Viking Late Iron Age Scandinavia Witches Seers Shamans Norse Sorcery Magic Charm

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”The Viking Way: Magic and Mind in Late Iron Age Scandinavia” by Neil Price. NOTE: We have 100,000 books in our library, over 10,400 different titles. Odds are we have other copies of this same title in varying conditions, some less expensive, some better condition. We might also have different editions as well (some paperback, some hardcover, oftentimes international editions). If you don’t see what you want, please contact us and ask. We’re happy to send you a summary of the differing conditions and prices we may have for the same title. DESCRIPTION: Hardcover w/printed laminated covers. Publisher: Oxbow Books (2013). Pages: 432. Size: 11¼ x 8½ x 1¼ inches; 4¼ pounds. Summary: Magic, sorcery and witchcraft are among the most common themes of the great medieval Icelandic sagas and poems, the problematic yet vital sources that provide our primary textual evidence for the Viking Age that they claim to describe. Yet despite the consistency of this picture, surprisingly little archaeological or historical research has been done to explore what this may really have meant to the men and women of the time. This book examines the evidence for Old Norse sorcery, looking at its meaning and function, practice and practitioners, and the complicated constructions of gender and sexual identity with which these were underpinned. Combining strong elements of eroticism and aggression, sorcery appears as a fundamental domain of women’s power, linking them with the gods, the dead and the future. Their battle spells and combat rituals complement the men’s physical acts of fighting, in a supernatural empowerment of the Viking way of life. What emerges is a fundamentally new image of the world in which the Vikings understood themselves to move, in which magic and its implications permeated every aspect of a society permanently geared for war. In this fully revised and expanded second edition, Neil Price takes us with him on a tour through the sights and sounds of this undiscovered country, meeting its human and otherworldly inhabitants, including the Sámi with whom the Norse partly shared this mental landscape. On the way we explore Viking notions of the mind and soul, the fluidity of the boundaries that they drew between humans and animals, and the immense variety of their spiritual beliefs. We find magic in the Vikings’ bedrooms and on their battlefields, and we meet the sorcerers themselves through their remarkable burials and the tools of their trade. Combining archaeology, history and literary scholarship with extensive studies of Germanic and circumpolar religion, this multi-award-winning book shows us the Vikings as we have never seen them before. CONDITION: NEW. New hardcover w/printed (decorative) laminated covers. Unblemished and pristine in every respect. Pages are clean, crisp, unmarked, unmutilated, tightly bound, unambiguously unread. Satisfaction unconditionally guaranteed. In stock, ready to ship. No disappointments, no excuses. PROMPT SHIPPING! HEAVILY PADDED, DAMAGE-FREE PACKAGING! Meticulous and accurate descriptions! Selling rare and out-of-print ancient history books on-line since 1997. We accept returns for any reason within 30 days! #9486a. PLEASE SEE DESCRIPTIONS AND IMAGES BELOW FOR DETAILED REVIEWS AND FOR PAGES OF PICTURES FROM INSIDE OF BOOK. PLEASE SEE PUBLISHER, PROFESSIONAL, AND READER REVIEWS BELOW. PUBLISHER REVIEWS: REVIEW: Filling a gap in the literature for an academically oriented volume on the Viking period, this unique book is a one-stop authoritative introduction to all the latest research in the field. Bringing together today’s leading scholars, both established seniors and younger, cutting-edge academics, Stefan Brink and Neil Price have constructed the first single work to gather innovative research from a spectrum of disciplines (including archaeology, history, philology, comparative religion, numismatics and cultural geography) to create the most comprehensive Viking Age book of its kind ever attempted. Consisting of longer articles providing overviews of important themes, supported by shorter papers focusing on material of particular interest, this comprehensive volume covers such wide-ranging topics as social institutions, spatial issues, the Viking Age economy, warfare, beliefs, language, voyages, and links with medieval and Christian Europe. This original work, specifically oriented towards a university audience and the educated public, will have a self-evident place as an undergraduate course book and will be a standard work of reference for all those in the field. REVIEW: The Viking Way: Religion and War in Late Iron Age Scandinavia is an archaeological study of old Norse religion in Late Iron Age-Scandinavia. REVIEW: Neil Price is an English archaeologist specializing in the study of Viking Age Scandinavia and the archaeology of shamanism. He is currently a professor in the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History at Uppsala University, Sweden. Born in south-west London, Price went on to gain a BA in Archaeology at the University of London, before writing his first book, “The Vikings in Brittany”, which was published in 1989. He undertook his doctoral research from 1988 through to 1992 at the University of York, before moving to Sweden, where he completed his PhD at the University of Uppsala in 2002. In 2001, he edited an anthology entitled “The Archaeology of Shamanism” for Routledge, and the following year published and defended his doctoral thesis, “The Viking Way”. “The Viking Way” would be critically appraised as one of the most important studies of the Viking Age and pre-Christian religion by other archaeologists like Matthew Townend and Martin Carver. REVIEW: Examines the evidence for Old Norse sorcery, its meaning, function, and practitioners. REVIEW: Neil Price is Distinguished Professor of Archaeology at the University of Uppsala, Sweden, and formerly held the Sixth Century Chair in Archaeology at Aberdeen. A leading specialist in the Viking Age and the pre-Christian religions of the North, with additional interests in the historical archaeology of the Asia-Pacific region, his researches have taken him to more than 40 countries. From 2016-2025, Neil is directing a major Swedish Research Council project on The Viking Phenomenon, leading an international team to explore the origins of this critical period in world history. TABLE OF CONTENTS: List of figures and tables. Abbreviations. Preface and acknowledgements to the first edition. Preface and acknowledgements to the second edition. A note on language. A note on seid. 1. Different Vikings? Towards a cognitive archaeology of the later Iron Age. -A beginning at Birka. -Textual archaeology and the Iron Age. -The Vikings in (pre)history. -The materiality of text. -Annaliste archaeology and a historical anthropology of the Vikings. -The Other and the Odd? -Conflict in the archaeology of cognition. -Others without Othering. -Indigenous archaeologies and the Vikings. -An archaeology of the Viking mind? 2. Problems and paradigms in the study of Old Norse sorcery. -Entering the mythology. -Research perspectives on Scandinavian pre-Christian religion. -Philology and comparative theology. -Gods and monsters, worship and superstition. -Religion and belief. -The invisible population. -The shape of Old Norse religion. -The double world: seiðr and the problem of Old Norse ‘magic’. -The other magics: galdr, gandr and ‘Óðinnic sorcery’. -Seiðr in the sources. -Skaldic poetry. -Eddic poetry. -The sagas of the kings. -The sagas of Icelanders (the ‘family sagas’) . -The fornaldarsögur (‘sagas of ancient times’, ‘heroic sagas’) . -The Bishop’s sagas (Biskupasögur) . -The early medieval Scandinavian law codes. -Non-Scandinavian sources. -Seiðr in research. 