opened by a white-gloved museum curator. Inside were packed some notebooks, yellowing newspapers, community council documents and swatches of fabric in the color of Norway’s flag. It was a time capsule of the past one hundred years. The current mayor of Sel, Dag Erik Prhyn, attempted to hide his disappointment. “Well, the package didn’t solve our financial problems,” he said, “but our history got richer.” Details of the documents will be revealed at a later date to the disappointed crowd who still didn’t know any answers.

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Meanwhile, Archaeologists contemplate another mystery concerning fifty-nine boulders that were apparently dragged by ancient Vikings to a seaside cliff, near what is now the Swedish fishing village of Kåseberga . These massive stones - each weighing up to 4,000 pounds are believed to be arranged in the outline of a 220-foot-long ship overlooking the Baltic Sea. Archaeologists generally agree that this megalithic structure, known as Ales Stenar ("Ale's Stones"), was assembled about 1,000 years ago. Many believe the stones are arranged as a Viking copy of an astronomical calendar."We can now say Stonehenge has a younger sister, but she's so much more beautiful," according to Nils-Axel Mörner, a retired geologist from Stockholm University. Other researchers familiar with the site are skeptical. They believe the site, built at the end of the Iron Age is a burial monument.

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The mystery remains unsolved.Some believe that this “Stonehenge-inspired” astronomical calendar was constructed by a Bronze Age Scandinavian community that regularly traveled and traded throughout Europe and the Mediterranean. "The first thing is to see that, yes, it's a calendar," according to Mörner.

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There are many mysterious sites throughout Scandinavia that have stones arranged in the form of boats that surround ancient burial sites. And there are several burial mounds, having been excavated , reveal articles believed to aid the departed warrior to their next after-life, including their weapons, slaves... and their boat. One famous burial mound is called Oseberghaugen ved Slagen . When excavated, the now-famous Oseberg ship (Norwegian: Osebergskipet) was discovered in a large burial mound , or Oseberghaugen) at the Oseberg farm near Tønsberg in Vestfold county, Norway. Tønsberg is generally regarded as the oldest town in Norway. The Oseberg Burial Mound (in “Old Norse haugr, is a mound or barrow) which contained numerous grave goods and two female human skeletons, also the ship that became known as The Osberg ship. It has now been reconstructed and has became Norway’s largest tourist attraction. In its time, this ship is not designed to withstand heavy seas and, although seaworthy, the ship was relatively frail, and it is thought to have been used only for coastal voyages. Due to this belief, perhaps this buried ship was a ceremonial ship, one for an easy after-life voyage to the warrior’s new world. Each modern-day discovery reveals more details of our ancestor’s lives, but the mysteries remain...

mysteries...