For his next project, filmmaker Mel Gibson may be returning to a childhood dream. "The very first idea that I ever had about making a film, my first thought ever about being a filmmaker was when I was 16-years-old, and I wanted to make a Viking movie," Gibson told journalists at a press event.

The latest effort to revamp the reputations of the Norse come from Robert Ferguson in an article for the December 2009 issue of BBC History Magazine. Ferguson writes that Vikings raided in reaction to a threat to Denmark by Emperor Charlemagne.

In a Yuletide card, courtesy of Revival Clothing, we learn the origins of "Yule" from its pagan Germanic beginnings through its joining with the Christmas festival during the reign of Haakon the Good. The article includes a bibliography.

The history of medieval medicine in Ireland got a major boost with the discovery of a previously unknown medieval church and graveyard in Ballyhanna, County Donegal. Among the surprises was evidence of successful brain surgery performed around the year 800.

History professor Valerie Garver knows that women faced challenges in the medieval world, but believes that they still played an important role in the world of Charlemagne. Garver's book, Women and Aristocratic Culture in the Carolingian World has been published by Cornell University Press.

Medieval Scotland may not have been as welcoming to Norse travelers as one would think. According to a 13th century Viking travel guide, the country was "full of dangerous natives who speak an incomprehensible language and the is weather awful." The 13th century chronicle warned Icelandic merchants away from the area.

The recent discovery of over 1500 Anglo-Saxon artifacts near Staffordshire, England is having an amazing impact - and not just on the archaeological community. Thousands of everyday citizens are lining up to get a look at the 7th to 8th century treasure, and displaying a new curiosity about their Anglo-Saxon heritage.

William Short, SCA member and author of the book Viking Weapons and Combat Techniques will speak at the Fayetteville Free Library in Fayetteville, NY, on, October 29, 2009. The presentation will include a discussion of Viking fighting techniques and weapons.

The intricate and precise artwork of the manuscripts of 7th and 8th century England and Ireland, including the Book of Kells, has amazed artists and scholars for centuries. Now paleontologist John Cisne believes he knows how it was done. (photo)

Researchers in Nara, Japan are excited by the discovery of shards from an Islamic vase dating to the 8th century at the former location of the Heijokyo palace.

The Outlander, a film released in January 2009, follows the wreck of an alien space craft in 8th century Norway, releasing a futuristic soldier and a bloodthirsty monster into the Viking world. The trailer is available on YouTube. (video)

Charlemagne liked a challenge, and he believed that the youth of his empire should be challenged as well. For that reason he commissioned an English scholar named Alcuin to compile Problems to Sharpen the Young, a collection of puzzles and brainteasers.

A tiny silver penny, minted in the time of King Pippin III of the Franks, was recently sold at auction for EU€34,000.

Take a tour of Aachen, Charlemagne's 8th century capital, with a reporter from the Inverness Courier, from the city's nasty-tasting hot spring water to Frederick Barbarossa's 12th century chandelier.

A 7th century inscription in stone by an Arabic traveler may help solve a mystery about the Qur'an pondered by scholars for centuries: Why was the text seemingly written without diacritical marks?

New research on excavations of early pagan Norse burial sites has given scholars a new understanding of the lives of the Vikings, especially in regard to their funeral practices.

Senchus: Notes on Early Medieval Scotland is a WordPress blog devoted to articles on early Scottish life and history. It is the ongoing project of Tim Clarkson, an “independent scholar” with a PhD in medieval history.

Over 400 graves dating to the Saxon period have been discovered at the site of a road project near the RAF facility Lakenheath in Suffolk, England.

A team of Iranian archaeologists has discovered an eighth-century minaret in the country's northeastern city of Damqan. The architectural remains are the oldest yet discovered from the Tarikkhaneh Mosque.

News has rocked Rome that the famous Lupa Capitolina statue, that for centuries has been a powerful symbol of the city, may not be Etruscan in origin but medieval.

The July 2008 issue of Smithsonian Magazine features a cover story on last year's voyage of the Viking replica ship Sea Stallion. The ship is scheduled to return to Denmark this summer.

Baroness Eithni ingen Talorgain invites Pennsic War attendees to take part in "Britain before the Domesday," a day of activities celebrating early medieval Britain.

Dozens of skeletons, thought to be Muslim and dating from the 8th or 9th centuries C.E, have been removed from the site of excavations near the Temple Mount according to the Israel Antiquities Authority who have deemed the incident "a serious mishap."

Husband and wife Lynda Mallet and Stuart Reddish discovered a mysterious mound three years ago in Sherwood Forest, Nottingham, England with the help of 19th century maps. Now they believe the site may have been an Anglo-Saxon gathering place.

Archaeologists have long believed that Anglo Saxon burial customs required elaborate displays, but new evidence points to the use of more common devotions such as combs, razors and other household items.

The flack over the return of cultural treasures to their native lands has started again, this time over the Lindisfarne Gospels, the priceless 8th century manuscripts currently residing in the British library in London.

Archaeologists working in Vietnam's central province of Quang Ngai have discovered an ancient brick kiln dating to the 8th century CE.

Norwegian historians are rethinking the distribution of power in Viking Norway after the recent discovery of two massive Viking halls in Borre. The halls date to around 700-800 C.E. (photos)

The National Museums of Scotland are launching a new project to shed light on the so-called Dark Ages to educate people about the surprisingly sophisticated cultures of the Picts, Gaels, and Norse.

Just in time for the release of the new Beowulf film comes a...ahem...slightly different retelling of the tale, by Rathflaed DuNoir, The Black Bard of Meridies.