S8 Ep822: In the Surtshellir lava cave of Iceland, archaeologists have uncovered evidence of a mysterious and frightening belief system. This vast cave system, located under a lava field created by a massive eruption around 900 AD, contains a large man-made wall an

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🗓️ 4 May 2026

⏱️ 9 minutes

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Summary

In the Surtshellir lava cave of Iceland, archaeologists have uncovered evidence of a mysterious and frightening belief system. This vast cave system, located under a lava field created by a massive eruption around 900 AD, contains a large man-made wall and enormous piles of unburnt animal bones located deep in the pitch black. Further into the cave, a stone boat outline was discovered containing specific ritual offerings associated with fire, such as jasper fire-starters, burnt bones, and glass. Researchers believe these offerings were intended to placate a fire giant or being, potentially Surtr, who was thought to dwell within the lava field. Following Iceland's official conversion to Christianity in 1000 AD, the ritual practice eventually ceased, marked by a final offering of a metal cross left in the stone boat as a symbolic farewell to the old gods. The connection between the landscape and mythology is further illustrated by a saga poem describing a mountain giant with glowing eyes inside a cave. This poem uses vivid volcanic imagery to depict the end of a way of life, representing the transition as the "clay folk" or giants are driven underground by the arrival of a new Christian world order. 6/8
1600

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0:00.0	I'm John Batchel with the author and historian and broadcaster,
0:05.0	Embers of the Hands, Hidden Histories of the Viking Age by Eleanor Barakoff,
0:10.0	who reads her book brilliantly.
0:13.0	And we're now going to go into another mystery that is extremely scary.
0:20.0	It's a cave, a lava cave, on Iceland, I believe, called CERT.
0:26.5	And in that cave is a belief system.
0:29.9	Let's descend into the cave.
0:31.8	I'm presuming you haven't yet, Eleanor.
0:34.0	If you have, I want to hear about it.
0:36.3	No, I'm desperate to you. I haven't.
0:39.3	The archaeologists who've been, you know, exploring this cave system, they're wonderful.
0:44.3	I've had some incredible conversations with them and I'm just itching for them to take me in.
0:48.3	I'm not sure if it's going to happen.
0:51.3	But essentially, this is a bit like when we're talking about Estonia, and this
0:55.5	is evidence that has only recently come to light, the same is true of this cave. It's called
1:00.9	Sertz-Hettler, and Hetler is just the word for cave. Sertr is this fire giant who appears
1:08.5	at Ragnarok. Now, we can't trace the name, Sertzatler, back to the time
1:15.8	when what's happening in the cave is happening. So that's important to say. But certainly that
1:21.5	association between this fire giants and this lava field and what's underneath the lava field does come fairly early.
1:30.6	And so, you know, it is also a possibility that that is exactly what is going on.
1:36.4	So when the archaeologists first found this cave, which is in this haphamundarraine, this huge lava field from this eruption, this volcanic eruption
1:47.0	that took place in around 900. When the archaeologists first found the cave, they thought
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