Who ARE those Masked Men - America's Lost Vikings

January 14, 2019 8:39am PT by Kimberly Nordyke

Science Channel Exploring 'America's Lost Vikings' in New Series (Exclusive)

Courtesy of Science Channel

The show will explore evidence that the Vikings, who are among the most feared warriors in history, landed on the coast of North America 500 years before Christopher Columbus.

Science Channel has greenlit a new series titled America's Lost Vikings.
The show will explore evidence that the Vikings, who are among the most feared warriors in history, landed on the coast of North America 500 years before Christopher Columbus. Beyond this, the trail goes cold. In the series, archaeologists and explorers Blue Nelson and Mike Arbuthnot will try to find out how far the Vikings explored into America.
To solve this mystery, Nelson and Arbuthnot will use "a combination of state-of-the-art science as well as gripping hands-on experimental archaeology." They begin their quest in L’Anse aux meadows in Newfoundland, on the northeast coast of Canada, in a settlement that offers proof that the Vikings were here around the year 1000.  But the purpose of the site is still unknown; Nelson and Arbuthnot aim to solve that mystery and discover where the Vikings explored next.
As they follow the trail of evidence south, they go to extreme lengths to discover how the Viking explorers survived. To put their theories to the test, they plunge themselves into freezing temperatures to test Viking clothing, row a specially constructed Norse boat through icy waters and learn to fight with Viking weapons.
The six-part series is set to premiere Feb. 10.
"The question of just how much of North America the Vikings explored hasn’t been investigated to this degree," said Marc Etkind, general manager of Science Channel. "The latest scientific technology may help us answer just how far they got, where they went and who they encountered."
Nelson is a historic archaeologist who focuses on artifact analysis, historical research, African-American archaeology and historic race relations, while Arbuthnot is a terrestrial and maritime archaeologist whose specialties include submerged prehistoric archaeology and Southeastern U.S. history.
America's Lost Vikings is produced by Arrow Media for Science Channel. Tom Brisley and Ash Potterton are executive producers for Arrow. Neil Laird is executive producer for Science Channel. 

stolen outright from : the Hollywood Reporter

I was involved in one of the episodes of America's Lost Vikings. Back in mid October (2018) the team from Arrow, with Blue and Mike, undertook a full bloomery iron smelt here. I had been asked by the Producers to more or less keep the content under wraps, until the series had been shot, edited and sold.

Breaking Charcoal : Mike / Blue / Me (behind the camera crew) image by Neil Peterson

I was assisted on the preparation and operation of the smelt by Neil Peterson and David Robertson.
In keeping with the requirements from Arrow, this is almost the only image I actually have of either Mike and Blue - or the actual filming taking place.

This episode revolves around a specific object. The mechanics of an iron smelt helps tie the episode back to the initial one - Vinland and the Norse, at L'Anse aux Meadows.  My part included not only the full smelt sequence, but also supplying some illustration and commentary on VA blacksmithing methods, along with some suggestions about the object under examination.

Of course, this activity will only form a short part of the overall episode!
Mike and Blue were great to work with - and got right into the dirt and fire of the smelt.
I also have to say I was extremely impressed with the production team from Arrow. Unlike certain US based companies I could name, everyone at Arrow (especially my contact researcher Lucy) actually did some background reading, and were consistently extremely professional to work with.


(As I don't have access to regular TV here, I'm hoping someone will record this episode for me? ie : I have not seen any of the actual footage itself. )
I may write more on this - including my assessment of the object under consideration, once this individual episode has aired...)