Playing Vikings: Militarism, Hegemonic Masculinities, and Childhood Enculturation in Viking Age Scandinavia
How do we define and understand the concept of childhood as it existed during the Viking Age?
Gender equality and the Vikings
Modern-day Scandinavia is regarded as a model of equality between the sexes. A new study indicates that this may go back to the early Middle Ages.
Messages from the Otherworld: The Roles of the Dead in Medieval Iceland
The ghosts in sagas are no phantoms or incorporeal spirits, but appear to the living in their physical and tangible bodies at a dark time of the day or year. The dead look the same as they used to when they lived, and are thus easily recognized by the living.
Old Age in Viking-Age Britain
Did the same negative attitudes towards the old exist in Viking-Age England? What was considered ‘old’ in Viking-Age colonial society? And, what sort of life could the old individual expect?
How Did the Norsemen in Greenland See Themselves? Some Reflections on ‘Viking Identity’
We can contrast two possibilities: 1) that there was an overarching Scandinavian cultural unity in the Viking Age, or 2) that there were distinct cultural identities in different parts of what is often called the “Viking world.”
Creating Viking Age Clothing in the 21st Century
Today’s cultural image of a Viking is of a hulking man fit with a horned helm and piles of fur. Is there a better way of creating clothing that melds fantasy and reality?
Did Henbane make Berserkers go Berserk?
A new study on the legendary Viking warriors known as berserkers suggests that they were able to achieve their battle trances and ferocity through the use of henbane.
How well do you know these Viking-age artefacts?
We have many remains from the Viking-age that offer insights into the Norse world. Here are ten artefacts – do you know what they are?
Viking Age Hair
In Viking-Age Scandinavia, hair also seems to have played an important role in social dynamics.
Thoroughly Modern Valkyries: The Shift to Girl Power
From Wagner to the Marvel Cinematic Universe – the modern portrayal of Valkyries.
Viking Currency
Buying, selling and trading in the Viking Age, and how hoards are different over the centuries.
Which books about the Vikings should I read?
There are many books about the Vikings and the Norse world for someone to choose from. Here is a list of books we think are a good reads about the Vikings – ones that are both fairly new and relatively inexpensive.
Children of a One-Eyed God: Impairment in the Myth and Memory of Medieval Scandinavia
This thesis counters scholarly assumptions that the impaired were universally marginalized across medieval Europe. It argues that bodily difference in the Norse world was only viewed as a limitation when it prevented an individual from fulfilling roles that contributed to their community.
I Love You, Please Put Away the Bear: Valkyrjur-turned-Wife
Though they may marry and even support their husbands in the short term, they generally bring ruin upon their partners.
Ullr: A God on the Edge of Memory
In the Old Icelandic and Norwegian literary sources, Ullr is one of the least frequently occurring gods.
Study shows that Vikings enjoyed a warm Greenland
Chemistry of bugs trapped in ancient lake sediment shows a warm climate at a key time in Greenland’s history.
Dried Fish and the Vikings
This month we’re taking a look at the modern cultural phenomena of “superfoods” and the latest Nordic sensation on the market – dried fish!
Why Icelandic Vikings were buried with horses
Archaeologists in Iceland have for decades examined the remains of more than 350 graves from the Viking Age. In approximately 150 of these, teeth or bones of horses were found.
How well do you know Norse Mythology?
Try these 15 questions about Norse gods and goddesses.
Viking Age Christmas Traditions
By Emma “Bruni” Boast Everyone knows that a lot of the modern Christmas traditions stem from previous pagan cultural ones. What are the seasonal…
How the Vikings Inhabited Scotland: A Social Zooarchaeological Approach
The field of human-animal relations is a growing area of research, and with regard to the
Viking Age the majority of this research has concerned the Scandinavian homelands.
Milk: Does a Viking Good?
For more adventures in weird “Viking” food, this month we’re delving deeper into the history of Viking Age and medieval Scandinavia and their culture of milk-drinking.
The Lives and Deaths of Houses in the Iron and Viking Ages
The longhouses built in the Norse world were more than just simple structures that served as places of shelter. In many ways they had a life of their own.
Homicide and Suicide in Viking Age Scandinavia
What was the perception and conception of homicide and suicide in the Viking Age Scandinavia, and to what extent is that traceable in the written and archaeological sources?