Viking History

The days of the week were named after Viking gods.

Vikings were the best at making boats, they helped them a lot during various military and inversional missions, the reason their boats were that good is because they used most of their wood on boats instead of houses and their boats were designed to be able to departure from land fast witch gave them an advantage when retreating and setting out to sea. Vikings were focused on gaining physical strength, therefore when a child was ill or sick they would abandon it, they would abandon them by throwing them into the sea or by leaving it in the wilderness. Vikings had a unique funeral ceremony, when one of them died they would give them a unique funeral service, what they would do is lay the deceased on a boat clothes, all their pets and jewellery. Set it on fire then push it into the sea. In the Norsemen society they preferred blondes, it was so desired brunette men came up with tactics to lighten the colour of their manes, and one of their primary methods was using a strong soap to bleach their hair. Surprisingly Vikings had good hygiene, they even had their own grooming tools, which where the most common tools crafter even more common than weapons. In the Viking period the most popular crossing was between Iceland and Norway, this would take those 3 to 5 days depending on the route and communication between the crew.

For my final idea I have decided to make a Viking village located in Iceland. This village is not a traditional village but a replica of one. It was built for a film set based around Viking life. The village is 5 km East from Höfn. So it’s a little bit of a walk to get there, but the journey introduces you to the habitats that the Vikings lived in back then.  Vikings built their villages beneath a mountain, often in its shadow. Vikings discovered Iceland in the ninth century and when they did it was still inhabited this means that the village is supposed to represent one that was built shortly after they visited Iceland. The buildings in the village mimic the architecture of the period perfectly and the interior of the buildings looks indistinguishable from real Viking architecture. This is a good source to study as it shows what life was like back then but on the other hand it’s a replica so it is not completely perfect and wasn’t built by the Vikings so it was built with a different mind-set and moral. When Vikings visited Iceland they had to have women on the ship too just so they can start developing and establishing a civilisation. The animal’s native to Iceland are sheep, cattle, chicken, goat, and the Icelandic sheepdog this was good for the Vikings as they could domesticate them and keep them as pets and a source of food. Polar bears travel on ice burgs from Greenland to Iceland, they are a good source of protamine and clothing.

Viking boathouses were built against the waterline and were dug into the ground, they were made to hold the ships of the Vikings. When building the boathouse they made sure they were big and up to 82feet long. This is because the boats that they built were really big. The base of the building was piled up with stone and then the walls were made from wood. Vikings had ring fortresses, they had a circular shape and were called Trelleborgs. They were built in Denmark and were made in memory of Harold Bluetooth who died in 986. Vikings had religious buildings for praying, they had them even before Christianity arrived in Scandinavia. Once this occurred the ritual houses started to resemble churches.

Christian Vikings gathered in Stave churches, from the outside they did not look like a church, they had the rooves of a traditional ritual house and were multiple layered but often had spirals or a tower in the middle. The walls of these churches were made out of stone and in the inside there were a lot of crosses and depictions of Jesus.

The rooves pf a Viking house were covered in dirt and grass was planted on them. Islandic houses were a large foundation made of stone with widen frames, the main doorway led to the centre room witch had a lit fireplace in the centre of the room that provided lighting and heating to the house. The floors in the rooms were covered by earth wood and stone.

Viking clothes were made out of animal skin, wool and linen. Men wore tunics and trousers but women wore dresses, their clothing was made by women and children.