Viking Village Facts: You Probably Haven't Heard These BeforeViking Houses

The Vikings are one of the most famous groups of people that inhabited the world several centuries ago.

The countries of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark were home to the growing Vikings, and they soon started sailing out to expand their territories. This expansion gave the Vikings the reputation of being fearsome warriors.

Based on architectural and cultural findings, the world has come to learn more about the Vikings and how they lived in small villages, their living conditions, and the basis of a Viking house.

Farming was one of the most important occupations of the tribe and while men sailed around the seas to plunder and loot, the small population left behind would take care of everything else in the village. Small and large houses with farms were commonly present as they housed domestic animals that were necessary for daily life.

Currently, traces of Viking settlements can be found in various countries, like Greenland, Ireland, Denmark, and some Swedish territories.

In the modern-day, Vikings are still remembered through the remaining architectures that were established by the Vikings in countries like Denmark, Spain, and Scotland, where traces of the Norse heritage can still be found.

If you liked this article about Viking village facts, be sure to check out articles about Viking food facts and Viking God Freya facts too!

Inspirational Viking Village Facts

Life in Viking villages was nothing less than inspirational because of all the hardships that a normal Viking town had to go through.

Despite being raiders and warriors, Viking communities often lived in small villages and spent much of their time fishing and farming, as these were their basic sources of food. Many Viking families could be found inhabiting near the coast of the region.

Farming communities came to the forefront after several years, and livestock animals like sheep, cattle, goats, and pigs were raised by the farmers. Farming and agricultural practices became an important part of Viking life.

Thanks to the proximity to the sea, the Vikings turned out to be skilled sailors and traveled more by sea than by land. This practice soon became common as great distances were covered by the sea.

Male Vikings would usually form parties to raid settlements during the summer months. Women and children were left behind to take care of the villages by domesticating creatures and harvesting enough food for the summers. Women would also learn to spin wool and make clothing materials. Children were given the job of grinding grains for flour.

Because Scandinavia is filled with inlets and lakes, traveling by boat was quite a common occurrence in the region. Most of the Viking villages in the area had boathouses. These boathouses marked the end of the Iron Age and the advent of the Viking age.

Powerful Viking Village Facts

The quality of life in ancient times was dependent on technological and infrastructure development. Because of their lifestyle as a plundering community, the Vikings lacked the ideas for structures that they found in other lands.

Viking houses lacked windows and chimneys and just had a hole in the roof. These houses were called 'Smoky houses'. A lot of smoke could be found in a normal Viking house. In many cases, the women and children were most affected as it caused various lung diseases.

The Vikings were known for burying their deceased close to their settlements. The distance was mostly ranging between 984-1968.5 ft (300-600 m) away.

Farms and burial places had a watercourse separating them. The practice of burying the deceased not too far from a typical Viking village was adapted from Norse mythology, where Gjöll, the watercourse, separated the land of the dead from the living.

The Vikings were hospitable people, and a normal Viking village had housing for travelers who could seek food from the nearest farm. Everyone in the village was invited to celebrate weddings, festivals, and funerals. The Gotlandic picture stone has one such scene inscribed on it.

Worthful Viking Village Facts

During the Viking age, typical houses were built from oak trees, and these houses had curved walls made from wood planks or clay.

A typical Viking village with a farm had the main building in the form of a longhouse. This place was used as a Viking home where the family enjoyed their time together, ate, and rested.

Other buildings, like stables and barns, could be found around the longhouse. The Viking longhouse was spacious enough for generations to live in and could house 30-50 people in several living quarters, including animals. Fences were installed to prevent the animals from escaping.

The Viking longhouse is the perfect example of the development that the Viking age saw, especially during the Iron Age. The houses lacked running water or toilets, and the Viking families had to deal with animals residing in the homes.

The Jutland peninsula in Denmark was home to many Viking smiths that resided in the country. These houses were used as workshops. The houses were made by excavating a part of the ground and putting wooden posts in it.

Fantastic Viking Village Facts

The Vikings were one of the most fearsome tribes in the world and spent most of their lives conquering other countries. Many countries, even now, have Viking architecture.

Canada is home to many such architectural styles, as the Vikings settled in Newfoundland in Canada. The region was known as Vinland (Wine-land).

