Vikings lived in large, long houses (up to 100 ft), with a timber roof, and in colder climates, thick walls of earth. Part of the structure was walled off and used for keeping animals. The central formal hall had a stone hearth in the center, with timber pillars on either side that held up a triangular roof. A living area was in a room on the farther side. Wooden benches lined either side. Until the eleventh century, there were essentially no Viking towns, so everyone had to be self-sufficient. Larger homesteads (who would have had hired men and/or slaves) had a smithy. Iron implements were used, although were rarer in remote areas like Greenland and the Orkneys, which also did not have much wood. Cooking utensils were generally iron, but common bowls and spoons were wood or soapstone.

Viking men wore a wool undershirt reaching down to their knees, and on top of this a linen shirt that came down to the knees, or a tunic or kirtle. For more formal wear or cold weather, a cloak might be fastened around the neck with a brooch. Shoes were simply leather, held on with straps up the leg. Vikings typically took a sword, axes, and knife with them in battle, and always had the knife to hand. Viking helmets did not have horns; indeed, most warriors would not have even had metal helmets. In the eleventh century, helmets were conical with a nosepiece, as shown on carvings and the Bayeux Tapestry. Women wore a dress down to the calves with straps held on by large brooches above the breasts. The dress was longer in the back and trailed out behind them (amulets of women show a hemline parallel to the floor but trailing out in a triangle behind them). Women were always spinning thread and weaving cloth; more modest houses have a loom in the hearth/cooking area.

Vikings had a tendency of adding a descriptor to someone’s name: Harald Finehair, Svein Forkbeard, Domnall Seal’s-Head, Sigtryggr the One-eyed, Olaf the little hunchback, Ivar the boneless. Variants of the name Thor were common among peasants men.

Vikings were excellent sailors, continually pressing outward. Some sailed down western Europe into the Mediterranean and traded with the Muslims. From Norway, they discovered Greenland, and then a few visited North America, based on Leif Erikson’s instructions. Settlements in North America were not successful; the native were hostile and it was too far away for reinforcement. Vikings eventually settled/conquered Iceland, Greenland, Shetland and the Orkenys, an area around Dublin, the Isle of Man, Normandy, and the area around York. (Vikings also settled in what is now Russia, and made their way down to Byzantium, where they served as the Emperor’s body guards.) Warships could be up to 100 ft long, with 30 pairs of oars, which could row at 5-6 knots and sail at about 7 knots. Britain was a could days from Norway and Denmark, while Iceland was a week’s sailing from Norway. Reconstructing a Viking warship took experienced builders 14,000 hours to cut and strip the wood, and 10,000 hours of building, with a total of 27,000 hours.

Viking society had a defined social structure: King -> Jarl -> Freeman -> Slave, although of course there were gradations in-between. The king also had housekarls, who did diplomatic missions and collected taxes, and stallers, who were literally the royal stableman, but acted as more of a marshal. Social status was changeable; bad luck, bad weather, or poor management might lower one’s position, even on occasion to the point of selling oneself as a slave, but you could also buy your way up. An eleventh century Anglo-Saxon document [which the author unfortunately leaves unnamed] lists the price of buying your way into aristocracy. Raiding (or “viking”) could increase your opportunity, allowing you to buy land or rank (or sometimes just pay expenses).

Pre-Christian Vikings buried their dead with grave-goods. A high-status warrior had his sword, axe, knife, round shield with central boss behind his head, and a horse or two. Slaves may have been part of the ritual sacrifice; one girl was found with a hole in her skull made by slashing with a sword, and her bones were sprinkled with the animal bones in the sacrificial burning. Women were buried with necklaces, jewelry, clothes. The finer necklaces had beads of various colors made from rocks, while the richest had coins with an piece of metal welded on to attach to the necklace. There are also bracelets made of thick silver wires that have been twisted together. Viking art has a lot of stylized animals whose limbs and wings interlock with each other, reminiscent of Celtic knots, although the heads of the animals are often biting the limbs to which they connect. The animals can be difficult to identify, depending on the style.

Vikings did not mint their own coins until about the twelfth century, when then began learning from the Anglo-Saxons. Viking hoards have coins primarily from England, which did mint silver coins, but also from Byzantium and Islamic areas. They also have silver ingots, and pieces of rings, which seem to have been more common for trading.

Stone artwork has crude-looking raised outlines, which were originally painted for a much more compelling effect. Runestones simply have a short message carved in narrow, tall runes with very thin strokes. Frequently the runes are rotated 90 degrees, since the runestone is vertical. Markers with an image on them often have the runes carved around the edges asymmetrically, following the outline of the stone, with lines on the top and bottom, which sometimes becomes a serpent (such as the Midgard Serpent). There are a number of graffiti runes (“Thor carved this”), which suggests to me that the ability to read runes, at least in the later Christian period, must have been relatively widespread.

There is some literary evidence that the Vikings worshiped the Christian God along with their other gods, so that Christianity was not necessarily altogether new. [But this is the first that I have heard of that.] Christianity was attractive to kings because it centralized religious practice in the bishop, which the king frequently appointed, rather than spread out among the earls, and also because it promoted peace among the people. Raiding did not stop after becoming Christian, although it seems to have reduced (but that may also be due to people being more prepared for raiders).