3. Seiðr. -Óðinn. -Óðinn the sorcerer. -Óðinn’s names. -Freyja and the magic of the Vanir. -Seiðr and Old Norse cosmology. -The performers. -Witches, seeresses and wise women. -Women and the witch-ride. -Men and magic. -The assistants. -Towards a terminology of Nordic sorcerers. -The performers in death? -The performance. -Ritual architecture and space. -The clothing of sorcery. -Masks, veils and head-coverings. -Drums, tub-lids and shields. -Staffs and wands. -Staffs from archaeological contexts. -Narcotics and intoxicants. -Charms. -Songs and chants. -The problem of trance and ecstasy. -Engendering seiðr. -Ergi, níð and witchcraft. -Sexual performance and eroticism in seiðr. -Seiðr and the concept of the soul. -Helping spirits in seiðr. -The domestic sphere of seiðr. -Divination and revealing the hidden. -Hunting and weather magic. -The role of the healer. -Seiðr contextualised. 4. Noaidevuohta. -Seiðr and the Sámi. -Sámi-Norse relations in the Viking Age. -Sámi religion and the Drum-Time. -The world of the gods. -Spirits and Rulers in the Sámi cognitive landscape. -Names, souls and sacrifice. -Noaidevuohta and the noaidi. -Rydving’s terminology of noaidevuohta. -Specialist noaidi. -Diviners, sorcerers and other magic-workers. -The sights and sounds of trance. -‘Invisible power’ and secret sorcery. -Women and noaidevuohta. -Sources for female sorcery. -Assistants and jojker-choirs. -Women, ritual and drum magic. -Female diviners and healers in Sámi society. -Animals and the natural world. -The female noaidi? -The rituals of noaidevuohta. -The role of jojk. -The material culture of noaidevuohta. -An early medieval noaidi? The man from Vivallen. -Sexuality and eroticism in noaidevuohta. -Offense and defence in noaidevuohta. -The functions of noaidevuohta. -The ethnicity of religious context in Viking-Age Scandinavia. 5. Circumpolar religion and the question of Old Norse shamanism. -The circumpolar cultures and the invention of shamanism. -The shamanic encounter. -The earlyethnographies: shamanic research in Russia and beyond. -Shamanism in anthropological perspective. -The shamanic world-view. -The World Pillar: shamanism and circumpolar cosmology. -The ensouled world. -The shamanic vocation. -Gender and sexual identity. -Eroticism and sexual performance. -Aggressive sorcery for offence and defence. -Shamanism in Scandinavia. -From the art of the hunters to the age of bronze. -Seiðr before the Vikings? -Landscapes of the mind. -The eight-legged horse. -Tricksters and trickery. -Seiðr and circumpolar shamanism. -Two analogies on the functions of the seiðr-staff. -The shamanic motivation. -Towards a shamanic world-view of the Viking Age. 6. The supernatural empowerment of aggression. -Seiðr and the world of war. -Valkyrjur, skaldmeyjar and hjálmvitr. -Female warriors in reality. -The valkyrjur in context. -The names of the valkyrjur. -The valkyrjur in battle-kennings. -Supernatural agency in battle. -Beings of destruction. -Óðinn and the Wild Hunt. -The projection of destruction. -Battle magic. -Sorcery for warriors. -Sorcery for sorcerers. -Seiðr and battlefield resurrection. -Seiðr and the shifting of shape. -Berserkir and ulfheðnar. -The battlefield of animals. -Ritual disguise and shamanic armies. -Ecstasy, psychic dislocation and the dynamics of mass violence. -Homeric lyssa and holy rage. -Predators and prey in the legitimate war. -Weaving war, grinding battle: Darraðarljóð and Grottas˛ongr in context. -The ‘weapon dancers’. 7. The Viking way. -A reality in stories. -The invisible battlefield. -Material magic. -Viking women, Viking men. 8. Magic and mind. -Receptions and reactions. -Cracks in the ice of Norse ‘religion’. -Walking into the seiðr: contested interpretations of Viking-Age magic. -Questioning Norse ‘shamanism’. -Staffs and spinning. -Queering magic? -The social world of war. -The Viking mind: a conclusion. References. Primary sources, including translations. Pre-nineteenth-century sources for the early Sámi and Siberian cultures. Secondary sources. Sources in archive. Index. PROFESSIONAL REVIEWS: REVIEW: “The Viking Way” by Neil Price (who is currently Distinguished Professor of Archaeology at the University of Uppsala, Sweden, having previously held the Sixth Century Chair in Archaeology at the University of Aberdeen) is one of the most insightful, original, and compelling books ever published on the Vikings. It’s essential for understanding the intellectual, spiritual, and moral universe within which the Vikings lived. And it’s been one of the most important influences on my own writing on the Vikings, including this site and my book “The Viking Spirit”. Since its original publication in 2002 (with the subtitle “Religion and War in Late Iron Age Scandinavia”), “The Viking Way” has acquired a significant cult following among people who are interested in the Vikings and Norse mythology. Perplexingly, however, despite the book’s well-deserved fame, it’s long been out of print and nearly impossible to find. Because of that, it’s taken on something of a legendary status among Norse enthusiasts, as if it were a long-lost city or folkloric beast – something they’ve heard others talk about in almost reverential tones, but have never actually seen for themselves. Ever since I began this site back in 2012, I’ve been encouraging people to get their hands on a copy of The Viking Way if they have any kind of opportunity to do so. It’s been high on my list of The 10 Best Advanced Norse Mythology Books ever since the list was published. Thus, I was thrilled when the publisher of this second edition, Casemate Academic, notified me that they were going to publish a new edition of the book, and then graciously provided me with an advance copy. “The Viking Way” is centered on the Vikings’ practice of magic and the role that it occupied in their culture. The book goes into considerable detail about the sources for our current knowledge of Norse magic, the previous scholarly research on Norse magic, the role of magic in Norse mythology, the various types of magic the Vikings recognized, the various types of practitioners of magic in Viking society, how magic was performed, what kinds of material implements were used in those performances, the relation of magic to the Vikings’ daily lives, and the many uses to which the Vikings put their magical practices. To round out the picture, Price includes lengthy comparisons with the magical beliefs and practices of related societies, especially the Sámi and other far-northern Eurasian peoples who also had highly-developed traditions of magic and shamanism. This helps to contextualize the Vikings’ own beliefs and practices related to magic, as well as to suggest plausible interpretations for some aspects of Norse magic that are otherwise difficult to understand. But while magic is the book’s starting point, it’s by no means its ending point; instead, the exploration of magic serves as a point of entry into the Vikings’ worldview as a whole, which seems to be Price’s overarching interest and concern. This book remains the best discussion of the Norse worldview to date. Along the way, it delves deeply into the Vikings’ views on, and practices of, several other areas of life besides just magic, such as war, death, gender, and the unseen spiritual nature of the self and of the world. Through such discussions, Price patiently and carefully forms an intricate picture of how these many spheres of life related to each other in the Viking mind, a web of connections that culminates in a rich and at times shocking big picture of how the world looked when seen through Viking eyes. It’s a world that could hardly be more different from our own – philosophically, morally, and experientially – but which we can nevertheless recognize as quintessentially human. The new material – which adds up to a considerable 35,000 words – largely consists of overviews of new developments in academic work on the Vikings that have taken place since the publication of the first edition in 2002 and which are relevant to the book’s arguments. Price also incorporates some of the work he’s done since 2002, while leaving the first edition’s basic structural and intellectual framework more or less intact. Price states that he doesn’t entirely agree with that framework anymore, but wanted to preserve it so that the second edition could fulfill one of its central missions: making the first edition accessible again. If he had made too many changes to the book’s theoretical