Photo: Alexis Pantos/KHM, UiO. While excavating a cremation burial site in eastern Norway, archaeologists uncovered a red sandstone boulder bearing a unique inscription. Ongoing research at this Svingerud site revealed that the items this rune stone was buried with date as far back as the first century of the Common Era. That is, this rune stone (now called the Svingerud Stone) and its inscription may go all the way back to the year 1 – the time of Christ and Caesar Augustus, an age when the literate culture of the Romans was hundreds of miles away from Scandinavia. This is big news because:1) it proves that runes were in use in Scandinavia centuries before we previously thought, and 2) the influence...

The first recorded violent contact between Vikings and England was in 789 when a Saxon coastal patrol lost a man in a skirmish with otherwise unidentified Danes. Experts are unsure if this was indeed Viking aggression versus just a misunderstanding at a customs checkpoint. It is widely thought that these Vikings might have been “casing the joint” or scouting for upcoming raids.The first major recorded raid was in 793 when the famous (and wealthy) monastery at Lindisfarne (modern northeast England, then the Kingdom of Northumbria). Many monks were murdered, and a tremendous amount of wealth and captives were carried away. This shocked Europe, for such a brazen attack had come out of nowhere and had targeted a holy shrine off-limits...

793-1066 AD ...or 750-1050 AD? From the late-8th century to the late 11th century, Vikings shook Europe, upending the status quo, building lasting trade networks, and laying the groundwork for many of today's most prosperous nations. The actual dates of the Viking Age depend on who you ask, though. This should not be a surprise since historians assign labels to time periods using hindsight, and that perspective is always relative. Periods overlap and should be in the context of the place. For example, the year 800 in Europe is in the Viking Age, but it is also in the Early Middle Ages, but the year 800 in China is in the Tang Dynasty. The traditional dates for the Viking Age are...

The Viking Age was a period of intense change in Europe. At the beginning of that time, Europe was a disorganized place of small, fractured kingdoms and weak rulers. Charlemagne was the exception here. But when he died, even his empire proved unstable and vulnerable. When the Viking Age ended (mid-11th century), Europe was a much different land. Kingdoms were consolidating. Rulers were becoming more powerful, institutions were becoming more organized, and they were no longer soft targets. Warfare was changing, with the shield wall gradually becoming far less important than mounted knights and archers. Scandinavia changed from a land of petty warlords to strong kingdoms in the style of the rest of Europe. To the east, the hybrid Viking...

There was not enough arable land in the Vikings' homeland. So they had to diversify to survive, relying heavily on cattle and livestock and fishing their endless coastlines. According to the sagas and material evidence, the Vikings ate their most important meal in the morning and then had a leisurely dinner at night. There was no lunch break for the busy Viking, but they may have snacked on apples, walnuts, or salt fish as they went. Carbohydrates included whole-grain bread, porridges of mixed grains, and barley-based beer. Dairy products from cows and sheep, including butter, cheese, and skyr (a strained yogurt high in protein and low in sugar), were daily staples. The sagas mention Vikings drinking whey – the protein-rich...

The stereotype of Vikings as tall, jacked people with blonde or red hair and piercing blue eyes was probably true for many of them, but not true for all of them. Science (and common sense) tells us that Vikings came in a wide range of hair colors, eye colors, builds, complexions, and other physical characteristics. SizeNumerous eyewitness accounts describe the Vikings as tall. To this day, Denmark and Norway host some of the tallest people in the world based on hundreds of country comparisons. Overall, our ancestors were generally shorter than us today. However, this fact pertains to the High Middle Ages through the 19th century, when social, economic, and adverse climate conditions made it difficult for dense populations to attain...

Vikings were united more by language, beliefs, and culture than by national origin. Vikings spoke a language now known as Old Norse, a northern Germanic language and the descendant of Proto-Germanic. Old Norse is a cousin of Old English, so some words, ideas (and letters) are similar to the English we use today. Old Norse was the parent of modern Norwegian, Danish, and Swedish. The modern language most like Old Norse, though, is Modern Icelandic. This continuity is probably due to Iceland's isolation and conservative culture. Modern Icelandic is so close to Old Norse that many Icelanders find they can read Viking sagas and poetry in the original manuscripts. Pronunciation changes over time, though, so it is a mistake to...

Originally, Vikings came from Scandinavia. That is, the lands that are now Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. These countries came about because of the Vikings. Their changing borders eventually coalesced after bloody struggles between numerous Viking Sea Kings.Because Vikings were people with outward momentum, they founded temporary, semi-permanent, and permanent bases in many lands. So, within the first few generations of the Viking Age, there were already Viking bases in Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, and into countries that are now Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. To the west, Vikings settled in Ireland, Britain, and the islands around Scotland and northwest France (called Normandy, after the Northmen). Perhaps the quintessential Viking settlement was Iceland, founded entirely by Vikings and the people they brought...