16-Nov-2024: Burning Down the Longhouse, a presentation on Hurstwic's research in the Viking-age battle tactic of attacking a man by burning down his house, presented at the Scandinavian Cultural Center & Library. The lecture discussed the tactic and why Viking warriors thought it to be a humane way to conduct battle, as well as the results of our research on the tactic, including horrific videos shot from the inside of the house as it burns, recorded at one of the test burns at Hurstwic's Fire Festival.
31-Oct-2024: Viking Weapons and Combat,a lecture on Hurstwic's research on Viking history, society, and combat, presented at Quinebaug Valley Community College, an annual event.
5-Oct-2024: Glíma integrated with Viking combat: a 4-day training camp sponsored by Odin’s Warrior Tribe and featuring Reynir A. Óskarson and William R. Short of Hurstwic, along with a team of glíma champions from Iceland.
23-Aug-2024: The Viking Housefire Experiments. A new video from Jackson Crawford shot at the Hurstwic Fire Festival, in which he interviewed some of the key personnel from Hurstwic and WPI involved in the fire research. It really shows that it takes a village of experts to raise a nerdy Viking experiment.
3-Aug-2024: A short video summarizing our preliminary research results from our experiments with burning Viking-age longhouses at our recent Fire Festival in Iceland. Ever wonder what it was like being on the inside when Vikings set a house ablaze? Wonder no longer.
31-Jul-2024: Burning Down the House by Vikingology Podcast. William Short and Reynir A. Óskarson of Hurstwic talked with C.J. Adrien and Terri Barnes of Vikingology about Hurstwic's recent experiments using experimental archaeology to research the Viking-age age battle tactic of burning down the longhouse. Watch the discussion here.
19-Jul-2024: Hurstwic Fire Festival 2024: Montage. We at Hurstwic were so busy doing nerdy science-y things at our fire festival that we didn't capture many general interest shots of our research into the Viking-age battle tactic of burning the longhouse, or of many of the other activities at the festival. Fortunately, Stig G. Myren did capture a lot of material, and he has assembled it into a montage, showing the activities at the festival, our research, and many of the behind-the scenes moments, giving the viewer a clear picture of what went on in and around the festival.
12-Jul-2024: Viking-Age Battle Tactics - Fire Festival at Eiríksstaðir. A summary of Hurstwic’s research on the Viking-age battle tactic of burning the longhouse, along with a look at some of the other activities at our Fire Festival. The video concludes with a condensed look at the final test burn of the festival.
7-Jul-2024: Today’s Burning at Eiríksstaðir (in English). Hurstwic's William R. Short talks to Jackson Crawford about the research being conducted at Hurstwic's Fire Festival.
7-Jul-2024: Eiríksstaðir Living History Museum. A discussion with William Short of Hurstwic, and Bjarnheiður Jóhannsdóttir, Atli Freyr Guðmundsson, and Rain Mason of Eiríksstaðir about experimental archaeology at the Viking house at Eiríksstaðir. Hosted by Jackson Crawford.
3-Jul-2024: In conjunction with our Fire Festival, the National Museum of Iceland in assocation with Hurstwic and Eiríksstaðir hosted a panel discussion on the topic of Researching Vikings. The discussion brought together experts in the field whose research has advanced our understanding of the Viking age. This video is a record of that discussion. The introduction is in Icelandic, and the discussion is in English.
22-Nov-2023: William R. Short and Reynir A. Óskarson of Hurstwic talked to Noah Tetzner in a History of Vikings podcast: Viking Combat: The Violent Society of the Norse with Hurstwic.
Many topics were discussed, including:
What are the connections between the Norse gods and Viking combat?
What do the poetic kennings in skaldic poetry teach us about use of Viking weapons?
What are some of the popular misconceptions about Viking combat?
How did Reynir and William become such total Viking nerds, and what advice can they offer up-and-coming Viking nerds?
2-Nov-2023: Lecture on Hurstwic's research on Viking combat at Quinebaug Valley Community College, an annual lecture demonstrating that researching and learning history need not be boring!