framing and the arguments that support it, it would no longer be the same book. I, for one, am glad that he made the choice that he did in this regard, given how much of a classic the first edition of the work has become. Copious illustrations, photographs, and tables help to add vividness and specificity to the material. For anyone who’s interested in the ancient Norse religion and doesn’t mind serious scholarly prose, “The Viking Way” is indispensable reading from a true master of the field. REVIEW: This is a brilliant and beautifully written book, as evidenced, for instance, by Price’s evocative retelling of Ragnarǫkr in Chapter 2. The first edition of “The Viking Way” was a watershed publication for Viking archaeology, and as it has now been updated and extended, this book will only cement its position as a truly fundamental piece of scholarship painting a much richer, more complex, and more disconcerting picture of what are frequently caricatured and romanticized people. “The Viking Way” will undoubtedly be read, cited, and remembered for a very long time. [Marianne Hem Eriksen, Early Medieval Europe Vol. 29, Issue 4]. REVIEW: Creativity, a prodigious boldness in asking provocative questions (“What was it like to be [married to a] Viking who returned home from months of murderous rapine abroad?”) and proposing suggestive interpretations, has always been Price’s forte. Such interventions can be immensely productive, as evident especially in his short articles, whether on Viking Age mortuary drama (“Passing into Poetry,” 2010), on the Sutton Hoo helmet as an Óðinn mask (“An Eye for Odin?” with Paul Mortimer, 2014), or in a glorious overview of Norse religious attitudes (“Belief & Ritual”). The sheer scope and diversity of data processed in Price’s 2019 “The Viking Way” are worth pausing over, again, not just to admire the effort Price has put in but to take note of the book’s usefulness as a compendium on numerous Norse graves and objects, on (sub-)arctic cognates to seiðr, and on the history of research into these topics…Price lays bare the origins from which his seductive view of the Viking world grew; for that alone it deserves a place of honor on any Nordicist’s bookshelf. If it also highlights how thin the evidentiary ice on which Price’s reconstructed Viking world skates, this is a pity but also, in a sense, so much the better: informed debate requires delving into the proving process, not just responding sympathetically to the resonant end product. [The Medieval Review]. REVIEW: In summary, readers will be pleased by this new edition in that it largely preserves the much sought-after first edition while simultaneously updating some pieces of information and adding over 500 new references to relevant works published since the first edition, some new photographs and illustrations, and an index. [Journal of English and Germanic Philology]. REVIEW: “The Viking Way” by Neil Price is one of the most insightful, original, and compelling books ever published on the Vikings. It’s essential for understanding the intellectual, spiritual, and moral universe within which the Vikings lived. [Daniel McCoy, Norse Mythology Online]. REVIEW: “The Viking Way” is a saga-like page-turner…It was the most important work to have been published on Norse magic when I first read it in 2002. In this second, revised and expanded edition, Price sets the benchmark for research on “The Viking Way” for at least another twenty years. [Time and Mind]. REVIEW: Price’s easy-to-read writing style allows the study to clearly present and explain an assortment of complicated subject matters, which in turn makes these intricate topics more accessible for a varied audience…Ultimately, this book remains one of the most influential studies on the Viking Age. [Kyngervi]. REVIEW: “The Viking Way” is a precious and detailed handbook in every respect…the book is a first-rank culture history of the Vikings. [Shaman]. READER REVIEWS: REVIEW: The illustrations and photos are many in number, generously sized, of very high quality, with a goodly number in color, including many very rare photos. Neil Price’s genius consists in his peerless ability to hold data together in his attention, understand its significance, and bring it into a seamless whole. He has updated the references to “late 2018,” and added some “35,000 words to the original work, plus a new chapter assessing the current research. His descriptions of the archaeological data are exquisitely detailed, illustrated and photographed. It is a ‘must have’ handbook on seidr, and that is the book’s focus. Everything else revolves around what can be known or surmised about seidr, the Northern magical technique. His assessments of other researcher’s works are knowledgeable, thoughtful and fair. Like everyone else, I’ve waited for this book to be finished and published for 7 years. Price apologizes in his introduction and says he hopes people think the book was worth the wait. Absolutely, yes, Neil Price, it was worth the wait. REVIEW: I read “The Viking Way” a long time ago (in its first edition). It is simply an insanely fascinating book that deserves to have been commercially published long before now the version I read was published by Uppsala University Press). “The Viking Way” is about sorcery, magic, prophecy and the like in Viking Age Scandinavia, and its deep connections both to spirituality and to violence/warfare. To explore this topic, the book examines sources from archaeology to mythology, the sagas and other medieval written sources; from studies of shamanism to readings on soldiery and warfare; from theories on gender to all kinds of other things! At this point my poor memory won’t let me list them all, but suffice it to say that Price brings in all sorts of knowledge to make his case for ritualized violence(s) as the basis for spirituality in late Iron Age Scandinavia. It’s a long and involved read but a must for anyone interested in these topics! REVIEW: I found the book very informative and impressive in the breadth and depth of the research and work that went into the finished product. Undoubtedly the book’s greatest strength is the interdisciplinary approach that Price took in that it combined textual analysis with archeological evidence. If for nothing else, Price should be commended for the dedication and effort that he has given to the subject matter, but his original arguments are also convincing and deserve to be referenced by further research in this area. Bravo. REVIEW: Well-written and very detailed monograph concerning Viking Age beliefs and complex magic practices named seiðr. This book includes comparative meticulous analysis of Old Norse written sources and graves discovered in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and in so-called ‘Viking diaspora’. It also discussed Sámi shamanism with magic practices in Viking Age Scandinavia. Above that every chapter contain numerous illustrations (of artifacts), and on the end of this publication was placed detailed list of literature. In my opinion, it is one of the most important books concerning this very problematic topic. I think it will be fantastic lecture for every Viking Age passionate. REVIEW: An excellent update to the first edition of Price’s far-ranging but firmly corralled study (and thesis) of how magic informed the lives of those who lived the Viking life in what we now call the Scandinavian countries. Price includes evidence from nearly every discipline available, unlike other scholars, which results in a much more thorough interpretation of how and why Viking people though and behaved the way they did. REVIEW: REVIEW: REVIEW: This is a meticulous, thorough and riveting non-fiction read on the way the Vikings associated with magic, culture as well as their mindset. Every sentence is backed up with research based on firsthand archaeology, literature from the sagas and eddas as well as experimental archaeology. So much fun to read, so much information stuffed between the pages. REVIEW: One of THE best books about Norse history I’ve ever read. With its unique focus on sorcery and shamanism, it offers up an amazing array of details about life in ancient Scandinavia. Very