Recent Media Appearances
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.
5-Oct-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.
23-Aug-2024: The Axe in Viking Age Iceland: Both Weapon and Tool. Ian McCollum of Forgotten Weapons interviewed Reynir A. Óskarson of Hurstwic and Ármann Guðmundsson of the National Museum of Iceland about some of the Viking-age axes in the museum’s collection and how they were used in Viking-age combat.
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-July-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.
15-July-2024: Icelandic Swords: Blades of the Viking Frontier. An interview by Ian McCollum of Forgotten Weapons on the topic of Viking swords, with Reynir A. Óskarson of Hurstwic and Ármann Guðmundsson of the National Museum of Iceland.
12-July-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-July-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-July-2024: Bruninn á Eiríksstöðum í dag (â íslensku). Hurstwic's Reynir A. Óskarson talks to Jackson Crawford (in Icelandic) about the research being conducted at Hurstwic's Fire Festival.
7-July-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.
6-July-2024: A short news story (in Icelandic) broadcast on Stöð 2 showing one of the test burns at Hurstwic's Fire Festival.
6-July-2024: A short video from Morgunblaðið showing one of the test burns at Hurstwic's Fire Festival.
3-July-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.
30-June-2024: A short article (in Icelandic) in Morgunblaðið about the upcoming Fire Festival.
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?
7 through 10-Sep-2023: Hurstwic held a 4-day glíma training camp, sponsored by Odin's Warrior Tribe. and held at Nine Realms MMA in West Virginia. Several Icelandic glíma champions traveled to instruct at the camp, including the current glíma king (champion in the men's open division), who took on all challengers and remained undefeated at the camp. The event was reported in a lead article in Morgunblaðið, Iceland's daily newspaper.
Everybody wanted to try to take down the glíma king.
5-Sep-2023: Hurstwic sat down with Dan Sanz for an interview on his martial arts channel Art of One Dojo. As typical, 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.
30-Aug-2023: From ancient times into the 20th century, Icelandic fishermen solved a peculiar problem with a unique form of glíma called sýsluglíma. Glíma was the empty-hand combat system of the Vikings, and in this video, we travel to a location where sýsluglíma was practiced and discuss the bizarre problem it addressed.
23-Aug-2023: The fanghella was a tool used in glíma, the empty-hand combat system of the Vikings. These wrestling stones served to break the back of one's opponent and were used both for combat and for ritual sacrifice. Here is an in-depth look at two historical wrestling stones.
6-Jul-2023: A guided tour of the special exhibit on Viking-age iron smelting formerly on display at the National Museum of Iceland. The exhibit was based on Hurstwic's research in this field that altered the vision of history by demonstrating that long-held and widely-taught beliefs were faulty.
1-Apr-2023: Two videos reveal new research and new understanding about the Viking-age weapon known as the atgeirr, including interviews with Reynir A. Óskarson of Hurstwic.
Dr. Jackson Crawford introduces the literary evidence behind the new understanding, and Ian McCollum of Forgotten Weapons demonstrates a working reconstruction of the weapon.
The videos are part of an elaborate April Fools prank.
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: In their new Vikingology podcast, C.J. Adrien and Terri Barnes interviewed Reynir A. Óskarson and William R. Short of Hurstwic about topics from the research for our Men of Terror book. The discussion ranged from weapons to tactics to orðstírr to using glíma against trolls at yule!
29-Oct-2022: Jackson Crawford and Ian McCollum interviewed Reynir A. Óskarson of Hurstwic and participated in glíma with the help of Glímusamband Íslands. In this new YouTube video, they talk about their experiences and interview glíma champions and experts.
3-May-2022: Experimental archaeology: putting theories to the test, a lecture by William R. Short and Reynir A. Óskarson presented at the National Museum of Iceland on Hurstwic's use of experimental archaeology in our research, drawing examples from our iron-smelting research and our combat research. (Introduction is in Icelandic, but the lecture is in English.)
28-Apr-2022: We were interviewed by Katie Rife for an article in Vulture magazine about the Viking game of knattleikr as it is depicted in the film The Northman (2022). The article talks about Hurstwic's research in games and sports and our research in knattleikr and how it compares to the game shown in the movie.
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.
The first of three interviews with William R. Short conducted by Dr. Jackson Crawford, University of Colorado.
15-Feb-2020: Viking Weapons and Combat, on Hurstwic's approach to Viking Combat research.
Another interview with William R. Short conducted by Dr. Jackson Crawford, University of Colorado.
25-Aug-2021: Viking Weapons and Combat, Part 2, on Hurstwic's new book, Men of Terror.
Another interview with Dr. William R. Short conducted by Dr. Jackson Crawford, University of Colorado.
16-Nov-2020: Blood of Ymir: Viking Combat at Sea, on Viking naval combat.
Sadly, a technical glitch resulted in garbled audio. The same topic is covered in more depth in the video lecture linked below.
4-Oct-2021: An interview with Reynir A. Óskarson on the topic of glíma, with Sigurjón M. Egilsson on Heima er bezt Icelandic television (in Icelandic).
10-Jul-2022: A radio interview broadcast on Deutschlandfunk Kultur, with host Peter Kaiser interviewing Hurstwic's Reynir A. Óskarson and GLÍ's Margrét Rún Rúnarsdóttir about Glíma, Iceland's national sport (in German).
"Ég vona að sem flestir komi til að andmæli okkur"
19-Aug-2021: An interview with Reynir A. Óskarson on Rás 2 radio (in Icelandic) with Andri Freyr Viðarsson and Hrafnhildur Halldórsdóttir on Síðdegisútvarpið.
20-Aug-2021: An interview with Reynir A. Óskarson in Morgunblaðið newspaper (in Icelandic) by Hólmfríður María Ragnhildardóttir, talking about the research in our book, Men of Terror.
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.
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.
20-Oct-2020: Firing Up Ancient Secrets, a lecture by Dr. William R. Short on Hurstwic's research in to how iron was made in Viking-age Iceland. The lecture was presented on-line by the Massachusetts Archaeological Society Gene Winter chapter.
14-Oct-2019: A video story by Gísli Einarsson broadcast on Landinn on Icelandic television. The story covers the events at Járngerðar hátíð, the iron-making festival sponsored by Hurstwic and Eiríksstaðir in 2019, the culmination of Hurstwic's research in Viking-age iron making in Iceland.
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.
3-June-2021: An article appearing in the Community Advocate newspaper on Dr. William R. Short's transition from technology nerd to Viking nerd.
2-Sep-2019: An article appearing in Skessuhorn about our iron-making festival at Eiríksstaðir in 2019.