VIKINGS Bloodthirsty Thugs or Thrifty Traders?

VIKINGS
Bloodthirsty Thugs or Thrifty Traders?

by Nicole Lundrigan

When you picture a Viking, what comes to mind? Do you imagine a
burly thug sporting furry boots and a horned hat just waiting to use his
axe on anything that moves? Perhaps you would be surprised to learn
that Vikings were actually skilled craftsmen and traders, artisans, and
farmers. Recent archaeological evidence has shed new light on the
intricacies of Viking culture, and current finds suggest that this ancient
group may have gotten a bad rap.

Turn on the television, go to the movies, or cruise though a bookstore
and you’ll discover how rumors of Viking violence have invaded our
culture. With a click of the remote you can witness Xena, the Warrior
Princess, dueling with “Vikinglike” invaders who swing spiked
battleaxes and don hefty footgear. In a recent Hollywood flick, 13th
Warrior, Antonio Banderas journeys with a less-than-refined group of
Vikings to the Northlands. There, this fierce group engages in life-and-
death battles with flesh-eating adversaries in scenes that are
extremely gory. You may come across a good guy such as Wulgar in
the series of novels “Forgotten Realm,” but his brutish followers are
rotten to the core. Even the dim-witted Hagar, the Horrible, in a comic
strip based on a Viking family, is prone to a little roughhousing. With
all of this negative publicity, what’s the average person to think?

Many people believe that the Vikings were adventurous explorers with
a dark, violent side. Yet, modern-day researchers claim that Viking
travel was actually driven by commerce and the need for farmland, not
by the urge to brutally conquer the world. In fact, Dr. Robert MacGhee
of the Canadian Museum of Civilization doubts that the Vikings did
much exploring at all. “From Russia to Ireland and the Mediterranean,
their voyages were driven by trade, the possibility of looting rich
communities, and the search for colonization lands,” says MacGhee.
It’s even possible that the discovery of North America was a
serendipitous event. The Vikings’ “navigational knowledge was
probably no more advanced than that of others of the time,” states

MacGhee, and “discoveries” could have occurred when they were
simply blown off course.

Shipbuilding Wizards
When it comes to ship technology, the Vikings developed a mean (as in
amazing) design. The vessels they constructed, known as longships,
were so long and narrow that archaeologists later questioned whether
they even were seaworthy. Yet these ships, powered both by wind and
by energetic rowers, were able to land on almost any beach or
navigate almost any waterway.

In 1997, a perfectly preserved longship was discovered in the mud off
Roskilde harbor, near Copenhagen, Denmark, when workers were
attempting to expand the harbor for the Viking Ship Museum (talk
about coincidence!). Scientists used dendrochronology to date the
35-meter-long vessel back to A.D. 1025. This find represents the
longest longship ever recovered by archaeologists, and has provided
further knowledge about shipbuilding technology.

Viking longships were an ideal union of design, material, and form. The
Vikings not only had ready access to hardwood, but they also “had
knowledge of iron refinement, and thus could make the iron rivets that
held their boat planks together,” says Ruth Evans of the Newfoundland
Museum. “They used the clinker style of construction (overlapping
planks), which gave the boats flexibility. On top of this, they
sometimes tied (rather than nailed) the ribs of their ships to the hull,
increasing the boats’ pliability,” she explains. These factors represent a
thousand years of boat-building evolution, and the product was a
superior ship capable of great speeds and difficult journeys.

The Viking Way
By sailing these sturdy vessels, the Vikings safely made their way to
far-off lands. But when they landed in these new regions, what was life
like? Archaeological evidence demonstrates that the Vikings were
traders, farmers, and homemakers.

One of the most exciting and insightful archaeological sites is called
L’Anse aux Meadows. Located on the northern tip of Newfoundland,

this excavation “revealed eight buildings (three large dwellings, four
smaller workshops) and an iron forge, as well as some spectacular
artifacts, including a bronze cloak pin, a spindle whorl, and some
butternuts,” describes Evans. These finds indicate that the Vikings had
established a community where women spun yarn, men repaired boats
for further travel, and families peacefully farmed the land for food.
Discovery of the butternuts indicates that this group ventured much
further than their base camp, as butternuts could not have grown in
such a climate.