thorough and has beautiful images. REVIEW: I have been waiting to get this book for soooooo long. Neil price is a amazing author an historian. This is the only book out of my very wide collection on heathen topic that list ALL 200 names of odin. That to me just throws it at the top of my favorite list. REVIEW: his book is a deep dive into the Viking worldview. It is the best information about seidr out there. That being said, whew. I graduated with my MA 15 years ago, and I must admit I’m not used to reading scholarly tomes from cover to cover anymore. This made my brain hurt. REVIEW: Excellent book. There are lots and lots of books dealing with the Vikings, but I have been disappointed in most of them. Not this one. The author, Neil Price, really knows his stuff. If you want well documented and well presented material on this topic, you can’t go wrong in getting your paws on this book. REVIEW: I think any people having interest in the Viking era beliefs should read this book, which is from far a pure reference with a huge amount of references ! It put very interesting perspective on understanding how old Scandinavian beliefs are much linked to shamanism construction. REVIEW: Neil Price offers us a new look at pre-medieval Scandinavian culture. An important thesis in the eyes of Archeology and what could have been the thinking of the ancient Scandinavians. REVIEW: Brilliant. Absolutely essential if you’re going to make a study of the Vikings, their religion and their magic. REVIEW: Great book, a must-have in every Viking book collection. REVIEW: Amazing! Strong study based on the latest archaeological finds. I find that it’s very easy to be pulled into Price’s narrative. A delightful and fulfilling read. Worth the money. REVIEW: An interesting book with lots of detail, a must buy for Norse enthusiasts. REVIEW: Great depth. A very thorough and interesting look at Viking spirituality. REVIEW: Good research at its finest. Been waiting two years for this and it’s everything I hoped it would be. REVIEW: Very useful from both religious and academic perspectives. Provides insights and perspectives that are grounded in experiences and research which you would struggle to find elsewhere. REVIEW: Very detailed, well researched and impossible to put down once you get into it. REVIEW: The long awaited second edition does not disappoint. Grave findings, written sources, new research. REVIEW: This book will make your brain explode with awesome. REVIEW: Great book, a must-have in every Viking book collection. ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND: Viking History: The Vikings were diverse Scandinavian seafarers from Norway, Sweden, and Denmark whose raids and subsequent settlements significantly impacted the cultures of Europe. Those impacts were felt as far as the Mediterranean regions and Russia during the period from 790 AD through about 1100 AD. The Vikings were all Scandinavian but not all Scandinavians were Vikings. The term Viking applied only to those who took to the sea for the purpose of acquiring wealth by raiding in other lands. The term was primarily used by the English writers, not inclusively by other cultures. Most Scandinavians were not Vikings. Those non-Viking Scandinavians who traded with other cultures were known as Northmen, Norsemen, or other terms designating their origin. Beginning in 793 AD and continuing on for the next 300 years, the Vikings raided coastal and inland regions in Europe. They conducted trade as far as the Byzantine Empire in the east. They even served as the elite Varangian Guard for the Byzantine Emperor. Their influence on the cultures they interacted with was substantial in virtually every aspect of life. This was most notable in the regions of Scotland, Britain, France, and Ireland. They founded Dublin, colonized Normandy (“land of the Northmen”) in France, established the area of the Danelaw in Britain, and settled in numerous communities throughout Scotland. Although popularly imagined as warriors wearing horned helmets, this is inaccurate. Horned helmets would have been impractical in battle and were most likely only worn for ceremonial purposes. Further although the Vikings were great warriors, the fact that their name in the present day is almost synonymous with warfare, slaughter, and destruction is an association encouraged by popular media representations. The Scandinavian culture was actually highly developed and the Viking raids on other nations were only one aspect of the civilization. Their settlements in Iceland and Greenland spread Scandinavian culture far across the North Atlantic. Those settlements placed them in an ideal position for further exploration and colonization. The Vikings were the first Europeans to visit North America and establish communities. The Newfoundland site of L’Anse Aux Meadows has been positively identified as an early Viking settlement. Debate continues as to whether other sites from Maine to Rhode Island – and even further south – are evidence of early Viking habitation or at least visitation in North America. The origin of the word ‘Viking’ is still debated by scholars. The traditional view is that Viking comes from the Norse “vik”. The term denoted a cove or small fjord, i.e., a place where pirates could lurk and prey on merchant ships. Some philologists however hold that the word derives from the Old Norse for “pirate”. Yet other scholars postulate that the term must come from the region of Viken, which flanked the Oslo Fjord. That region was of great value for it was there that the Danes obtained the iron that was produced in Norway. They insist that the word Viking originally referred to the inhabitants of Viken. Cultures other than the English all referred to these same people by different names – but none called them Vikings. The Irish records call them pagans or simply foreigners. The French called them Northmen. The Slavs called them the Rus (which gave Russia its name). The Germans knew them as Ashmen in reference to their use of ash wood for their boats. The Vikings used the word themselves to refer to the activity of armed raids on other lands for the purpose of plunder. The Old Norse phrase fara i Viking (“to go on expedition”) had a distinctly different meaning than going on a sea voyage for the purposes of mere trade. When one decided to “go Viking” one was announcing one’s intention to join in raiding profitable targets in other lands. The Viking culture was Scandinavian, with society divided into three classes. The three classes were the Jarls (aristocracy), Karls (lower class), and Thralls (slaves). Upward mobility was possible for the lower classes but not for slaves. Slavery was widely practiced throughout Scandinavia and was considered one of the prime motivators for the Viking raids on other lands. Women had greater freedoms in Scandinavian/Viking culture than in many other cultures of the time. Women could inherit property, choose where and how to live if unmarried, represent themselves in legal cases, and own their own businesses (such as breweries, taverns, shops, and farms). Women were the prophetesses of either the goddess Freyja or the god Odin and interpreted the gods’ messages for the people. There were no male religious leaders. Marriages were arranged by the men of the clan. A woman could not choose her own mate, but neither could a man. Women’s dress and jewelry were similar to men of their social class, and neither sex wore earrings which were thought to be affectations of lesser races. Women were responsible for raising children and keeping the house but both men and women prepared meals for the family. Most Scandinavians were farmers. However there were also blacksmiths, armorers, brewers, merchants, weavers, luthiers (those who made stringed instruments), drum-makers, poets, musicians, craftsmen, carpenters, jewelers, and many other occupations. A significant source of income was trading amber which they possessed abundance. Amber (the fossilized resin of pine trees) frequently washed up on the shores around Scandinavia. It was worked into jewelry or sold in semi-processed form, especially to the Roman and Byzantine Empires. Scandinavians enjoyed