Swarm of quakes at volcano:
A swarm of earthquakes occurring over the past few weeks has intensified at a remote Alaska volcano dormant for over a century, a possible indication of an impending eruption.
The Alaska Volcano Observatory raised the alert level to advisory status for Tanaga Volcano late Tuesday after the quakes became very vigorous.
“We started seeing a whole lot of earthquakes occurring, one after the other, several per minute,” said John Power, a research geophysicist with the US Geological Survey stationed in Anchorage at the Alaska Volcano Observatory.
There have been hundreds of small earthquakes, none larger than magnitude 2.75, but they are concentrated beneath the summit of the volcano, he said.
“That indicates that we’re seeing significant unrest at the volcano,” Power said.
“Whether or not this will lead to an eruption is something we can’t say at this point in time,” he said. “But we are concerned about it enough that we have gone and elevated the warning level.”
While the increase causes concern, he said many times earthquake activity will drop off with no eruption.
“It’s anybody’s guess as to where this particular round of earthquake activity may end up,” he said.
The volcano is on an uninhabited island in the western Aleutians, about 1,250 miles (2,012 kilometers) southwest of Anchorage. There are no communities or structures there, but Adak, a city of about 170 residents on another island, is about 65 miles (105 kilometers) away and could see ashfall. (AP)
Gold disc with Odin found:
Scandinavian scientists said Wednesday that they have identified the oldest-known inscription referencing Odin on part of a gold disc unearthed in western Denmark in 2020.
Lisbeth Imer, a runologist with the National Museum in Copenhagen, said the inscription represented the first solid evidence of Odin being worshipped as early as the 5th century - at least 150 years earlier than the previous oldest known reference, which was on a brooch found in southern Germany and dated to the secinscriptions ond half of the 6th century.
The disc discovered in Denmark was part of a trove containing about a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of gold, including large medallions the size of saucers and Roman coins made into jewelry. It was unearthed in the village of Vindelev, central Jutland, and dubbed the Vindelev Hoard.
Experts think the cache was buried 1,500 years ago, either to hide it from enemies or as a tribute to appease the gods. A golden bracteate - a kind of thin, ornamental pendant - carried an inscription that read, “He is Odin’s man,” likely referring to an unknown king.
“It’s one of the best executed runic that I have ever seen,” Imer said. Runes are symbols that early tribes in northern Europe used to communicate in writing.
Odin was one of the main kings in Norse mythology and was frequently associated with war as well as poetry.
More than 1,000 bracteates have been found in northern Europe, according to the National Museum in Copenhagen, where the trove discovered in 2020 is on display.
Krister Vasshus, an ancient language specialist, said that because runic inscriptions are rare, “every runic inscription (is) vital to how we understand the past.”
“When an inscription of this length appears, that in itself is amazing,” Vasshus said. “It gives us some quite interesting information about religion in the past, which also tells us something about society in the past.”
During the Viking Age, considered to be from 793 to 1066, Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest and trading throughout Europe. They also reached North America.
The Norsemen worshipped many gods and each of them had various characteristics, weaknesses and attributes. Based on sagas and some rune stones, details have emerged that the gods possessed many human traits and could behave like humans.
“That kind of mythology can take us further and have us reinvestigate all the other 200 bracteate inscriptions that we know,” Imer said. (AP)