Viking games bbc
Benches surrounding the fire would serve dual purpose as daytime seating and nighttime beds. Viking families lived in longhouses, a building split into sections with a fire at its heart. In this way, the chieftain developed his power, alliances and wealth.” This would involve the chieftain collecting taxes from the people in exchange for protection, the development of infrastructure and the organisation of other common business. “We can assume that society was organised in a kind of redistribution system. The Viking Village at Avaldsnes in western Norway The museum goes on to say that the chieftain would have to be generous with his wealth in order to gain support. Lofor Viking museum on Norway's Lofoten Islands has a lot of great information about the role of a chieftain. Power was far from centralised, relying instead on a local chieftain and the alliances he would make along the coastline. Throughout Scandinavia, settlements were typically small farming communities home to just one or a handful of families. Read more: Viking Clothing: What Did The Vikings Wear? Viking settlements in Norway and Scandinavia Instead, many worked out their lives as farmers or fishermen. At least, until settlements were founded elsewhere. Relatively few Norsemen actually set sail on raids and trade missions in the early years. You can read our own summary of the findings here. Much has been written lately about the role of women in the Viking age.
Viking history tends to focus on the warriors, typically men. That being said, the Viking were united as a group in one circumstance: the eyes of the conquered! They came from foreign lands, were seen as uncivilised, and were not Christians.
Historical records indicate Finnish, Estonian and Saami Vikings as well.Īside from occasional trade they had very little to do with one another, and in fact often fought amongst themselves. Also, Vikings weren't just limited to Scandinavia. However, they were not one “race” as such, rather small groups from all over the region. The Vikings came from what is now known as Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Learn about the disastrous Black death, the most devastating pandemics in human history, which claimed anything between 75 to 200 million people.” The Saga museum in Iceland Who were the Viking people? The museum covers much more than the Viking era: “At the museum you will find many of the legends from the Icelandic sagas, historical figures like Snorri Sturlusson, Ingolfur Arnarson and Leifur Eiriksson. To learn more about the sagas themselves, visit the Saga Museum in Reykjavik, Iceland. The combination of these stories with archaeological evidence gives us an insight into the history. While they are sure to have been twisted and misinterpreted to a certain extent, Icelandic scholars wrote them down a few hundred years later. However, many of the stories were passed down orally over the years. Aside from these sites and the burial mounds, rune stones are some of the few remains we have to study. That's why the recent discoveries of Viking ship burial sites are so important. But now we're taking things a step further and diving into the details! Ready to learn more? Let's get going.įirst things first, how do we know so much about the Vikings? It's for the same reason we know so little! Very little archaeological evidence remains from the era. Last year we published a timeline to help piece together the story of what happened and when.