leisure time as much as any other culture and played sports, board games, and organized festivals. Sports included mock-combat, wrestling, mountain climbing, swimming, javelin-throwing, hunting, a spectacle known as horse-fighting (whose details are unclear), and a field game known as Knattleik. Knattleik was similar to hockey. Their board games included dice, games of strategy along the lines of chess, and chess itself. Contrary to the popular image of the Vikings as filthy and savage, they were actually quite refined and paid a great deal of attention to hygiene and appearance. Once trade was established with the east, Viking Jarls often wore silk and expensive jewelry. They braided their hair and were well groomed. Their attire included fine cloaks and intricately-crafted jewelry in the form of necklaces, armbands, and wristbands. Cleanliness was not only a sign of wealth and status but also had religious significance. Vikings made sure to always keep their finger and toenails short because of their belief in Ragnarok. Ragnarok is a series of events, including a great battle, foretold to lead to the death of a number of great figures (including the gods Odin, Thor, Týr, Freyr, Heimdallr, and Loki). This eclipse of the gods was followed by natural disasters and the submersion of the world in water. At that point in time it was believed that the ship Naglfar would appear floating on the waters unleashed by the great serpent Jormungand. Naglfar was built from the nails of the dead. Thus anyone who died with nails unpared provided ship-building material and hastened the inevitable end. Ragnarok, the end of the world, was predestined. However one could still struggle against it. The gods of the Norse provided the people with the breath of life. It was then up to each individual to prove worthy of the gift. The Norse gods came to Scandinavia with the Germanic migrations sometime around the beginning of the Bronze Age (approximately 2300 – 1200 BC). These were fierce gods who understood their time was limited and lived fully to make the most of it. The gods encouraged their followers to do the same. The main sources for the Norse religious beliefs are the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda. The Edda is dated to oral traditions of the 9th and 10th centuries CE. The Prose Edda’s origin dates to about 1220AD. It is a collection of tales based on older stories. In the Norse creation story, before the world was created there was only ice and a giant named Ymir. Ymir lived by the grace of the great cow Audhumla. Audhumla fed Ymir milk which ran continuously from her four udders while. At the same time Audhumla licked the ice for her own sustenance. Her licking freed the trapped god Buri who then produced a son, Borr. Borr married Bestla, daughter of Bolthorn the frost giant. She gave birth to the gods Odin, Vili, and Vé. These gods united, killed Ymir, and used his body to create the world. The first human beings were Ask and Embla. Neither had spirit or form until life was breathed into them by Odin. The other gods were responsible for installing reason and passion into the new human beings. The world created by the gods was understood as an enormous tree, known as Yggdrasil. It included nine planes of existence. The most famous of these are Midgard (home for mortals), Asgard (home of the gods), and Alfheim (home of the elves). Another realm, Niflheim was located beneath Midgard where those who died poorly went. Heroic women, especially those who died in childbirth, went to the Hall of Frigg in Asgard. There they spent eternity in the company Odin’s wife. Men who died heroically in battle went to Odin’s hall of Valhalla. The entire universe was established on the principles of order by Odin and the other gods after they had defeated the frost giants. The frost giants lived in their own realm, Jotunheim, but were a constant threat to both Asgard and Midgard. At some point in the future, a great day of destruction would come and chaos would be unleashed. This future day was known as Ragnarök, the twilight of the gods. When Ragnarök came, the sun would be swallowed by the wolf Skoll and the moon by his brother Hati,. The world would be plunged into darkness. At the same time the great wolf Fenrir would ravage through all the planes of Yggdrasil. The god Heimdall would sound his great horn, calling the gods to battle. Odin would call up all the heroes from Valhalla’s halls to join with the gods in defending creation. The gods fight valiantly. However in the end they fall in battle as the entire universe is consumed in flame and sinks into the primordial waters. Although this is the end of the world, it is not the end of existence. Once the present world was destroyed, a new one would be created and rise from the waters. The entire cycle then repeats itself. The Norse gods were honored through the actions of the people who believed in them. No evidence of a religious hierarchy has been found in Scandinavia prior to the coming of Christianity. Women who were touched by the gods were known as Volva. It was believed that they were able to hear the divine words and translate them for other mortals. Although there were some temples erected to the gods, most worship seems to have taken place in natural settings which had some connection to a certain deity. The stories of the gods, creation, and Ragnarök were transmitted orally. They were only written down much later, in Iceland by the 13th century historian/poet Snorri Sturluson. Norse mythology would profoundly influence the Viking culture and encourage their raids. This is because the Viking life emulated that of the gods. Brave warriors went abroad to do battle against forces they saw as chaotic and dangerous. The Mediterranean and European religious belief in a single god and his savior son who needed priests, churches, nuns, books, and rules to be worshiped would have seemed absurd and threatening to the Vikings. There was nothing in the Christian teaching which resonated with Norse ideology. Once the Scandinavians had fully mastered shipbuilding and began to “go Viking,” they showed no mercy to the Christian communities they encountered. However early Scandinavian settlers in foreign lands frequently adopted Christianity. Carvings from Scandinavia dated to between 4000 and 2300 BC show that the people already knew how to build boats. These small ships were driven by paddles, had no keel, and would have made long-distance trips perilous. Still there is ample evidence that such journeys were made. Shipbuilding developed past this stage of small ferry boats only around 300-200 BC. They would not develop further until interactions with Roman traders and Celtic and Germanic merchants using Roman maritime technology. This occurred somewhere between 200 and 400 AD. Although it had no sail, the first ship able to navigate the sea easily is known as the Nydam ship. It was built in Denmark around 350 to 400 AD. A number of Scandinavian traders established permanent communities in Europe long before the development of keel or sail. They had assimilated with the Christian culture, forsaking their old religious practices, forgetting the stories of the Norse gods. By 625 AD the West Germanic kinsmen of the Scandinavians had converted to Christianity. Between 650 and 700 new Christian cultures emerged in England, in the Frankish world, and in Frisia (present-day Netherlands). This led to a parting of the ways between the Scandinavian heartland and the new states in the former Roman Empire. This “parting of the ways” was largely due to differences in religious understanding and behavior. The Christian god was alleged to be omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. This was a significant departure from the Norse gods who. Like other pagan religions each Norse god had their own area of expertise, their own lives and concerns. Each god’s actions explained the observable world in a way the Christian god did not. For the Vikings the universe was full of gods and spirits and supernatural energies. These entities infused a challenging world of adventure. While, to the Christians the world was ruled by one deity who presided