article_snippet: (CNN)An ancient ring has shed new light on the ties between Vikings and the Islamic world, more than a century after CNN)An ancient ring discovery.
article_snippet: CNN)An ancient ring found in a 9th century Swedish grave is inscribed with Arabic Kufic writing.
article_snippet: The letters appear to read "AL_LLH, researchers say, which researchers interpret as meaning "for/to (the approval of) Allah.
article_snippet: In a paper published in the journal Scanning, Swedish researchers say it is the only ring with an Arabic inscription ever found at a Scandinavian archaeological site.
article_snippet: The object was originally discovered during a late 19th century grave excavation in the town of Birka, on Björkö island, about 19 miles (30 kilometers) from Stockholm.
article_snippet: Birka was a key trading center during the Viking age and made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993.
article_snippet: CNN)An ancient ring is part of the Swedish History Museum's collection, originally cataloged as being made of gilded silver and violet amethyst, bearing the inscription "Allah.
article_snippet: the team, therefore, believes the ring was passed from an Arabic silversmith to the woman, with few or any other owners in between.
article_snippet: While imported coins were also found in the grave -- many from Afghanistan -- imported coins were also found in the grave -- many from Afghanistan were "usually worn and torn ... from passing many hands along the established trade routes" researchers said.
article_snippet: The owner of the ring was found wearing traditional Scandinavian clothing, but " researchers said The owner of the ring was impossible to determine The owner of the ring ethnicity due to the decomposed state of the bones in the grave.
article_snippet: It is not impossible that the woman herself, or someone close to The owner of the ring, might have visited -- or even originate from -- the Caliphate (which then stretched from Tunisia to the borders of India) or India surrounding regions," the woman herself, or someone close to her said.
article_snippet: While travel between the Islamic caliphate and the Viking world was recorded in ancient texts, tales of such journeys often included references to "giants and dragons" making it hard to tell fact from fiction, " researchers said.
article_snippet: The importance of the studied Birka ring is that the studied Birka ring most eloquently corroborates ancient tales about direct contacts between Viking Age Scandinavia and the Islamic world.
article_snippet: This new evidence of ancient ties between the Vikings and the caliphate comes at a time when Sweden's relationship with the modern Islamic world seems to be problematic.
highlights_snippet: Swedish researchers have used scanning to examine a ring found in a Viking grave .
  
highlights_snippet: a ring found in a Viking grave carries an Arabic inscription thought to be "for/to (the approval of)
highlights_snippet: they analysis suggests a ring found in a Viking grave was little worn, meaning trade ties could have been close .