9-Sep-2023: Glíma training workshop. Hurstwic's Reynir A. Óskarson and a team of Icelandic and international champions, along with William R. Short, taught a four-day workshop on glíma, the empty-hand combat of the Vikings, and the national sport of Iceland today. Sponsored by Odin's Warrior Tribe. The event was covered in Morgunblaðið, the newspaper of Iceland, and members of the Icelandic Embassy in Washington, DC attended.
5-Sep-2023: William R. Short and Reynir A. Óskarson of Hurstwic sat down with Dan Sanz for an interview on his martial arts channel Art of One Dojo. As usual, we went all over the place in our discussion about Viking combat, and at times discussing modern martial arts methodology and how we apply it in the research of the ancient fighting system of Vikings.
10-Jul-2023 - 21-Jul-2023: Edge on ScienceViking Adventure. Dr. William R. Short ran two 1-week summer science camps for middle school children that used research and experimentation with Viking weapons and combat as the motivation for the deep study of a variety of STEM-related topics. Students learned about Viking history and society, trained with Viking weapons to gain needed physical skills, then used those skills to measure and analyze the capabilities of Viking weapons. Their excitement and enthusiasm led the students to perform work far beyond their grade levels in math, physics, experiment design, and data analysis.
5-Mar-2023: William R. Short and Reynir A. Óskarson presented a webinar for SGSM on Life and Death as it relates to the Viking warrior. The Q&A and discussions that followed ran nearly as long as the presentation and covered a wide range of Viking topics.
22-Feb-2023: Reynir A. Óskarson and William R. Short had a discussion with Jackson Crawford about our ideas concerning the traps and pitfalls of Viking research. In the conversation, we talk about some of the traps we ourselves have fallen into in our Viking research at Hurstwic.
20-Jan-2023: Our article on our Viking combat research appeared in the Winter 2023 issue of Black Belt Magazine. "3 Pillars: the fighting method of the Vikings, history's fiercest warriors" details our research and our findings about the fighting methods of the Vikings.
11-Jan-2023: Viking Weaponry, a Discussion with William Short and Reynir Óskarson, an interview on the new Vikingology podcase with C.J. Adrien and Terri Barnes. In the interview, we talk about topics from the research for our Men of Terror book, ranging from weapons to tactics to orðstírr to using glíma against the trolls of yule!.
11-Nov-2022: Lecture on Hurstwic's research on Viking combat at Quinebaug Valley Community College, an annual lecture demonstrating that researching and learning history need not be boring!
21-Aug-2022: Informal presentations by William R. Short and Reynir A. Óskarson on Hurstwic's on-going research into Viking weapons and their use, part of the special Culture Night activities at the National Museum of Iceland. William and Reynir answered questions and discussed our research with guests in the exhibit hall while videos of our research experiments were shown next to the Viking weapons in the museum's collection.
18-Aug-2022: Icelandic: the battle language of the Vikings. A lecture by Reynir A. Óskarson and William R. Short to Icelandic language students at Háskólasetur Vestfjarða (University Centre of the Westfjords) on how our research into the ancient language of the Vikings informs us about Viking combat and about how the echoes of that combative society linger in the modern Icelandic language.
17-Aug-2022: Experimental archaeology: putting theories to the test, a presentation by William R. Short and Reynir A. Óskarson at Hrafnseyri to archaeologists excavating Viking-age sites around Arnarfjörður this summer.
13-Aug-2022: Experimental archaeology: putting theories to the test, a presentation by William R. Short and Reynir A. Óskarson at the Saga Centre in Hvolsvöllur. A lecture on Hurstwic's use of experimental archaeology in our research, drawing on example from our Viking combat research and Viking iron smelting research.
3-May-2022: Experimental archaeology: putting theories to the test, a presentation by William R. Short and Reynir A. Óskarson at the National Museum of Iceland. The lecture is about the use of experimental archaeology in historical research, using experiments in settlement-era iron-making in Iceland as the example to explain the concept. The introduction is in Icelandic, while the lecture is in English.
30-Apr-2022: A reception for the opening of the From Mire to Metal special exhibit. William R. Short offered some brief remarks on the use of experimental archaeology in our research at Hurstwic.
11-Apr-2022: INLUS Author's Corner — Men of Terror, a webinar with William R. Short and Reynir A. Óskarson about our new book, Men of Terror, on behalf of INLUS.
