The Faroe Islands - Not discovered by Vikings

[@raymondbradley8519]

Thanks a lot for this really great summary of our research on the Faroes! We are continuing studies of a site on Suderoy and will report on that in due course…

[@NorseReign]

Thank you for the research! It's very exciting stuff and I'm really looking forward to hear about the Suderøy site!

[@MoggingWithMiles]

My dad was the one who found the sentiments with the poop and you actually showed a picture of him awesome! This is so cool and well put together thanks for actually doing good research! My dad was proud of this vid and sent it to me fyi good work 👍

[@NorseReign]

Thanks! It's a very interesting discovery and I can't wait to hear more reports from the Faroes!

[@ZFilms11]

It was common knowledge that Irish settlers were here beforehand, along with whoever else accidentally stumbled upon it. Vikings just properly populated it.

[@NorseReign]

I would say it's plausible that Irish settlers were here before the Vikings, but there hasn't been any concrete evidence to that claim, so I wouldn't call it common knowledge. Let's meet half way and call it common belief!

[@ZFilms11]

@@NorseReign No, I live in the Faroe Islands. It's common knowledge here that Irish monks were here before vikings, and they were essentially kicked out when vikings arrived 300 or so years later, or had abandoned it. There are celtic graves at quite alot of places, aswell as other biomarkers before viking settled, and those aren't particularly scandinavian. But hey, you learn something new everyday.

[@NorseReign]

@@ZFilms11 Well, the reason why this sedimentary find was of such importance was because it actually PROVED that the Island had been populated by humans, before the Vikings arrived. It's true that there are signs/finds (like those graves you mention) to indicate another presence than the Vikings on the Island, which I also mention in the video, but still no hard evidence like written sources or archeological finds to prove they were there before the Vikings. But now, with this cool new sedimentary DNA find - we do! If you have any sources that dispute this - please let me know!

[@ZFilms11]

@@NorseReign Would post sources, but there were essentially alot of barley remains, and such. Also, it was common knowledge. Just not hard evidence, which is my point. No one believed we were the first settlers here. We knew about the irish, hell even celtics, since they had already settled the Shetlands, and frequently explored. We are only around 200 miles away. Not to mention, it's been spoken about alot, in both irish, and faroese culture. So yes, it was common knowledge, HERE. not outside.

[@ofaoilleachain]

Irish here; you're right, common knowledge that Gaels had settled the land to a degree, which were mostly monastic settlements. Iceland also was discovered by Gaels, but not settled as far as I'm aware. Eg læri føroyskt, eisini :D

[@Doomfruit]

Wow this is cool and mysterious! Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

[@annesutherland385]

Good item. is there anything in the Bock Saga about the Faroes?

[@seanquigley3605]

Have you by chance read a book by Farley Mowat called "The Farfarers"? He describes indigenous Europeans from the British isles who settled the Faroes as well as Iceland long before the Norse arrived. They were then chased by the Norse all the way to North America....he quotes early sagas of both Iceland and Greenland to prove that there were people there long before the Norse, and now it would seem he is finally being proven correct. (Also Mr Mowat was a major historian involved in the exploration of Norse migration to North America long before he published the book.)

[@NorseReign]

I haven't read this but I'll put it on my list. Thanks for the tip!

[@MegaSuperpotter]

Thanks Christopher, greatly appreciated.

[@dlewis4283]

Another great informative video Christopher, thanks :-)

[@weepingscorpion8739]

Interesting video. I do remember hearing about this newest discovery and being Faroese myself anything pre-Viking era is really interesting. And you didn't do too bad with the Faroese place names, although I sense a Norwegian(?) accent. Eiði, for instance: the ei is like eye and the ð is silent but a y/j is inserted between the ei- and the -i (which itself has a more e like pronunciation), so "eye-yeh". You mentioned Ærgisbrekka, well, the first part of this name ærgi is also a Gaelic word, and Argir is the name of the town right next to the capital, same word but different spelling. It will be interesting to see what other discoveries are made in the future.

[@EivindurToftegaard]

I do believe "Argir" with "A" is probably a misspelling, since we don't? Find the the spelling anywhere else. Most places have it with "Æ".

[@EivindurToftegaard]

Also "ei" has two possible pronounciations, either /ai/, like "eye" or /oi/ like "loin". Depends on dialect. Streymoy, Eysturoy and the islands north/east say /oi/ (apart from Thorshavn), while the rest (south and west) have /ai/. "Eiði" is located in Eysturoy, and the people there say something like "oi-yeh" (or "oi-yoh", specific to that village if I recall correctly), though people from other parts might say "ai-yeh". Sorry to be pedantic.

[@weepingscorpion8739]

@@EivindurToftegaard Well, as for I kept it simple and just kept it to one pronunciation. And as for ærgi, until recently this was spelled with A in the north and with E in Suðuroy, so Ergisá for instance but then because of the etymology all of these were changed to Æ. But for some very odd reason Argir was left unchanged.

[@EivindurToftegaard]

Yeah quite weird. Like how we still have the spelling "mjólk", where "mjølk" would be more suitable.