over a fallen world of sin. This difference in world views influenced how the Vikings dealt with the Christians they encountered on their raids. It would have been considered dishonorable for a Norse warrior to kill unarmed civilians and take their possessions. But this is precisely what the Vikings did between 793 and approximately 1100 AD. They felt at liberty to so do because those they plundered were not Norse. Those they plundered and murdered were not participants in the same belief system. Thus the rules which maintained Viking society did not apply to their victims. When the Vikings first came to Britain and sacked the priory of Lindisfarne in 793AD, they murdered every monk they found and carried off everything of value. This would have been considered a serious crime if the slain had been Norse. However under the circumstances the monks to the Vikings were simply obstacles to the acquisition of wealth. Further it was abundantly clear that the Christian god had no power to defend his people if they could so easily be killed within the walls of their own place of worship. Like those of the Huns on the Roman Empire centuries earlier, the Viking raids on Christian communities were interpreted by European Christians as God’s wrath on his people for their sins. In Britain late 9th century King Alfred the Great would institute his reforms in education to better his people and appease his God. He also made baptism into the Christian faith a stipulation of treaties with the Vikings. When Alfred defeated the Viking army under Guthrum at the Battle of Eddington in 878 AD, Guthrum and 30 of his chieftains had to submit to baptism and conversion. In the early 9th century Charlemagne in France pursued a much more active course in attempting to forcefully Christianize the Scandinavians through military campaigns. His campaigns destroyed sites sacred to Norse belief and established Christianity as an enemy faith of a hostile people. Charlemagne’s efforts have been cited by a number of historians as the primary motivation for the savagery of the Viking raids. However this claim does not take into account the raids on Britain and Ireland decades earlier between 793 and 800 AD. There is little doubt however that Charlemagne’s evangelical holy wars did little to encourage Scandinavian acceptance of Christianity. They only led to animosity and greater division. In the early years of the Viking Age in Europe, the sea-raiders began as little more than pirates. However the Vikings would eventually arrive as great armies under charismatic and skilled military leaders. They would conquer large territories and establish communities. And finally these Viking hoards would assimilate with the local population. The Viking Age is known for legendary Norse leaders such as 9th century Halfdan Ragnarsson (also known as Halfdane), his brother Ivar the Boneless, and Guthrum. The 10th century was notable for Norse leaders such as Harold Bluetooth and his son Sven Forkbeard. Notable Norse leaders of the 11th century included Cnut the Great and Harald Hardrada (1046-1066). Other notable Norse explorers of the time were early 11th century Eric the Red and Leif Erikson, both who explored and settled Greenland and North America. The Vikings were never defeated en masse in battle and no single engagement ended the Viking Age. The date agreed on by most scholars as the end of the Viking Age is 1066 AD when Harald Hardrada was killed at the Battle of Stamford Bridge. However Viking raids continued after this date. There were many factors which contributed to the end of the Viking Age. The Christianization of Scandinavia throughout the 10th and 11th centuries was certainly among the most significant. The Norse religion was the last of the great pagan belief systems to fall to Christianity. Once it did there was no inspiration in the new faith for one to “go Viking” anymore. The Vikings influenced the culture of every nation they came in contact with and in every conceivable way from architecture to language, infrastructure to poetry and place names, military reforms to food and clothing, and certainly in the areas of warfare and shipbuilding. Regularly depicted by medieval writers as marauding bands of murderous heathens, the Vikings would be re-imagined as noble savages by the early 20th century CE, and this is often how they are still portrayed in the present day. The Vikings were actually neither of these, however; they were a cultured and sophisticated warrior class who understood, based on their religious belief, that in raiding other lands for personal gain they had everything to win and nothing to lose [Ancient History Encyclopedia]. Viking Women: Although women in the Viking Age (790 to about 1100 AD) lived in a male-dominated society, they were far from being powerless. Viking Women they ran farms and households. They were responsible for textile production. They moved away from Scandinavia to help settle Viking territories abroad stretching from Greenland, Iceland, and the British Isles to Russia. It’s possible they were even involved in trade in the sparse urban centers. Some were part of a rich upper class, such as the woman, perhaps a queen, who was buried in the ostentatious Oseberg ship burial in 834 AD. On the other end of the spectrum slaves were taken from conquered territories during the Viking expansion. Amongst them were many women, who were integrated into Viking Age society. History is largely dependent on piecing together the lives of Viking Women based mostly on the archaeology of burials and the accompanying grave goods. This includes an occasional runestone that mentions women or was commissioned by one. From those finds researchers know a fair amount about Viking Age women’s clothing, jewelry, and personal items. However much less is known about their effective ‘power’ or the status they held. The landscape was predominated by small rural communities or even remote self-sustaining farmsteads. It follows then that the domestic tasks that were mainly the domain of women were clearly far from unimportant. While their men were away trading or pillaging monasteries along the Northern European coasts, the wives who stayed behind likely took over control of the farm. Over the past few years researchers have even investigated the possible existence of female Viking warriors. However the evidence is quite controversial and inconclusive. One of the less obscure areas when it comes to the lives of women in the Viking Age is their clothing and jewelry. Courtesy of archaeological excavations of burials and their accompanying grave goods, we know that most women seem to have worn outfits comprised of two or three layers. The first layer was a linen or woolen sleeved shift or underdress. It was fastened at the neck with a small disc brooch and sometimes pleated there, too. On top of this a strapped gown or overdress was worn. It was usually made of a rectangular piece wool which was wrapped around the body. It was held up by shoulder straps which at the front of the dress were pinned down by two oval brooches. Also known as tortoise brooches these oval brooches are typical for Viking Age material Culture. When archaeologists find such brooches in graves, a Scandinavian link is usually present. The brooches varied hugely in style. More than 50 styles have been identified. As one researcher postulated, “the differences may reflect changes in fashion. But it is more likely this enormous diversity shows an arcane language of class and regional affiliation we can no longer understand.” Alternatively, box brooches could also be used to fasten shawls and the likes. Both types of brooches were usually made of bronze and adorned with knotted patterns. The types of textiles held in place by them could vary greatly too. The range of textiles ran from simple domestic wool to fine oriental silk in the proximity of trading hubs such as Birka in Sweden. Interestingly, the varying qualities of cloth were often present in one and the same (rich) grave. Besides these practical items women in the Viking Age also wore necklaces, arm rings, trefoil buckles and trefoil brooches. The latter were very distinct, made up