8-Apr-2022: An interview with William R. Short and Reynir A. Óskarson conducted by C.J. Adrien about our new book, Men of Terror, for the podcast Exploring the Viking World.
26-Mar-2022: A presentation at a Viking boat-building workshop sponsored by Odin's Warrior Tribe, with material drawn from our Men of Terror book.
23-Jan-2022: William R. Short and Reynir A. Óskarson were interviewed by Alain Guillot for his podcast. We discussed the topics covered in our new book, Men of Terror, how we came to write the book, and our unique approach to researching the book.
Your presentation was superb! Judging from the audience's questions
they were totally immersed and fascinated by the topic. I was astounded by your exacting use of science
and history to understand Viking combat and culture.
18-Nov-2021: Dr. William R. Short presented at the Worcester Art Museum Master Series lecture program on the research behind our new book, Men of Terror as it connects to a newly acquired Viking sword just added to the museum’s collection.
19-Sep-2021: Dr. William R. Short presented a lecture at the Ashokan Sword seminar of the New England Bladesmith Guild. The presentation covered aspects of our research on swords described in our new book, Men of Terror.
1-Sep-2021: William R. Short and Reynir A. Óskarson lectured at Háskólinn í Reykjavík (University of Reykjavík) to physics students on the physics and science behind our research on Viking weapons.
31-Aug-2021: William R. Short and Reynir A. Óskarson met the President of Iceland at his official residence at Bessastaðir to present him with a copy of our new book, Men of Terror and to discuss with him some of the intriguing research results detailed in the book.
30-Aug-2021: A lecture by William R. Short and Reynir A. Óskarson about the research results in our new book at Vínlandssetrið.
29-Aug-2021: A lecture by William R. Short and Reynir A. Óskarson to folklorists and the general public about the research results described in our new book, presented at Sauðfjársetur á Ströndum.
27-Aug-2021: A lecture by Reynir A. Óskarson and William R. Short to Icelandic language students at Háskólasetur Vestfjarða (University Centre of the Westfjords) on how our research into the ancient language of the Vikings informs us about Viking combat and about how the echoes of that combative society linger in the modern Icelandic language.
26-Aug-2021: A lecture by William R. Short and Reynir A. Óskarson at Hrafnseyri presented to a group of archaeologists excavating in the area and to the general public about the new book.
26-Aug-2021: A lecture and training/demonstration by Reynir A. Óskarson on the evolution of Glíma from the empty-hand combat method of the Vikings to the national sport of Iceland today. Presented at Hrafnseyri to a group of archaeologists excavating in the area and to the general public.
25-Aug-2021: Viking Weapons and Combat, Part 2, an interview with Dr. William R. Short conducted by Dr. Jackson Crawford on topics from the new book, Men of Terror,.
22-Aug-2021: A presentation by William R. Short and Reynir A. Óskarson to a private group of Viking enthusiasts in Reykjavík about the research results discussed in our new book.
21-Aug-2021: A presentation by William R. Short and Reynir A. Óskarson at Þjóðminjasafn Íslands, the National Museum of Iceland, interpreting the artifacts on display in the light of the research in our book.
20-Jun-2021: Strange Science: Uncovering Viking-Age Combat presented on-line for the Unitarian Universalist Society of Martha's Vineyard.
21-Nov-2020: Viking Naval Combat, a lecture by Dr. William R. Short presented on-line by Mystic Seaport Museum, part of the museum's annual Viking Days event, presented virtually this year.
16-Nov-2020: The Blood of Ymir: Viking Combat at Sea, an interview with Dr. William R. Short conducted by Dr. Jackson Crawford.
Sadly, the audio is somewhat garbled. The presentation just above covers much of the same ground, and in a lot more detail.
20-Oct-2020: Firing Up Ancient Secrets, a lecture by Dr. William R. Short on Hurstwic's research in how iron was made in Viking-age Iceland. The lecture was presented on-line by the Massachusetts Archaeological Society Gene Winter chapter.
20-Jun-2020: Uncovering Viking-age Combat: Strange Science?, a lecture by Dr. William R. Short presented on-line by Mystic Seaport Museum, part of the museum's annual Viking Days event, presented virtually this year.
