To Erik Ribsskog and associates
I have involuntarily been drawn into in this unpleasant e-mail correspondence
and I have no interested in being a part of it!
If there is a ship of Nordic design dating to the Viking period
in a Pub somewhere in England that is a fascinating story. However, I’m content
that our British colleges have the knowledge and skills to deal with such
finds.
This is not something the Norwegian Maritime Museum will prioritize
to get involved in!
Please, do not contact me concerning this matter again!
Frode Kvalø
Head of Archaeology
Norwegian Maritime Museum
Dear Erik,
Ingi Thor Jonsson, along with Wirral and Liverpool’s
cultural ambassador Mike McCartney has done a tremendous amount of work over
the last 4 years in strengthening the links between Merseyside/ the North West
and the Nordic countries through the annual Nordic Cultural Events (NICE)
Festival, and the suggestion of you making contact was made because of the
(mistaken) impression you may wish to contribute to these efforts. With
respect to the Viking Conference at Chester and the splendid exhibition provided
for the public to enjoy the regions great Viking Heritage this was all
provided completely free of charge – as was the buffet – thanks
to the tremendous efforts of the staff of the Grosvenor Museum, and all the
feedback we have had – apart from your comment – has been very
positive. As a Wirral man going back very many generations I am very proud of
what has been achieved. The food provided was free and if you did not
like it there were other places to buy food nearby. If you missed the
start of the meeting and the introduction so you did not know who the speakers
were this was not the fault of the organisers. Nontheless we appreciate
your interest in the Vikings in our region but if you wish to communicate with
us in future please refrain from using offensive language otherwise your emails
will be blocked. The talks will be posted on the website as soon as we
can,
Best wishes
Steve Harding
Hi,
the Icelandic
guy you said I'd get along well with is gay you b*stard.
Now I don't
wan't to update you anymore.
Good luck with
the Pakistani Samosa food on the Viking-conference.
I think you must
be a muslim guy mobbing me.
Don't want anything more to do with you.
———-
Forwarded message ———-
From: Erik Ribsskog <eribsskog@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Dec 10, 2010 at 5:17 PM
Subject: Re: Viking DNA book – Apologies for problems with Amazon link, now
resolved
To: Stephen Harding <Steve.Harding@nottingham.ac.uk>
Hi,
yes, I didn't
understand the routine, to get on the conference.
But, I haden't seen the exhipition yet, Reap and Pillage, so I just went to
Chester that day, but the train was a few minutes early, so I got there a bit
late.
And then I spoke with the people
working there, at the museum, who got me in there, after the first break.
I understood it
like that one only had to register at the museum, from your website.
But now I understand, that I should have ordered a ticket.
This wasn't clear to me, from reading your website.
But, this is
just a hobby for me, with the viking-stuff on the Wirral, so I read about it
like I would have read an online newspaper etc.
But next time I'll make sure to contact the hosts before I go to a conference
like that.
Sorry about that misunderstanding again!
It sounds very
fine about the video of the conference.
I'll update you if I hear more from the Norwegian Maritime Museum, about the
Vikingship, under the pub, Railway Inn, in Meols.
Thanks again for
arranging the fine viking conference!
On Fri, Dec 10,
2010 at 3:03 PM, Stephen Harding <Steve.Harding@nottingham.ac.uk>
wrote:
Thanks Erik. We are
waiting to receive the video material (and permissions) on the conference
and hopefully you should be able to catch up on the Introduction and the
other talks you missed at the start. This will also be of benefit to
others, particularly the many people who wanted to attend but were
unable to get tickets.
Paa gjensyn,
Steve
Sent: 10 December 2010
14:16
To: Steve.Harding@nottingham.ac.uk
Subject: Fwd: Viking DNA book – Apologies for problems with Amazon link,
now resolved
Hi,
that is, I don't
want to have this as a life-style, with football-games at the Wirral and be
mate with the Icelandic guy from the Scandinavian Church, etc.
I only care about the viking-stuff on the Wirral etc.
Because I have a lot of different interests, like blog, genealogy, web-design,
etc., etc.
So I haven't got that much spare-time.
So this isn't about the community-stuff, this is just about the vikingship and
the conference.
Hope you include the questions from the audience, (from me and others), in the
summary, since I brought up about the vikingship in Meols etc.
Hope this is alright, don't mean to be to direct/inpolite.
Maybe I'll go on a movie, or something, part of the Nordic festival, but I
haven't got the time to go there all the time, unfortunately.
I thought about
going on Max Manus, (the Norwegian was-movie), in the Scandinavian chruch last
year.
And I asked a young Swedish woman, Amanda, who works at Netto, Weaverthree, if
she had been at the Scandinavian Church, but she hadn't.
Also, I have an
employment-case, against Bertelsmann Arvato Microsoft Scandinavian Product
Activation:
Perhaps you know
someone at the University of Nottingham, who could help me with this case, as a
pro-bono-case, because this case involved/involves many Scandinavians living in
Liverpool.
(My alumumni, at
University of Sunderland, haven't replied).
Also, some of
the employees there, had a lot to do with the Scandinavian Church, (and are
included in the case), an Irish/Swede called Michael O'Shaughnessy etc., so I'm
a bit vary about the Scandinavian Church, to be frank.
So I think I'll only keep this at the level it's been at, that I only go to the
odd trip/event at my own choice..