[@weepingscorpion8739]

@@EivindurToftegaard No, mjólk is the proper spelling. But the Suðuroy dialects here have an irregular pronunciation of the ó, just like in the word gólv. I've always wondered why that is.

[@reneklankbonker6297]

Frisians were also experienced explorers who populated the faroe Islands.. there are some folk stories about them on the islands..

[@shielamendoza3687]

Interesting topic! Thanks for sharing.

[@andreabakarec6607]

I thought we agreed the sheep is not allowed in the room! 😂 nevertheless, amazing video once again! Maybe a sequel to this video soon, with own footage? 🤭

[@dominicconnor3437]

Thank you

[@MWhaleK]

Irish Monks got there first.

[@Budismo7917]

hey reallly good info, i went to Iceland in 2018 very nice country and yeah they take women from ireland to pro created but did not know in the Feroe Islands also there is evidence of celts dna but the history its clearly that vikings and gaelic celts mix the genes.

[@NorseReign]

I have yet to check out Iceland, but it's high up on my list! Iceland is interesting for many reasons. Fun fact: You have an app in Iceland that shows you if you're related or not. That's how small the population is :)

[@Budismo7917]

@@NorseReign yes its like 360.000 citizens only 😁

[@baldurivar]

Hahaha! Yeah keep that crap going 😂 Every Icelander loves to tell this lie along with many other silly ones to their gullible/naive tourists.. 😆 (especially to the Americans)

[@Ppurk]

discovered here first.

[@dteed6282]

"Thanks to molecular fecal biomarkers"? Well, this is a weird start to my afternoon...

[@NorseReign]

It's either gonna be about Viking settlements or the Depp/Heard lawsuit.

[@joannishansen453]

we knew that !!

[@allanbestle]

Faroe islands means - islands of sheep. (Fåre øerne) in danish. I Heard that when the Northmen vikings arrived, the islands had no people living there, but a massive population of sheep was apparently there; therefore the name. Perhaps something happened since the Celtic Irish, who had brought the sheep there, suddenly decided to leave or perhaps even died there due to sicknesses or starvation.… said to happen long before the Viking arrive.

[@Humancompassion1234]

Okay, so my first thoughts are that Celtic are related or devolved from the Phoenicians which derived from the Egyptians. I have heard that Scotland is named after an Egyptian princess named Scota. If that’s true, it’s not surprising that the island has the name sounding like pharaoh. Then, I think about history, politics, and the aristocracy that have owned the island since recorded history and guess who recorded the history? The winners of the game / land!!! It’s not likely to learn from any establishment of the last 2000 years the truth of the original people. Then, as i have recently learned that the Faroe Islands are ruled by a communist type government who even though is claiming or wanting independence from Denmark and the EU…. I think that’s all political propaganda and military posturing to control that region. I think if you could find some evidence that goes back prior to the world powers that have been in place for the last 2000 to 3600 years ago, it will all be speculation. And I remember too that the governments and education administrations make changes in languages over the years making them different. So, even if you find ancient writings it will be difficult to know the so-called truth. Those are my thoughts! Also, what’s under the islands?

[@annesutherland385]

Agree...Faroe....Pharaoh....I think the pyramid structures are there like melted buildings under the grass. All looks like a very ancient site to me. Probably between 3000 years ago up to 10,000 years ago when the climate was temperate. I also wonder if they were originally inhabited by the Hyperboreans and then the Atlantean-Phoenician cult. The Vikings a fairly modern invasion. Yes...whats underneath? Good question.

[@eyeswideshut1989]

Look up St Magnus cathedral... Skull and bones and tons of other symbology... It's them ..

[@baldurivar]

Ahh! that’s the reason why they haven’t already gotten their independence! 😉

[@CinntSaile]

Very interesting video. Kamban would translate as Cam Bàn. Cam means curved, or bent, and bàn would usually mean fair or white haired. The reason Irish/Scottish Gaels landed on the Faeroes was because of the tradition of voluntary isolation for religious purposes. The settlers were priests, hence the number of Paparsvik, etc, on the Faeroes. Iceland is the same. The first Norse settlers there found Gaelic priests already there. The Vestmannaeyr were named after Gaelic monks; the Vestmann being a Gael or Irishman. Even more fascinating, perhaps, is the Eyrbyggja Saga which mentions, amongst other things, the experience of Norse trader, Gudleif Gudlaugsson who was blown off course while sailing from Ireland to Iceland, and was believed to have landed in what is now Canada/US. He and his crew were apprehended by a people who he described as being Gaelic speakers. When allowed to leave, they travelled east to Iceland.

[@CinntSaile]

​@Mistwalker75 the video's creator suggests he was mixed Gaelic-Norse, an extremely common occurrence in that period, up until the Battle of Largs in 1263. Kamban doesn't sound Norse at all and, once again, the video host attributes it to the Gaelic language. Perhaps you're trying too hard to tie a Germanic origin to anything of worth here. You also suggest that Frisians first settled the Faeroes, yet the Frisians are recorded as having arrived around 1040; archaeology shows the Gaels had been on the Faeroes for around 450 years before this.

[@bentehansen5857]

fo.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%ADmunarsey%C3%B0ur

[@bentehansen5857]

Sheep probably coming with irish munks in around 640