5-Mar-2020: Félag fornleifafræðinga (Icelandic Society for Archaeologists) presented Viking-age Weapons and Combat: Archaeology and literary sources put to the test, a lecture by Dr. William R. Short and Reynir A. Óskarson of Hurstwic at Háskóli Íslands (University of Iceland).
15-Feb-2020: A video interview with Dr. William Short conducted by Dr. Jackson Crawford on Viking Weapons and Combat.
Hurstwic did a show-and-tell of our iron-making experiments in Iceland, talking about our research and displaying the materials we used, as well as some historical excavated samples from Icelandic Viking-age iron-making sites.
30-Sep-2019: Presentation on Fighting Moves from the Sagas
at Cape Cod Museum of
Natural History, part of the Digging Into the Past series of
lectures.
30-Aug through 1-Sep-2019: Járngerðarhátíð at Eiríksstaðir in Iceland
A 3-day festival of experimental archaeology sponsored by
Hurstwic and
Eiríksstaðir,
with a focus on making iron in Viking-age Iceland. The festival was the culmination
of nearly two years of research by Hurstwic and William Short to uncover the lost
secrets of how iron was made in Iceland’s early history. We succeeded, and
smelted what is probably the first iron in 700 years (near right photo) made from all Icelandic
materials in Icelandic-style furnaces (far right photo).
16-Jun-2017: Presentation on Religion in the Viking Age at
Mystic
Seaport Museum Viking Days.
17-Jun-2017: Presentation on Fighting Moves from the Sagas at
Mystic
Seaport Museum Viking Days.
2-November-2013: Viking Fighting Moves from the Sagas presentation at
Swords
Through the Centuries in Wolcott, CT
5-October-2013: Viking combat training team-building exercise
for WPI undergraduates.
13-September-2013: "Using the Sagas in our work at Hurstwic and at
Higgins Armory Museum", a presentation in the session on Using the
Sagas in the Classroom, part of theHaustþing kennara (Fall
Teacher's Conference) in Egilsstaðir, Iceland
2-February-2013: Viking combat training team-building exercise
for WPI undergraduates.
19-January-2013: Viking Day at Higgins Armory Museum, a
full day of lectures, presentations, workshops, and training sessions.
8-November-2012: Lecture and demonstration on Viking Weapons
and Combat Techniques at QVCC.
31-October-2012: Radio interview broadcast on the
program Samfélagið í nærmynd on Rás 1 in Iceland: Hvatvísir bardagamenn
(although I am not sure I would use the word
hvatvísir to describe my view of Vikings in combat).
(Audio may be
streamed from the RÚV website, or as an
MP3 file from this website.)
10-October-2012: Advisor to the Nova television documentary,
Secrets of the Viking Sword.
22-September-2012: Lecture on Viking Fighting Moves from the
Sagas at Landnámssetur Íslands in Borgarnes, Iceland.
Dr. William R. Short leads a
class discussion of Gísla Saga outdoors in the courtyard at Háskólasetur Vestfjarða
25-May-2012: Television interview on Viking history,
culture, weapons, combat, and travels to Vínland. Broadcast date TBA.
31-March-2012: Opening of Real Vikings, a new exhibition
of Viking-age weapons at Higgins Armory Museum. A full day of Viking
presentations, demonstrations, games, and crafts.
13-January-2012: Viking Fighting Moves from the Sagas of
Icelanders: presentation and combat demo at
Arisia
10-November-2011: lecture and demonstration on Viking Weapons
and Combat Techniques at QVCC.
20-October-2011: Presentation, demonstration, and hands-on workshop on
Viking Fighting Moves from the Sagas at College of the Holy Cross,
Worcester, MA.
6-October-2011: Lecture on Viking Fighting Moves from the
Sagas at Fjörukráin in Hafnarfjörður, Iceland.
2-October-2011: Viking combat workshop with
Víkingar á Þingeyri
at Þingeyri in Iceland.
1-October-2011: Lecture on Viking Fighting Moves from the
Sagas at the annual conference of
Saga Trail Association (Samtök um
sögutengda ferðaþjónustu) at Núpur í Dýrafirði in Iceland.
26 and 27-September-2011: Lecture on Viking-age history, culture and society, followed
by Viking combat workshops for school children at Hallormsstaðaskóli and at Brúarásskóli in Fljótsdalshérað,
Iceland and for the children of Reyðarfjörður at
Minjasafn Austurlands in Egilsstaðir, Iceland.
