The   Warrior

A Viking sword was about 1metre long and had a wide blade with sharp edges. Viking soldiers used two kinds of spear. One was for throwing.  The other was for thrusting and stabbing. Yew was the best wood for making bows because it is springy. We find arrowheads because they are made from iron. The swords were used for cutting not stabbing .The hilt is the handle of a sword. Archaeologists don’t find many bows or arrows because they are wooden. The shields are strengthened with iron and leather.

The Leather Worker

Leather scabbards are hung on the belt. They hold the whole knife.

The stitching survives on some Viking boots. The stitching is made from twisted plants. The patterns on the leather tells us which animal the hide came from. A Viking foot ball found in England was made from leather strips.

Leoba- the Leather Worker

Leoba makes things from leather. She makes boots, shoes, belts and knife scabbards. She even makes footballs! Leather is made from skins of sheep and cows. She soaks the skins in water and oak bark to make the leather stronger. Oak bark is the skin of an oak tree. She scrapes the skin, washes the skin, scrapes the fur off and then hangs it up to dry.

The patterns of the hairs on the leather tell us which animal it came from. The stitching survives on some Viking boots. The stitching is made from twisted plants.

Leoba needs a wooden last to make a shoe. A last gives the shoe its shape. This last is made of Alder. Alder is a type of wood. A last is something foot shaped that is used to make shoes in the in the right shape. Most of the Vikings lived in cold climates.      

The Viking Ship

The first part of a Viking ship was the keel. First, pieces of wood  are joined together to run the whole length of the ship. Second, layers of planks are joined together to run the whole length of the ship. Layers of wood are joined with clench nails. They are called “clinker  built” ships. Next, the ribs inside the ship are added. The ship is made waterproof  by putting tar-soaked rope between the planks. 

The Trader

We saw folding scales on the CD. Folding scales have been found in many places. 

Viking traders have scales to weigh gold and silver.  They used lead weights.

Jet is fossilized wood. It can be carved. It has been found  in Iceland and Norway. The Viking took it there.

A coin has King Sihtrics name on it. He was king of York and Dublin. He ruled from 921 to 927.

Cowire shells come from warm seas. The nearest place like that is the Red Sea. The Red Sea is in the Middle East.

The Metal Worker

Silver is used to make rings, pins, brooches and coins.  A brooch we explored was made of silver. It is expensive. Only rich people can afford gold or silver brooches.

Viking belts are made of leather. They have a buckle on one end and a piece of metal on the other.

Copper alloy is a mixture of copper, zinc and tin. It is also called bronze. Brass it is useful because it does not rust.

A pendant I explored on the CD was shaped like a ship. The loop of metal is for a cord you wear it around your neck.  

Only rich people had glass windows, but lots of people have glass beads. Beads are made of amber. Amber is difficult to cut.

The Metal Worker

We saw a disc brooch, which the Vikings  wore as jewellery.  These  are  glass  beads. Only  rich  people  have  glass  windows. But  lots  of people  have  glass  beads. These  beads  are  made  of  amber.   Amber  is  difficult  to  cut. We also saw a  pendant.  It  is  shaped  like  a  ship.

The  loop  of  metal  you  wear  it  around  your neck

The Vikings used many objects made  by  wood. A  Viking  wooden  spade  was  used  to  dig  a  pit  for  a  house. Other woodworker’s  tools  were  made  of  metal  with wooden handles. An axe trims wood. A scraper smoothes the wood. A chisel and a draw-knife shaped the wood.

The Farmer

The Farmer use dogs for guarding and hunting. They eat ducks and their eggs. The feathers are used for stuffing pillows. Geese walk the streets of their town looking for scraps to eat.

They grow wheat, rye, barley and oats. Wheat is ground into flour with a quern and is used for making bread. Viking women make bread everyday. Hand quern stones are used to grind the flour.                                             

They are also keen fisherman. They eat a lot of fish and use lines and nets to catch them. Hens are always in the streets of the towns. They eat their eggs and meat.

The roof of a long house would sometimes be covered with wooden tiles called shingles. The fire in the centre of their houses provided heat and light.  

Hunting was a popular sport. Fleeces from sheep are stored in the lofts of warehouses. They keep them in the roof to keep them from getting damp.

They use nets to catch fish in rivers. The nets are weighed down with stones. The stones have holes in them.

Small farming communities grew up, producing a variety of crops and animals. In autumn the weakest animals were slaughtered. Meat and fish were salted, dried in the sun or smoked over fires to preserve them. This would feed a farmer and his household throughout all of winter.

The Holy Man

Vikings think that the best way to get to Valhalla is in something shaped like a ship. Ordinary Viking graves have stone all around, making the shape of a ship. Only very rich people like Kings can afford to be buried in a real ship. Vikings are buried with their favourite things. These things can be used in the afterlife. Women are buried with things like brooches, beads, sickles and pies. Married Women have their heads covered with a cloth or silk cap. Thor is the Viking god of war. He has a hammer called Mjollnir. The statue of Thor shows him gripping his beard. Vikings believe in lots of Gods and monsters. One monster is called the ‘World Serpent’. It lived in the sea. It was so big that it went round the world. Some Vikings became Christians.

  Christianity

Many Vikings became Christians. When Vikings become Christians they don’t forget their old gods, they keep on worshipping them. When Vikings became Christians they built churches. At first, the Christian Vikings made church’s out of wood. Not many Viking wooden churches are left today because the wood rotted away.    

On our computer we saw the sundial on ST. Gregory’s in York. There is a carving on it. It says that Orm had the ruined church rebuilt in the name of Christ.

We saw a ruin that shows a stone church. There are people inside and outside the church. We also saw a church that was once round. It is on the Orkney islands. It was founded by Earl Haakon Paulsson. He got the idea from a church he saw in Jerusalem. We saw a sculpture from the Isle of Man. It shows Christ trampling some snakes. The snakes are symbols of the devil. We also saw a sculpture from St. Andrew’s church in Sussex. It shows Christ trampling some beasts. The beasts are symbols of the Devil.

CHRISTIAN BURIAL
Important Vikings have stone grave covers. Ordinary people are buried without a grave cover. When Vikings become s a Christian he or she can be buried in a church graveyard. On our P.C we saw St Olaf’s church in York. It is named after the Viking St. Olaf.

Viking Women and Girls:

Viking women make bread every day. Hand quern stones are used to grind the flour. Mothers use a grindstone to make flour. They use the flour to make bread.

Viking women wear long dresses made of wool. Shoes and boots are made out of leather. Socks are made by a kind of knitting called needle binding. Viking men wear trousers made of wool to keep out the cold and the damp.  Some women wear caps made of linen.

They dig pits often in back yards and use them as toilets. Hens are always in the streets of their towns. They eat their eggs and meat

Hildr is a Viking girl in the tour on our computer.

Hildr’s mother is using a grindstone to make flour. They use the flour to make bread.  Hildr`s auntie grinds corn.  Hildr’s grandfather is a potter. Her mother makes bread. Hildr’s grandfather is Thorsten. As the clay spins Thorsten uses his hands to make the pot. He presses the clay with his fingers to shape the pot.

The Woodworker

Archaeologists can find out how Viking combs were made out of animal bones and wood. We know this by looking at combs found at Viking digs. Sometimes parts of antlers were used .The end and the bottom were thrown away.

Men keep their combs in a case. The case fits the comb exactly. Women keep their combs in a purse.

The Vikings wrote using letters called runes. Runes were made of straight lines that made them easy to carve.