[MR] Archaeology News: Stone Navigation Disks from Ukraine?

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends,

Archaeology News has just posted a story about eight medieval stone disks
that were discovered in the Ukraine.

The disks are carved from soft pyrophyllite, a stone found in the Ukraine
area, with concentric circles and radiating lines. Researchers think these
date from the 12th or 13th century and that three are similar to
navigational devices found in Scandinavian countries. The blog calls them
"Viking solar compasses", a technical mistake as by the 12th century the
Viking age was over. The researchers, like careful scientists, only*
compare* the objects to Viking artifacts.

Remember Josh Gates' EXPEDITION UNKNOWN episode where he goes in quest of
the Viking sunstone? (One of his better episodes):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWE3fLktT-E .

The story is found at
https://archaeologymag.com/2025/01/medieval-stone-disks-could-be-viking-compasses/
.

Scandinavian traders/settlers were very active on trade routes between the
Baltic and the Black Sea, and were known as "Varangians":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varangians .

Yours Aye,


Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆
Continuing a crusade to keep the original Merry Rose relevant and in
business.