Natural History Museum of Utah - Vikings Beyond the Legend

Once upon a time, there was an online community of mamas who all liked to sew.  And a couple of times, mamas from all over the country traveled to Seattle to attend an expo and hang out together and make memories.

Many of us have stayed in touch on Facebook, and one of those mamas recently posted about the Viking exhibit at the Natural History Museum of Utah in Salt Lake City.  My interest was piqued because I found out from my Ancestry.com DNA testing that I'm more Scandinavian than anything else, but having grown up hearing, "We're German," I didn't know much of anything about Scandinavia.

Reproduction boat in Viking style.

There were many displays of jewelry and clothing adornments.

There was also a display of reproduction clothing, in various styles.  What would have been worn by a free man or woman, what would have been worn by a servant, etc.

If you've ever wondered how far back people have been losing their keys, apparently, it's been going on for a long, long time.

Upper right is part of a comb.

Bottom is the remains of a sword.

Woolen tapestry in remarkably good shape for being 900+ years old.

The homeschooler in me thought it was very cool that they had the recipe for Viking bread up for people to photograph and try at home.

We can make guesses about their pride in personal appearance from archaeological finds.  Top center, re-usable q-tip.  Oh, they call it an "ear spoon," but basically...

Jewelry wasn't just decorative.  These were amulets, with spells to harm or protect the wearer.

There were several displays that talked about the religious transition from ancient Norse mythology to present day Christianity.  Vikings, like many Native Americans, had no problem adding another god to their pantheon of gods, but it took a longer progression for the old ways to die off.

I was impressed with the intricacy and delicacy of some of the pieces.

The runes here reminded me of the runes illustrated in the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings books I grew up with.

It's amusing to think of ancient graffiti surviving until today.  Somehow I had it in my head that all written history must be serious, scholarly materials.  Although, I have a lumber receipt that belonged to my great grandfather, so one would think I would know better.

Can you imagine this as the clasp of a thick cloak?  It would have been lovely.

And these crosses are not so different from religious jewelry and accessories we see today.  The crucifix with the loop reminds me of a key chain.

Weapons looked to be designed with function, rather than beauty in mind.

Brooch, see description below.

I feel like I should get some library books and acquaint myself with Norse mythology and Scandinavian history, but the passionate curiosity just isn't there right now.  I tried with a book of Irish tales for children, and I only made it through one--and it was rather depressing.  Maybe when I actually find specific ancestors to research the interest will come.  I spent hours pouring over a small town Colorado newspaper archive that had several mentions of my great grandmother in it.

The metal pieces are what's left after the wood planks they were holding together have all rotted away.  They're held in position with fishing line, showing the outline shape of the boat they came from.

I expected to feel some sort of personal connection in this exhibit, some kind of "these are my people" type feeling, but the closest I came was in seeing these sewing scissors...

...and wondering if the lady Viking who owned them had to tell her husband and sons not to use them for anything except fabric.

Swords and daggers.

Another brooch.

Booty? Plunder? Trade?  Coins from what is now England and Germany, found in Sweden.

Bits of silver.

Limestone carved with battle scene.

This is a reproduction of a rune stone.  Rune stones have been found in all Scandinavian countries except Finland, but most have been discovered in Sweden.

Another reproduction rune stone.  Some commemorated an event, others honored the dead.

Some gold and silver jewelry.

The museum was amazing, and I really enjoyed our time there.  We ended with lunch at their little cafe, where I had a green tortilla quesadilla.


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Natural History Museum of Utah - Dinos and Native Americans

Okay, I'll admit it.  I went a little crazy with pictures on this day of vacation.  So I'll break this down into a couple of posts so it's more than just a giant photo dump.

We went to the Natural History Museum of Utah, which is affiliated with University of Utah.  Even from the outside, it's a neat building.  If we lived nearby, we'd totally have a family membership.  I could see myself spending a lot of time here.

There were fish fossils,

And leaf fossils,

And a glass floor exhibit, like the one we have at our local history museum.

But unlike our local museum, this one has DINOSAURS!

Great big dinosaurs,

and an array of dino skulls.

Can you imagine being responsible for putting in order all these almost identical vertebra...