July and August-2011:
Viking Sword and Shield Workshops, with sessions for adults and separate
sessions for kids at Higgins Armory Museum.
July and August-2011: Viking Combat Workshops for summer interns
at Higgins Armory Museum.
21-April-2011:
Viking Combat Workshop for Younger Vikings at Higgins Armory Museum. A new
one-hour hands-on workshop to introduce younger Vikings to the weapons and the
fighting moves of the Vikings.
12-March-2011: Presentation on Viking history and culture at Ephraim Curtis
Middle School.
28-March-2011: Lecture/demonstration on Viking Weapons and
Combat Techniques at Bates
College.
27-March-2011: Viking combat workshop at Bates College.
12-February-2011 through 7-March-2011: Viking Sword and Shield
Training Class at Higgins Armory Museum, Worcester, MA, USA. The class teaches
the fundamentals of Viking sword and shield combat and runs on four consecutive
Saturday afternoons.
29-January-2011: Viking Day at
Higgins Armory Museum, with
special demonstrations, presentations, and workshops.
29-November-2010: Lecture on Viking-age Iceland at Worcester
State University.
18-November-2010: Video shoot for American Treasures, a new program
premiering on the
Discovery channel in spring, 2011.
On camera, we taught the two hosts of
the show some fundamentals of Viking combat techniques, using our new approach
to teaching historical martial arts.
More photographs of the
video shoot can be seen in
this album.
11-November-2010: Lecture/demonstration on Viking Weapons and
Combat Techniques at Quinebaug Valley Community College.
24-September-2010: Viking combat workshop at SUNY Oswego.
11-September-2010: A lecture on my forthcoming book, The
Warrior Code of the Viking Age, at
Landnámssetur Íslands in Borgarnes, Iceland.
4 and 5-September-2010: Viking Sword and Shield combat training workshop for
Víkingar frá Þingeyri in Þingeyri, west Iceland.
3-September-2010: A lecture on my forthcoming book, The
Warrior Code of the Viking Age, part of theVísindaport lecture
series at
Hákólasetur Vestfjarða
in Ísafjörður, west Iceland.
28-August-2010: Knattleikur returns to
Iceland!
The Viking-age ball game called
knattleikur was played in Iceland, perhaps for the first time in centuries. William R. Short offered brief instruction (right),
and then the games festival began (left). Both knattleikur (for adults) and
sveinaleikur (for children) were played. The games were part of a Viking-day event at Geirsstaðakirkja
in east Iceland sponsored by Minjasafn
Austurlands.
11-July-2010: Viking Sword and Shield workshop at
Phoenix Swords.
25-March-2010: Lecture on the resolution of conflicts in the
Sagas of Icelanders at the University of Connecticut.
20-February-2010 through 13-March-2010:
Viking Sword and Shield Training
Class at Higgins Armory Museum,
Worcester, MA, USA. The class teaches the fundamentals of Viking sword and
shield combat and ran on four Saturday afternoons in February.
20-February-2010: Book signing at Higgins Armory Museum, part of
the Authors at Higgins special event.
30-January-2010: Viking Day at Higgins Armory
Museum, Worcester, MA, USA. A full day of Viking events, include lectures,
combat demonstrations, and a hands-on workshop on Viking combat techniques, as
well as crafts, games, and other family activities.
20-November-2009: Lecture on Viking-age arms and armor, Worcester State
College.
19-November-2009: Presentation and demonstration at Quinebaug Valley Community
College on Viking-age arms, armor, and combat techniques.
16-June-2009 at 8PM: Presentation at Reykjavík, on
weapons and combat techniques in saga-age Iceland.
Part of an open-house at the home of writer and film director Hrafn
Gunnlaugsson, creator of Hrafninn flýgur (The Raven Flies).
Presentation at Furman University, Greenville, SC, USA
2-April-2009
Viking Weapons and Combat Techniques
29-September-2008 at 7PM: Presentation at Gerðuberg cultural
center, Reykjavík, on weapons and combat techniques in saga-age Iceland.
26-September-2008 at 12 noon: Presentation at Vísindaport Háskólaseturs
Vestfjarða in Iceland on weapons and combat techniques in saga-age Iceland.