of three ‘arms’ poking out, embellished with knotwork and/or filigree. Beads are also commonly found in Viking graves. Although a few trade centers did exist, Viking Age homes were mostly located in smaller rural hubs and at isolated farms. A large degree of self-sufficiency would have been needed to survive. A typical Viking Age house was made up of one long room with a central hearth. It could be accompanied by a dairy, sheds, barns, and other outbuildings. Mostly resigned to this domestic sphere, one historian commented, “women living in rural areas in the Viking Age spent most of their time in the triangle of cowshed, dairy, and living quarters, providing their families with food and clothing”. Food had to be prepared from whatever raw state it came in, quite unlike running to the supermarket. Textile production and the subsequent making of clothes were elaborate processes that almost all Viking Age women were involved in one way or another. The most common grave goods found in female graves from this period are spindle whorls, wool combs, and weaving battens. This is especially true of grave goods from what were rural areas. Other tasks that do not show up in the archaeological record in such a direct way but are traditionally associated with women are child-rearing and caring for the sick or the elderly. Historians also envision women performing chores and odd jobs around the farm, perhaps even some carpentry or leather-working. How exactly children were brought up and whether girls were treated any differently from boys is unclear, although daughters were perhaps be given in marriage at an appropriate age. Women may have had a good degree of control over running the household and were likely left in charge of matters while their husbands were away (or died). Like their contemporaries, although subordinate to their husbands women likely had a high degree of responsibility. Perhaps they even were in control over the running of the household. This was symbolized by the fact they were often buried with keys. Some historians have suggested farms were like firms, “run by husband and wife together. The work of both partners was of equal importance although different and complementary.” It must be acknowledged however that people who owned larger farms and more land would have had considerable means. They would likely have belonged to the upper classes within society. As such they were not automatically reflective of all of Viking Age society. Throughout Viking Age society marriage was a pivotal institution used to create new ties of kinship. This included marriage to (non-Viking) Scandinavians as well as locals in conquered or settled areas. Commensurate with the influence women could wield through their husbands, it seems unmarried women had very limited prospects. Before the advent of Christianity throughout Scandinavia and Viking territories around 1000 AD the possession of concubines (often connected to slavery) as well as multiple marriages occurred at least among the royals. In general however it is hard to comment on the exact status of Viking Age housewives. Their domestic role was a very central one. It seems likely that it would not generally have gone unappreciated. The inscription found on a stone as Hassmyra is the only verse found on a Swedish inscribed stone that commemorates a woman. It certainly seems to confirm this. “The good farmer Holmgaut had this raised in memory of his wife Odindis. A better housewife will never come to Hassmyra to run the farm. Red Balli carved these runes. She was a good sister to Sigmund.” There were a few trading centers in Viking Age Scandinavia where a lot more hustle and bustle must have been the norm. Families there would have lived slightly different lives than their more isolated and rural counterparts. The largest of these centers were Birka in Sweden, Ribe in Denmark, Kaupang in Norway, and Hedeby in present-day northern Germany (on the southern edge of Viking Age Denmark). Whereas in the countryside women were often buried with spindle whorls, female graves unearthed at Birka, for instance, hold needles, scissors, and tweezers. Even merchants’ weights, scales, and coins are not uncommon in female burials. These artifacts hint at fine sewing and mercantile endeavors as female occupations. These female grave goods have been found not just around other urban centers in Scandinavia but also in Viking territories across what is now Russia. These archaeological finds strongly imply that Viking woman had also been traders. However directly linking grave goods to actual activities in life is always a bit uncertain. It’s impossible to be absolutely certain of the intentions with which the grave goods were included in a burial. One historian cautions, “…we need to consider whether grave goods really represent the former lives of the dead, or whether some of them could not in fact have more of a symbolic function. The presence of weights in children’s graves does not necessarily mean that they engaged in trading activities too…” A woman buried with weights and scales may simply have belonged to a family of merchants. As has been proposed by other historians, it’s not necessarily an indication that she herself was an active merchant. As with many things regarding women in the Viking Age there is just not enough information to provide a degree of certainty with regard to precisely what an urban Viking Age woman’s life would have looked like. However women in trade centers would certainly have been more directly connected with the wider world. These connections would not merely have been through the inflow of “exotic” trade goods, but also through visitors. Illustrating this is a surviving ancient account that coveys how in the 9th century a Christian mission was sent to Birka and successfully converted the rich widow Frideburg and her daughter Catla. The two then decided to travel to the Frisian market town of Dorestad. If some women were indeed involved in trade this may conceivably have placed them in the upper rungs of society, or least given them means and status. Evidence of the lifestyle of the Viking Age’s rich and powerful reach the modern world in a number of ways. Illuminations their lifestyle include large runestones that were erected across Scandinavia. Excavations of burials ranging from just “rich” to ones so over the top it leaves us no doubt as to the buried person’s importance. Archaeological excavations also establish that the rich and famous were not exclusively male. In the obviously royal Oseberg boat burial dating to about 834AD two women were buried in a lavishly decorated and furnished ship. They were also accompanied by lots of high-quality grave goods. Large stones covered in runes and ornamentation usually erected to commemorate the dead were normally commissioned by wealthy families. They were known as “rune stones”, the runes speaking of their endeavors in life. Not only can one imagine women being important within these families, some stones were actually commissioned by women themselves. The evidence creates at least the suggestion that (perhaps a very few) women attained a very high social status. Runestones also illustrate how important the inheritance of a woman was to facilitate the transfer of wealth from one family to another. Furthermore, some richly furnished female graves (and even boat graves) found in rural settings hint at women possibly climbing to high social positions there as well. As described earlier, there is strong evidence that women might have ended up running the farm in their husbands’ absence. Some 40 graves from Scandinavia and beyond have provided evidence supporting this supposition. Texts and sagas related to the Viking Age also speak of the existence of female ‘sorceresses’. These sources describe Seiðr, a type of shamanistic magic mainly connected to Viking women. These women were often described as volva, powerful sorceresses possessing a staff of sorcery and with the power to see into the future. Objects similar to the sorcery staffs described have been discovered in Viking Age burials. They possess clear symbolic overtones. According to one historian’s interpretation