I think I may have been talking through my hat for months, and only just now realized it.

I was absolutely certain that I’d read reports from archaeologists that they had found skulls in Viking graves whose teeth had had horizontal indentations filed into them, and then filled with gold. Since then, I’ve given many people the benefit of my “insight” that this may be the origin of a statement in the eddas that the god Heimdal had “golden teeth.” Probably a high status thing.

But when I set out to write about it here tonight, I looked for a source, and could find none. There are numerous articles like this, about finding Viking skulls with horizontal filing marks on them, but nothing about gold inlays.

So never mind. These articles tend to make references to modern inlays and “grills,” and perhaps I conflated two separate matters.

The moral of this, if you hadn’t figure it out already, is never believe anything I tell you, even in my areas of expertise.

Sheesh.