Introduction: Today, we will be excavating a Viking burial mound. Our objective today is to learn more about these people. What we do know about Vikings is very limited. This culture wrote very little for most of its history. Most of Viking stories and mythology were not written down until 500 years after the first raids were recorded. But, there is much we can learn from these digs. Viking, like the ancient Egyptian Pharaohs, were buried with their prized possessions. What they felt important enough to take with them into the next life tells us a lot about that culture.

What We Do Know: Much of what we know comes from mythology and Christian Chronicles Vikings did not at first practice Christianity, Islam, or any other religion but their own, so many sites considered sacred were looted. Viking raids usually included capturing people as slaves, which were a valuable trading commodity around the world at that time.

Menu:

Longships: An innovation in shipbuilding. The longship was symmetrical, with a shallow draft, allowing them to travel along the open sea, far up rivers, and be easily transported overland, being rolled on land.

Artwork Every aspect of Viking life was inundated with artwork. Their ships were covered with intricate carvings, from bow to stern.

Helmet: Contrary to popular conceptions, Viking helmets worn during raids did hot have horns. Horned helmets have been depicted in artwork. These however, may be ceremonial rather than functional.

Arms and Armor All free Vikings carried weapons. Armor was typically leather and fur with leather or iron helmets. Metal was expensive. Most freemen’s weapons had no more metal than a spear point or an axe head. Chain and Scale mail armor was the most expensive of all. These were labor- intensive to produce in addition to being made of metal.

Swords: With lots of metal in their construction, and copious amounts of skilled labor required to form a single sword, only the wealthiest Vikings could afford swords. These expensive weapons can be passed down along generations.

Turquoise Beads Found in Viking digs, jewelry such as this originates in the middle east. These Jewels traveled to Viking settlements along Russian rivers, like the Volga, as longships traveled to the Black Sea and Near East.

Silk Silk fragments are occasionally found in Viking ship barrows. These will have traveled west along the silk road into the Middle East.

Map