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The popular image of the Vikings—fierce raiders with horned helmets—is being challenged by a more complex picture. Vikings, the exhibition, reveals new insights brought to light through archaeological discoveries. See into the lives of these legendary people through more than 500 artifacts, many never before seen outside of Scandinavia.
The majority of people who lived across Scandinavia during the Viking Age were not warriors or mercenaries. Instead, most lived as farmers. They did not even call themselves Vikings unless they were out on “a viking,” an Old Norse term for a commercial trip or a raid.
Viking women wore keys—fully visible on the outside of their clothing—as symbols of power. Old Norse written sources indicate that women ruled the households and farms while men plowed the fields. Archaeological evidence suggests that women also took part in trade and sometimes carried weapons, too.
The farm was at the center of Viking life and the extended family was the basic community on the farm. Women and men—both free and unfree—lived and worked on farms growing crops and raising animals.
Farm settlements consisted of a large dwelling house—called a longhouse—surrounded by a few smaller buildings. Archaeological evidence indicates that a longhouse was a sign of a family’s ownership of land and played an important role as a ceremonial banqueting hall—possibly a link to the mythical halls of Valhalla and Fólkvangr in Norse religion.
The Vikings founded trading centers across Scandinavia where townsfolk manufactured and exchanged a wide range of goods. During the Viking Age, highly skilled craftspeople worked with many different materials including textiles, wood, metal, bone, leather, glass, and ceramics.
Art during the Viking Age was primarily decorative and used to ornament a variety of objects. Even functional weapons often had artistic elements. This iron axe head includes a design motif based on vegetation.
These beads of carnelian and rock crystal came from the Caucasus area around the Black Sea. Their origins reveal the Vikings’ connections to distant lands and cultures. Beads were valuable and desirable commodities for trade.
This brooch of bronze, gold, and silver features a “gripping-beast” ornament along with a bearded demon. Crafts, especially metal crafts, were associated with the Norse gods, who were at times described as metalsmiths who forged the world.
This elaborate filigree pendant features tightly woven patterns and bird of prey imagery—both characteristic of Old Norse motifs.
The ship was an ancient symbol in Scandinavian culture and a vital factor in Viking expansion, travel, and trade. Archaeological finds, written sources, and rock carvings (or “Picture Stones”) indicate that the Vikings built many different types of ships.
Longships, which could hold 50 to 100 rowers, were mainly used for combat and raiding trips. It’s estimated that one 30-meter-long warship (excavated in Denmark) could cruise at a top speed of 11.5 MPH and sail from Scandinavia to Britain in just a few days.
The Knarr was the largest cargo ship of the Viking Age. It had a deep hull with high sides and was big enough to carry live animals, including cattle. These qualities made it ideal for settlers crossing the North Sea to the British isles, the Faroes, Iceland, and beyond.
To explore lands east of Scandinavia, the Vikings used smaller ships, which could be pulled across land between rivers. Accommodating a crew of 10 or 11 people, the Krampmacken, a reconstructed Viking river ship (on display in front of the exhibition), could navigate the waves of the Baltic Sea and the shallow rivers of eastern Europe.
During the Viking Age, practitioners of Scandinavia’s Old Norse religion worshipped many gods—both male and female. Although no contemporary sources survive that describe Viking rituals, later medieval written sources record Old Norse beliefs including descriptions of the Viking gods and the story of how the world was formed.
Burial rituals provide clues about the Vikings’ beliefs regarding life and death. Cremation was thought to free a person’s soul from the body, so that it could begin a new existence in the realm of the dead. Valhalla was the realm of death for warriors and the aristocracy. In Valhalla, the hall of the fallen, Odin receives dead warriors chosen by the Valkyries.
Some of our weekdays were named after the Old Norse gods and goddesses:
At the beginning of the Viking Age, around AD 750, Christianity was established in many parts of Europe. Over the next few centuries, Christianity spread slowly over Scandinavia. By around 1100, it had become the only religion, at least officially. Old Norse traditions and Christianity co-existed for several centuries, as evidenced by rune stones and ornamentation on jewelry combining Norse and Christian symbols.
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