This sword chape was also found in Thorsberg bog. Dating to c. 200 AD it bears one of the earliest runic inscriptions.

The side visible in my photograph reads "owlþuþewaz" and the runes on the reverse say "niwajemariz"

It is thought that the first o and w are reversed due to metathesis, so that it is actually a reference to the god wolþu (OE: Wuldor, ON: Ullr). Either invoking the god or a man with a theophoric name.

Therefore: "Wolthuthewaz is well-renowned," or "the servant of Wuldor, the renowned."

This bracteate was also deposited in a bog near the German/Danish border. It depicts the god Tiw, whom the Norse would later call Tyr - with his hand in the mouth of the wolf Fenrir.

The same motif is seen on Anglo-Saxon bracteates in England - showing the endurance of this god's cult after the migration

These maps show the origins of the "spoils of war" deposited in the bogs of Nydam and Thorsberg.

Clearly there was two-way traffic from Germany and Scandinavia passing through the land of the Angles who were not always friendly towards itinerant mercenaries!

The Rune of Roots and the Idea of Home

Radio North Sea International — Mysteries of the Saxons

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new ep of Radio North Sea International is up!

NEW EPISODE — Radio North Sea International — The Mythic Dimensions of Colonialism

https://hearthfireradio.com/watch?v=OjCiSokJ

After returning from filming in Germany and before embarking on a voyage to Australia, Tom reflects on the significance of the mythic narrative of settlement and how profane stories of colonisation are inadequate. He considers how Hengist and Horsa played a role in the British settlement of Australia and America.

In Milleniyule 2022 i went on to discuss the Updown girl of Eastry who was only mentioned in the supplements of the large Anglo-Saxon DNA paper of that year.

Because this girl had a black grandparent, they announced there would be another paper just about her.

Now the paper is out (Sayer et al 2025) and of course it will be used as a culture weapon. I will address it in a stream or video soon but for now rewatch this (updown girl discussion begins at 33 mins)

https://odysee.com/@millennialwoes:4/MY2022SurvivetheJive:2?r=AEKqgwkPWidrWMdxwxNjBE8p3kA9tT6n

The authors note the updown girl, a child with an absent half black father, was buried with a comb (not unusual for the time at all) and try to link this to woke black hair politics!

“The Black British artist Jade Monsterrat notes that a woman’s hair is deeply rooted in her identity and heritage, referring to the fashion of straightening hair in line with European aesthetics”

A deep dive on a new paper which seeks to "challenge" preconceived notions of Anglo-Saxon England which was apparently "diverse" because out of the hundreds of skeletons analysed from the period, two have been found with 1/4 African ancestry.

I explain who these people really were and the extent to which they were significant (they weren't)

https://youtu.be/JXW7EnJj40A?feature=shared

so my tldr theory for updown girl of Kent:

-she was not 25% black and 75% anglo-saxon like they claim - she has middle eastern/north African ancestry
-her Dad was probably half Frankish/Spanish and half black/Berber - he probably came to Kent as part of the Gregorian mission promoting Christianity in 597 which led to Æthelberht of Kent being the first English king to convert
-Her father's father was a mixed black African and Berber who left North Africa probably due to Christian connections in Europe - or he was a Christian merchant (as the paper prefers)
-Updown girl herself was probably alive under the rule of Æthelberht's grandson Eorcenbehrt of Kent who was the first king to defile the sacred idols of the true gods.
-She probably didn't look very "black" but her Frankish grave-goods and Christian faith were both things that marked her as having connections to France.

-Rejected Christianity
-known for clipping coins
-names sometimes end in Stein
-spoke the ancestor of modern Yiddish
-loyal to tribal god
-Renowned merchants
-Slavers

But enough about ancient Germanics…who did you think I meant?

It appears from these models that my Frankish theory doesn’t quite work. Her best fits give her just a little France/Belgium/Italy which I think is all covering the same admixture. But the bulk is maternal Saxon and paternally a mix of a Sahelian black population like Gambian Mandinka and a North African one like Carthaginian (Berber doesn’t fit as well but could still work).

So yes she had one black grandparent, one north African grandparent and two Kentish grandparents. Other models posted below

Target: England_Early_Medieval_Anglo-Saxon_Eastry_Updown_o:EAS003.SG
Distance: 1.9574% / 0.01957381 | R4P
48.0 England_Saxon
26.0 Laal_(n=1)
18.2 Berber_Mali_Tuareg_(n=3)
7.8 Tunisian_Jew_(n=10)

Target: England_Early_Medieval_Anglo-Saxon_Eastry_Updown_o:EAS003.SG
Distance: 2.0693% / 0.02069331 | R4P
51.6 England_Saxon
22.0 Berber_Mali_Tuareg_(n=3)
17.8 Mandinka_Gambia_(n=137)
8.6 Zaghawa_Sudan_(n=31)

Target: England_Early_Medieval_Anglo-Saxon_Eastry_Updown_o:EAS003.SG
Distance: 1.7730% / 0.01773016
31.0 England_Saxon
20.8 Belgium_Early-High_Medieval_Sint-Truiden_(Mixed_Western_Euro_Profile)_(n=7)
15.6 Berber_Mali_Tuareg_(n=3)
14.8 Mandinka_Gambia_(n=137)
13.8 Bulala_(n=2)
4.0 Tunisian_Jew_(n=10)
0.0 Belgium_Early_Medieval_Merovingian_Koksijde_(Mixed_Western_Euro_Profile)_(n=5)
0.0 England_IA
0.0 France_HautsDeFrance_IA2.SG
0.0 Germany_Hiddestorf_Saxon_EMedieval
0.0 Germany_Late_Antiquity-Early_Medieval_Alt-Inden_(Mixed_Western_Euro_Profile)_(n=5)
0.0 Italy_Imperial.SG
0.0 Laal_(n=1)
0.0 Scotland_IA
0.0 Toubou_Daza_Chad_(n=18)
0.0 Tunisia_Punic_oAfrica1.SG
0.0 Wolof_Gambia_(n=112)
0.0 Yoruba_Nigeria_(n=14)
0.0 Zaghawa_Chad_(n=11)
0.0 Zaghawa_Sudan_(n=31)

Target: England_Early_Medieval_Anglo-Saxon_Eastry_Updown_o:EAS003.SG
Distance: 1.7908% / 0.01790803 | R5P
32.6 Belgium_Early-High_Medieval_Sint-Truiden_(Mixed_Western_Euro_Profile)_(n=7)
22.4 England_Saxon
16.6 Berber_Mali_Tuareg_(n=3)
14.6 Mandinka_Gambia_(n=137)
13.8 Bulala_(n=2)

Target: England_Early_Medieval_Anglo-Saxon_Eastry_Updown_o:EAS003.SG
Distance: 1.9245% / 0.01924470 | R4P
57.8 Belgium_Early-High_Medieval_Sint-Truiden_(Mixed_Western_Euro_Profile)_(n=7)
15.2 Mandinka_Gambia_(n=137)
14.6 Bulala_(n=2)
12.4 Berber_Mali_Tuareg_(n=3)