...to make this long, long tail?

This little guy down in front?

Weirdest looking bones I've ever seen.

In addition to the large, majestic dinosaurs, there were some little ones, too.

Even a few flying dinos!

Okay, so the big guy with the long tusks is a mammoth.  Look down.  To the left in front of him, you can see a baby mammoth.

That's this guy.  I was reminded of Manny the Mammoth from the movie Ice Age.

Remember how I said I loved the building?  The views!  Omigosh, it was amazing.  You can see the capitol.

And there it is.  We saw it closer up when we were out driving around, but I didn't get a picture of it then.

You might want to read this sign.  In a couple of days, I'll be talking about the drive from Utah to Nevada, where we pass by the Bonneville Salt Flats, and get to see this area.

More awe inspiring views.

And then we were in Native American exhibits.  Baskets and pottery and petroglyphs and all sorts of interesting things.

My boys would have liked seeing the weapons, of course.

This was pretty cool.  The museum had a lot of hands on areas.  For instance, you could try your hand at assembling a rubber version of a dino skull, or piece together some faux pottery shards.  This was an area where you could go down into the excavation pit and poke around and get a feel for what it's like on a real dig.

One thing that struck me about the shoes is how small they all seemed.  I'm sure some of it was shrinkage with the age of the leathers, but it also seems like folks were smaller back then.  I didn't see any moccasins that would fit my size 9 feet.

When I was a kid, there was a little Native American museum that I used to walk past sometimes.  I remember seeing obsidian arrowheads and woven baskets there.  Seems arrowheads can be made out of lots of other materials, too.

We stepped out onto a couple of the terraces to take in the view.  There are critters in the area, so I stayed on the patios.

But it's very pretty, if you can get past the lack of flowers.

Paul took lots of pictures, too.

This guy reminded me of Mr. Beaver in the Narnia movie.

Another terrace had mirror like windows.  We didn't get many pictures of us together on the trip, so I snapped this dorky one to prove that we were in the same place at the same time.

I enjoyed the Native American exhibits.  The stories about the disappearing culture and languages were compelling.

And the craftsmanship in the beadwork and other handiworks was beautiful.

I have to admit being a little disappointed when I got my Ancestry.com genetic testing results back, and I discovered I have no Native American ancestry.  My grandmother (who was an equal opportunity racist--she distrusted everybody) used to call my grandfather a "dirty old Indian" when I was a kid, so I always assumed there was some trace from him.  There's not.  Although I discovered that his grandfather was a Freemason, which was also kind of interesting.  I hope to do some more family tree research after the kids start school.  I have this fantasy that I'm going to have all sorts of free time then.  We'll see how realistic that ends up being, given that I've been getting involved with various volunteer organizations.

Coming next:  the Viking Experience at the Natural History Museum.  Which does have ancestral relevance for me.  I felt like the Viking exhibits deserved their own post.


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CaNeUt Day 4 - Travel to Salt Lake City

After our hike day, we packed up and set out for Salt Lake City.  (If you've missed any of the previous days, start with Day 1.)

Drive through rocks.

Spans of gorgeous, interesting scenery.

And then, Paul spotted this sign.  Truck Show.

Now Paul loves trucks.  So we stopped to check it out.

 As truck shows go, it wasn't super large, so I followed Paul around and took pictures of him,

while he took pictures of trucks.  Then we had a late breakfast in Panguitch.  It actually looked like a mildly interesting little town with an annual quilt walk that has a neat story behind it.

From there, we set out for Salina, UT.  I got the chance to meet up with a friend who was about 10 miles off the freeway from there.

We knew we were off the beaten path (and off the freeway) when we started seeing cattle saunter across the road.

These guys were right out the window.

My friend Rosa and I had a lovely visit, and I got to meet her family for the first time.  When it was time for us to head on down the road, Paul took this horrible picture.

Fortunately, one of Rosa's daughters took this much better one, and I snagged it off facebook.

We got into Salt Lake City around dinnertime and ate at our hotel.  I think we were both ready to be out of the car for a while, having spent 3 of the last 4 days driving.

And that's the end of Day 4!


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