[gothic-l] Re: Goths and ships

[MCLSSAA2 at FS2.MT.UMIST.AC.UK]

--- In gothic-l at egroups.com, sig <sigmund at a...> wrote:
>  The main part of the Baltic is never freezing. Settlers and
> emigrants came and went by boat,Anthony, by ship).

The main part of the Baltic likely stays open, but there have been
winters when the Danish Straits have frozen across. In one winter in
the 1960's or 1970's they or some of them froze so solidly that buses
ran across the ice instead of ferries. A few centuries ago, Sweden
invaded Denmark in winter across the frozen straits, and I saw a
painting from the time of that war, of a full army including artillery
marching across the frozen Lillebaelt.

> ... the average mid-July temperature from 6000 B.C.E till
> 2000 B.C.E [in Vastergotland amd Ostergotland]
> must have been around +19 degrees C (compared to to-day's
> some +15-16 degrees. ...

In summer; but what does the weather get like in the winter there?
Severe winters do occur in Scandinavia. I have a book about skaldic
poetry, and one of those poems says that its author was given gold by
his king and he spent it on buying cattle, but the next year was so
cold that he had to sell his arrows to buy herrings. If a people
driven by overcrowding and/or cold winters to try to find a land
further south, managed to get into Skane in a winter like that, then
they could cross en masse without boats.


-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
eLerts
It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free!
http://click.egroups.com/1/9699/1/_/3398/_/976698782/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->

You are a member of the Gothic-L list.  To unsubscribe, send a blank email to <gothic-l-unsubscribe at egroups.com>.
Homepage: http://www.stormloader.com/carver/gothicl/index.html