Most of the archaeological investigations undertaken on the Viking Age have been focused on the two hundred years or so the Vikings spent raiding Europe. The first attacks on England took place in AD 793, and they continued intermittently until around the mid-11th century, when the last Viking king Harald was killed and nation states were assembled in Norway, Denmark, and Sweden.
In Scandinavia, farming settlements with early Viking artifacts were in Jutland by the 4th and 5th centuries AD. The Viking language was carved into stones (called rune stones), woven into textiles, molded into brooches, and carved into wood. The Vikings were master ship-builders; boats were used for important burials such as Oseberg.
The Vikings who were great wayfarers and traveled as far as Greenland and Canada in North America are called Norse.
Viking Sites: Denmark: Ribe, Vorbasse, Jelling. Norway: Forsandmoen, Oseberg. Sweden: Ridanas, Gamla Uppsala, Helgo. Iceland: Hofstaðir. Labrador: L'anse aux Meadows.
Viking Issues: Viking hoards, Cuerdale Hoard, Runic Writing, Thule migration, Vikings in Wisconsin?
Sources
Amorosi, Thomas, et al. 1997 Raiding the landscape: Human impact in the Scandinavian north Atlantic. Human Ecology 25(3):491-518.
Barrett, James H., Roelf P. Beukens, and Rebecca A. Nicholson 2001 Diet and ethnicity during the Viking colonization of northern Scotland: Evidence from fish bones and stable carbon isotopes. Antiquity 75:145-154.
Richards, Julian D., et al. 2004 Excavations at the Viking Barrow Cemetery at Heath Wood, Ingleby, Derbyshire. Antiquaries Journal 8423-116.
Svitil, Kathy A. 1997 The Greenland Viking Mystery. Discovery 18(7):28-30.
This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology. Any mistakes are the responsibility of Kris Hirst.