———-
Forwarded message ———-
From: Erik Ribsskog <eribsskog@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Dec 10, 2010 at 1:53 PM
Subject: Re: Viking DNA book – Apologies for problems with Amazon link, now
resolved
To: Stephen Harding <Steve.Harding@nottingham.ac.uk>
Hi,
ok, perhaps I'll
do that!
Thank you very
much for your help!
I'll update you
as soon as possible, if I hear something more from the Vikingship-experts in
Norway.
Thank you very much again for your reply!
On Fri, Dec 10,
2010 at 10:22 AM, Stephen Harding <Steve.Harding@nottingham.ac.uk>
wrote:
Thanks Erik
We'll put a summary
up soon on http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/-sczsteve
and may be able to include some videos of the talks – including the Intro
– once we have permission from the speakers. If you like I can
also put you in touch with Ingi Thor Jonsson – like yourself a
resident Livepudlian – who runs the annual NICE (Nordic Cultural Events)
Festival, I think you and Ingi would get on very well. There will
eventually be a book based on the Conference but that won't be for some months,
Ha det bra
Steve
Hi,
thank you very
much for you e-mail!
I've now sent about the Vikingship in Meols, to the Norwegian Maritime Museum,
at Bygdøy, in Oslo.
They are also experts on vikingships, and the conserving of these, like
Cultural Historical Musum, in Oslo are.
I'll update you
more, if and when I hear back from them.
Has anyone written a summary from the viking-conference, which I could write
about on my blog, since I have a travel-blog etc., where I write about my short
travels from Liverpool to different Norwegian Viking places in the Wirral.
Thanks in advance for any help!
On Tue, Dec 7,
2010 at 2:23 PM, Stephen Harding <Steve.Harding@nottingham.ac.uk>
wrote:
Firstly
apologies for the bulk nature of this email again and secondly apologies to
those who have had difficulty accessing the book (with its marvellous foreword
by Michael Wood) through amazon.co.uk.:
Although
because of the demand (many thanks!) the site says "Out of Stock" if
you click on the "2 new" you should be able to order the book
immediately and in time for Christmas. Thirdly apologies if you have
no interest in the Vikings!
From: Harding Stephen
Sent: 02 December 2010 14:41
To: undisclosed recipients
Subject: Viking DNA book
Dear Colleagues
(including many of you who took part in the genetic survey of northwest
England, 2002-2007, or the Nordic Festival in 2008)
Apologies if you get
this message more than once! We are writing to bring to your attention a
publication we have just produced. It focuses on the first part of a
genetic survey of northern England – the Wirral and West Lancashire
project in the northwest – and explains the basis behind the
DNA method to probe ancestry, the use of surnames to help to localize
volunteers to specific regions of the country, and how genetic methods are
being used in conjunction with historical, archaeological and linguistic
evidence to learn about Viking ancestry. It also gives some
examples from individual results and from comparing populations of people to
help show what these new technologies can achieve.
Publication of the book
has been supported by one of the UK Research Councils who have been supporting
the study (the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council) – and
Nottingham University Press in conjunction with Countyvise Limited have very
kindly produced this for us and indeed done a splendid job. We
would like to stress that we as authors are not taking any Royalties or profit!
The
book is introduced with a brilliant foreword by famous UK/BBC
historian/broadcaster Michael Wood after which we set out to show
as clearly as we can, with the help of full colour illustrations – what
DNA is and how DNA methods can be used to probe both individual and population
ancestry. For probing Viking ancestry it shows the importance of using
DNA in conjunction with historical, linguistic, place name and archaeological
evidence – again with the help of many colour illustrations, and explains how
DNA can be used to probe paternal ancestry and maternal ancestry either for
individuals or for populations of people, explaining also some of the sometimes
complicated jargon that scientists use.
A major
problem in studying population ancestry is the large population movements that
have occurred since the Industrial Revolution. However there is a strong
link between surnames and paternal DNA ancestry and the book explains how
information such as Henry VIII’s tax rolls, , and even criminal records
(including someone accused of killing a dog in 1348 …. found not guilty!)
can be used to help establish the volunteer base for specific regions of
northern England. Using these methods significant Scandinavian ancestry
(up to 50% of the mixture of DNA from the old populations) has been shown for
Wirral and West Lancashire. One youngster from Wirral was so
impressed with the results for her father she wrote a School project
“My Viking Dad and his Viking Dog”! The book finishes with a look
towards the current testing of other regions of Northern England and the
research currently being undertaken with colleagues in Norway to study the
genetic profile of Scandinavia in the Viking Age.
This
broadcast on BBC Radio 4 gives some more information about the survey: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/making_history/making_history_20080520.shtml (after
the first minute or so)
So we think it will be a
useful read for anyone interested in DNA ancestry and, after seeing what we
have done in the North West, give people from other regions an idea of how
their own past could be researched. The book is 150 pages long and
extensively illustrated in colour.. The book has just
become available in all good bookshops in the north West or from Amazon.co.uk *and
would make an excellent Christmas present.
Steve Harding, Mark
Jobling and Turi King
Stephen Harding DSc(Oxon)
Professor of Applied
Biochemistry
NCMH Laboratory,
University of Nottingham
Sutton Bonington
LE12 5RD,
UK
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/-sczsteve
steve.harding@nottingham.ac.uk
*in case of difficulty contact us on this email address, and we
will put you in contact with Nottingham University Press or Countyvise
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