Since during the Viking age, most of the population was made up of farmers, they did not have many towns in the Scandinavian regions. Hedeby, Denmark, was one of the most important towns in the Viking age that was often attacked by enemies.

The town was added to the UNESCO world heritage list in 2018 and is seen as the land where the urbanization of the Scandinavian people began. People slowly moved away from farm life and inhabited towns.

Hedeby is seen as the largest town in the Viking age that was situated in Northern Europe.

Houses in the area show a rather different design than the ones Viking architecture is known for. Soon, Hedeby became a complex town with a population that delved into various trades to match the lifestyle of the town.

Greenland is another example, as the country still has a reconstruction of a typical Viking longhouse, which is a bit different from normal longhouses in Scandinavia. A Viking longhouse is mainly a reconstruction of the Viking longhouse in Qassiarsuk, a small town in southern Greenland.

The longhouse in this region, too, belonged to Erik the Red, a Norse explorer, who resided in this wood house a thousand years ago.

Harald Hårfagre, the first Viking king, resided in Avaldsnes, Norway. It is believed that Harald united the many small kingdoms in Norway under a single monarch.

A Viking village and the Nordvegen History Centre are located in the city of Avaldsnes, and the museum holds various artifacts from the Viking age.

Most of the Viking homes in Norway were made from wood. Norway became an important city to the Vikings because the country had easy access to the sea, which helped pave the way for easy transportation and a thriving fishing industry that helped small farms grow.

Various archaeological findings are evidence of pre-Norse settlements in Iceland. However, it is believed that Vikings from Norway, settled in the country of Iceland.

Written records by one Ingólfr Arnarson, around the year 874, credit him with being the first settler in Iceland. Based on genetic evidence, it has been confirmed that Vikings also came to Iceland from Scotland and other countries in Scandinavia.

Did You Know...

The Vikings were found in three countries mainly, namely Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. They conquered lands and became a part of history as they spread to various parts of Europe.

The Vikings were a polytheistic group and believed in several gods and goddesses. Most of these deities are part of Norse mythology.

The Vikings were seen as strong, muscular people, and this fact is not completely wrong as the Vikings, as compared to other people, were much more muscular and robust, and this was the same for men and women who indulged in manual labor.

This labor was severe because of the geography of the Scandinavian region during the Viking age. The facial features of males and females were similar, as women had masculine facial features and men had more feminine features.

Because of this, there is often confusion in determining the gender of the skeletal remains that are found.

The average lifespan of the typical Viking was estimated to be around 40-50 years. However, it is estimated that people from the high classes, who did not have to work on a farm or could spend a winter without any worries, had a higher average age. Harald Hårfager, the King of Norway, lived for more than 60 years.

A building called 'hof' was used as a religious shrine where people gathered to pray to the gods. These places were infamous as sacrificial spots, as recorded by Adam of Bremen, who wrote about Uppsala in Sweden. Farm animals were often sacrificed in this house of prayer, and the people painted themselves with the blood of the offerings.

In most cases, Viking slaves were capable of buying their freedom, but it was common for them to be sacrificed to honor their departed owners.

Viking children did not attend school. The boys were taught fighting and woodworking skills and often helped in the construction of buildings by the older males in the family. Singing and poetry were taught to kids. Education was available only to the higher classes in a typical Viking village.

Even though the Vikings were known for plundering and settling new regions, they also practiced other crafts. Because of their common usage of the oceans and seas, the Vikings were adept at shipbuilding. Craftsmen created warships and trading ships. Other occupations common in the Viking age were jewelers and manufacturers of clothing, shoes, and tableware.

The Vikings gave the world plenty of inventions and settled a number of cities, a brief list of which is as follows:

Skis: Skiing was made famous in the west by the Vikings. Skiing was a form of transportation as well as entertainment! Several depictions of Viking gods have them wearing skis.

Dublin: The capital of the Republic of Ireland was once a town that was developed by the Vikings. The town was known as Dubh Linn and served as the focal point of the slave trade in Europe that the Vikings participated in.

The city was ruled by the Vikings until it was liberated from their control by Brian Boru, the Irish High King, in the year 1804.

Hair Combs: The Vikings invented this tool as they were known for being well-groomed. The Viking warriors prided themselves on their appearance, and several samples of razors and tweezers have been excavated that are proof of this invention.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Viking village facts, then why not take a look at Viking helmet facts or Viking houses facts.

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