these objects may have function as metaphorical staffs used to ‘spin out’ the user’s soul. The graves in which these symbolic objects have been found are often rich in terms of clothes and grave goods. They have often been found to include amulets and charms, exotic jewelry, toe rings, and the remains clearly showed that the women had facial piercings. In a handful of these graves even psychoactive drugs such as cannabis and henbane have been found. No matter how much scientists speculate and postulate, these women’s roles in Viking society remains a mystery. Archaeologists have excavated a number of royal female burials. The Oseberg boat burial is amongst the most prominent. The few obviously royal burials uncovered by archaeologists cannot be mistaken for anything other than the monuments of persons with enormous status, wealth and power. Although they share characteristics with other Viking Age burials, they are really in a class of their own. The relationship these two women may have shared in lifer is indeterminable. They could have been queen and handmaiden, two aristocratic women related to each other, or otherwise. Their relationship will likely always remain a puzzle. But the fact that at least one of them was of high status is undeniable. Another woman of plentiful means was the late 9th century Aud the ‘deep-minded’. Historical accounts indicate she was born to a Norwegian chieftain residing in the Hebrides and married a Viking who lived in Dublin. After the death of both her husband and son she took over control of the family fortunes. She arranged for a ship to take her and her granddaughters first to Orkney and the Faroes. Then finally they traveled to Iceland where they settled. In Iceland she distributed land among her retinue. She became an early Christian. Today she is remembered as one of Iceland’s four most important settlers. At the top of the elite category were Viking Age queens. Some were on a smaller local scale, as the big unified Scandinavian kingdoms did not fully crystallize until the end of the Viking Age. Some of them were likely very well-connected. All Viking Age women likely exercised influence through their husbands or sons. The more important their husbands were the more opportunities this may have presented for the women at their sides. In the wake of the Viking raids spilling across northern Europe and beyond, Viking territories sprung up as far apart as Greenland, Newfoundland in North America, and Russia. It is obvious that proper settlement is a hard thing to achieve without women. With their famous “trademark” oval brooches, female Viking Age burials have been excavated throughout all of these areas confirm their presence. It is both difficult to conceive of women taking an active part in the Vikings’ initial raiding waves and military expeditions. It is also difficult to find any tangible evidence that this occurred. However late 9th century Anglo-Saxon and Frankish sources relate how Viking forces traveled together with their women and children. Archaeological finds at winter camps such as that at Torksey (England) do reveal evidence of textile manufacture. Of course such families or camp-followers need not necessarily have been Scandinavian women. Viking armies raided both the continent and the British Isles. Likely they would have picked up at least some of the women from there. However whether this scenario was common is unclear as well. On the other hand more clarity arrives with the first proper settlement waves. Settlement dates varied with different Viking territories. However Scandinavian immigrant families arrived in the British Isles in phases during the 9th and 10th centuries. Toward the end of the 9th century Iceland was settled, shortly thereafter followed by Greenland and beyond. These latter areas were fully Scandinavian except for some influx of often female slaves, for example, taken from Ireland. On the other hand in the British Isles as well as throughout Russia there was more mixing with the pre-existing populations. For instance on Orkney the 9th or early 10th century burial of the so-called “Westness Woman” is of a Norse woman in her twenties along with her newborn child. She was buried with grave goods which included a pair of bronze oval brooches as well as a Celtic pin. A rich Scandinavian female grave on the Isle of Man (the ‘Pagan Lady of Peel’) shows an even stronger image of a mixed community . The grave is mixed with thirty-odd Christian runic monuments. Those monuments are essentially Celtic crosses with runic inscriptions, including both Norse and Celtic personal names. The Celtic crosses feature Scandinavian-style ornamentation. The famous Icelandic sagas of the 13th century relay stories set in the earlier Viking Age. They add another possible layer of depth to the role of women. The sagas describe strong women taking action, stoking up revenge, standing up to their husbands or even engaging in fights. However these sagas were composed centuries after the time they wrote about. They were written from a different context and perspective. Thus it is simply too much of a stretch to directly extrapolate this imagery of women and impute it to actual conditions of the Viking Age. Nevertheless the stereotype of a ‘strong Viking woman’ runs wild in popular imagination. It even infects academics. A study of a Viking Age grave originally found in Birka, Sweden in the 1800s came to the conclusion that the grave contained proof positive of a female Viking warrior. The bones were identified as female, and the burial was alongside various weapons and horses. One would presume these to be the attributes of a warrior. However the skeleton had no traumatic injuries, not something one would expect from an active warrior. And the remains showed no sign of strenuous physical activity or well-developed musculature. Again, it is a difficult leap to link grave goods to a person’s actual life. In this instance the woman most likely was buried with warrior’s gear for another reason, perhaps symbolic. As of yet the archaeological and historical evidence is not sufficient to confirm this Birka woman having been an active warrior. Here, too, the lives of women in the Viking Age remain more shrouded in mystery than that of their male counterparts [Ancient History Encyclopedia]. The Ancient Norse-Viking Diet: In many media depictions of Vikings a group is often seen gathered around a flaming pit while an animal of some type, usually a boar, turns on a spit above. While the people of Scandinavia certainly ate meat, it was not a central part of their diet. They seem to have relied more on dairy products, fruits, and vegetables. The Norse diet, including those known as Vikings, was far more diverse than how it is represented in modern-day media. The historical and archaeological evidence indicates that their diet included a wide range of food types. The most common foods were: —Dairy products (milk, cheese, curds, whey). —Grains (wheat, rye, barley, oats). —Fruits (strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, crab-apples, apples). —Nuts (hazelnuts and imported walnuts). —Vegetables (peas, beans, onions, cabbage, leeks, turnips). —Fish (as well as eels, squid, seals, and whales). —Meat (cows, sheep, goats, pigs, horses, chickens, ducks, seabirds). Salt was expensive to make as the usual method would be to boil down salt water. This required a significant amount of timber for the fire. It also required a significant amount of time and effort to complete the process. Salt was more often imported, making it a luxury not everyone could afford. Meat then had to be consumed shortly after the animal was killed because for most there was no means of preserving it. The foods most commonly stored were dairy products sealed in barrels or ceramic jars (especially skyr, a kind of yogurt), dried fruit and vegetables, and grains. The most common drink was ale, for both for men and women, as well as for children. Popular as well was an alcoholic dairy-based beverage known as syra. Syra was a by-product of making skyr (yogurt). Mead (a honey-based drink) and wine from grapes (import

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