This ring is an amazing discovery, but you're right that contact between the Viking and Islamic cultures was already well known. The Icelandic sagas, for exampl

This ring is an amazing discovery, but you're right that contact between the Viking and Islamic cultures was already well known. The Icelandic sagas, for example, document the prestige won by Norse warriors who traveled to Constantinople and served in the Varangian Guard. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varangian_Guard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varangian_Guard In fact, if you travel to Istanbul today, you can see Norse runes carved into the stones of the Hagia Sophia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runic_inscriptions_in_Hagia_Sophia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runic_inscriptions_in_Hagia_Sop...