Yes, I’m still
alive... Apologies for letting this blog lapse over the past few months but I
promise I’ve had good reason. The summer campaign of 2011 exceeded all our
expectations. Our dives near Jan Mayen revealed data and samples that have
lent greater weight to our hypotheses.
We’ve had to
hide ourselves away for months while we gather together all the data, information
and remains we’ll use in our report. We hope to submit it to the Scientific
and Technological Commission of the Norwegian government in a few months’
time. If we succeed in convincing them and obtaining the funds we need, after
many, many years we’ll finally be able to prove a long-held dream: that the
Hyperborean civilization existed.
But we mustn’t get ahead of ourselves. We have to tie up every loose end and
submit the most persuasive argument possible. So please be patient. I’m
afraid I can’t reveal anything specific here until we’ve submitted our work.
Instead, what I’d like to do is continue my tale of how this adventure began,
taking up the story from where I left off in May 2011.
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Volcanic fumarole located near the entrance to the Niflheim Cave. |
To recap, I was taking part in an expedition with my colleagues Geir Grønvoll
and Olve Raaen that involved laying a submarine cable for Nordic
Communications. During a dive by one of our submarine drones, Barracuda 1, we
found something unusual in a mysterious underwater cave...
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Barracuda 1
stirred up the sand on the cave floor, offering us a glimpse of something
unbelievable. Olve, Geir and I were astounded. We thought we must be
hallucinating. Sure enough, we could see something sticking out of the ocean
floor. A long structure that was definitely not formed by nature. Obviously,
we sounded the alarm and immediately contacted Nordic Communications and the
NTNU. The images we sent were concrete evidence that we had discovered a
submarine archaeological find that not only meant the cable should be
rerouted but that here was something that deserved its own research project.
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Viking Drakkar render. |
We didn’t expect an immediate reply but managed to stop the project for a
week to gather as much information as we could and gather samples using the
Barracudas, whenever possible. Our aquatic robots weren’t really designed for
this type of work, but Olve managed to adapt their pincers so that they could
grab objects. He also made their structure lighter so that they could carry
samples back up to the surface.
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Viking Drakkar illustration |
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During the first
few days we created a work perimeter and began to clear the ocean floor of
sand around the structure. This gave us a better idea of its size and scope.
On the fourth day it was clear that the find was something similar to the
keel of a ship. If we used our imaginations, it reminded us of a Viking
Drakkar. But it had significant differences and, most surprisingly, it
appeared to be older. But until we ran carbon dating tests it was impossible
to know its actual age. At that point, we would never have dreamed what we
were about to discover...
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I’m afraid that’s
all I have time for today. I hope I can share the next part of ‘Every story has
a beginning’ with you shortly. Things are rushing forwards now but the hardest
part of the work is already behind us. I’m exhausted but hugely excited. I get
butterflies in my stomach every time I remember that any day now I’ll finally
be submitting the results of my greatest research project. Remember, I’ve been
working on this for almost twelve years now. Will it be accepted? Will it shake
the very foundations of archaeology? Will they call me crazy?
All I can do is wait to discover the answer to these questions... Until then,
followers of Hyperborea Exists, thank you again for your constant support.
There are now over six hundred of you following me on Facebook. Best wishes to
you all.