Although they spent much time traveling and working the land, the
Vikings still were able to develop their artistic skills. “Many artifacts
that have been recovered show beautiful designs and artwork,” says
Evans, “and sometimes [these] items were made from rare materials
that must have been imported from southern Europe. These items
dispel the myth of Vikings as barbarians, and reveal them as
cosmopolitan and commercially minded people.” But when could the
Vikings possibly have found the time to plunder other lands and wage
wars against the unfortunate souls to cross their paths?

Viking Secrets
There is undoubtedly still a lot to learn about the Vikings. In a
December 1999 press release from the Archaeological Survey of
Canada, Dr. Patricia Sutherland, Associate Curator, described the
telling story behind a three-meter strand of Viking yarn. The artifact
had been frozen for over 700 years on Baffin Island, located in
Canada’s Arctic. Such a delicate find could not have withstood travel
over a long-distance overland trade route, so it suggests that the
Vikings made a direct trip to this island. Reasons for the visit are still
unclear, and archaeologists continue to excavate in the Arctic in hopes
of learning more. This small skein, though, may help to show that the
relationship between the Vikings and the native people, or Inuit, was
not — at least part of the time — a hostile one.

If the Vikings were skilled farmers, tradesmen, and artisans, why did
they develop such a disgusting reputation? “In a time when only
priests were literate enough to leave historical records, [the Vikings
were described as being] wild, heathen barbarians, when in fact they
were probably no more violent than other Europeans at the time,”

explains Dr. MacGhee. This description has stuck to the Vikings like the
horns on their hats. Hey, wait a minute — Viking hats didn’t really
have horns — that’s just another myth.

With new finds emerging all the time, our knowledge about Viking
culture is changing. But what about our feelings? Isn’t it about time we
began to view these people in a kinder, gentler light? It has taken
hundreds of years for the Vikings to become notoriously known as
bloodthirsty hoodlums. And so, realistically, it might take longer than a
few years for their tarnished armor to begin to shine again.

Serendipitous
— Occuring by fortunate accident
Dendrochronology
— Using the annual growth rings of a tree to date a sample of wood.
For a complete discussion of dendrochronology and its archaeological
applications, see In the Beginning: An Introduction to Archaeology, by
Brian M. Fagan (Harper Collins, 1994).
Spindle whorl
— A small flywheel that regulates the speed of a spinning wheel
NEAT STUFF ON THE NET
Want to watch the genuine excavation of a Viking burial site as it
happens? Go to www.nmgw.ac.uk/archaeol/anglesey/ and click
on “Go Digging” to follow the day-by-day progress of a fascinating
archaeological project in Anglesey, England.

ANCIENT ABCs
With all their traveling, trading, looting, and farming, the Vikings
seemed to be a very busy group of people. Yet, they still took a little
time out for romance. They carved symbols onto wood, bone, stone,
jewelry, and household wares. A bone, decorated perhaps by a love-
struck Viking, bore the simple message “Kiss Me.”

The Vikings used a runic alphabet called a futhark — a name based on
the alphabet’s first six letters.

A rune is any of the characters in this alphabetic script, used in
northern Europe as early as the first century A.D. Initially, there were

23 symbols, but this was later reduced to 16. Each symbol consisted of
only straight lines so that they could easily be carved into stone and
wood.

Vikings engraved runes to record historic events, mark land ownership,
commemorate important people, and express love. Carvings on sticks
were used to send bills, make lists, and leave messages. That’s a far
cry from our modern-day e-mail and voice message services!

Many runes still exist today, but there are also clever forgeries. For
instance, the scientific community denounces the authenticity of the
Kensington Rune Stone found in Minnesota in 1898. Yet, this forgery
was so clever and such an influence on Minnesota’s population, they
named their football team “The Minnesota Vikings”!

Look at the letters of the Viking runic alphabet, and compare them to
our traditional (Roman) alphabet. Note which of the symbols are
similar, and which are different.

Now that you know about the Viking alphabet, create your own runic
message! N.L.