Archaeologist Cat Jarman, a Viking Age specialist, joins WIRED to answer the internet’s burning questions about the Vikings. When did the Viking Age begin? How do we know about the Vikings? Where did they voyage to? How did they navigate so effectively? Did Vikings really sacrifice humans? Were the Vikings actually more violent than other cultures of their day? Answers to these questions and many more, today on Viking Support.
0:00 Viking Support
0:15 Nicknames
1:13 How violent were the Vikings?
2:08 Vikings on TV
3:50 Did Vikings really sacrifice humans?
5:02 How do we know about the Vikings?
7:54 Fun, if you’re a Viking
8:18 Where did the Vikings go?
9:57 When did the Viking Age begin?
10:39 Norse and Vikings
12:01 How did Vikings navigate?
12:39 …did they?
13:26 Everything you wanted to know about Viking sex but were afraid to ask
14:55 Did Vikings use soap?
16:28 What did the Vikings look like?
17:29 What do modern Norwegians and Danes think of the Viking era?
18:50 Descendants of Vikings online?
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@bobrashley5936
September 24, 2024 at 6:18 pm
You had me at vikings
@efretheim
September 24, 2024 at 6:21 pm
Do we really know runes were not used for other than carved inscriptions? The likeliest ‘paper’ in their region would have been birch bark and thin wood slats. If these weren’t preserved in some way, they would have been very short lived as note ‘paper’. It seems odd that a writing system would only exist for short inscriptions and never anything else. The opportunities for perpetuating literacy in this condition don’t seem very good.
@igrim4777
September 24, 2024 at 7:56 pm
No we don’t know that because we know they were used in manuscripts. Even regarding inscriptions we know that some were mundane things like business letters, like how cuneiform was famously used for business.
@riahray
September 24, 2024 at 6:23 pm
Stellar timing. I was just reading about Vikings yesterday & have been wanting to learn more 😊 Thank you wired!
@teamLewis44
September 24, 2024 at 6:23 pm
How they had so great teeth?? If the photos are real, its unbelievably straight
@mammasut8280
September 24, 2024 at 6:29 pm
Viking age starts in Denmark. Can’t even with this women 😅
@Piliana18
September 24, 2024 at 6:31 pm
humans are so cute, even the vikings had their trickers 😌
@ValentinKnudsen
September 24, 2024 at 6:37 pm
the reason why you find more skeletons in Norway that show signs of violence probably has something to do with the fact that there were fewer resources and much less arable land in Norway compared to Denmark, which inevitably will lead to more internecine fighting
@Supadrumma441
September 24, 2024 at 7:38 pm
These lack of resources is half the reason Vikings went on raids in the first place and no one is just going to hand over their resources without a fight. It always amazes me how surprised people are with how violent humans can be. We have always been a violent species and we still are, we just delude ourselves into thinking otherwise.
@robpolaris7272
September 24, 2024 at 6:48 pm
Have you seen the population of Iceland?
@briankady1456
September 24, 2024 at 6:53 pm
Q. Where dis the Vikings go? A. Minnesota. They play in Bank of America Stadium in Minneapolis.
@pirobot668beta
September 24, 2024 at 7:12 pm
Whenever melted fats dripped onto ashes in the fire, there has been soap.
Ashy fats plus a little water makes a decent soap.
@DeyvsonMoutinhoCaliman
September 24, 2024 at 7:22 pm
It’s quite telling that the Muslim found the Vikings dirty, but the Christians found them clean.
@abstract5249
September 24, 2024 at 7:48 pm
It’s because Muslims bathed everyday, so by their standards, the Vikings were dirty. But Christians bathed like, what? Once every few weeks? So by Christian standards, the Vikings were clean because they bathed once a week.
@GeroldGarthcia
September 24, 2024 at 7:31 pm
I’m gonna start calling my girlfriend ship-breast…and I’m single.
@Alienalloy
September 24, 2024 at 7:37 pm
Six foot blond bluey eyed northern Englishman here… I’m not American so couldn’t care less.
@Jmvars
September 24, 2024 at 7:39 pm
As a Sami, the way the Sami people were depicted in Vikings was horrific. For some reason, they spoke of a “Sami king” which never existed, the leader of each individual Sami group was the shaman. They couldn’t even make that simple change.
@foederatus
September 24, 2024 at 7:43 pm
“The Vikings shows aren’t accurate.”
*Goes on to explain pretty much everything in the shows and represent it as historical fact.
@vsznry
September 24, 2024 at 8:26 pm
I wanted Bjorn’s explorations of the Med to continue & see how that changes the Vikings.
We kinda got it in Valhalla. The Last Kingdom is also a great show.
The Grimfrost is a great Bespoke brand & community celebrating Viking-inspired products.
@AlveraVerheyen-s9w
September 24, 2024 at 8:33 pm
Lillian Rue
@eblake3617
September 24, 2024 at 8:53 pm
Canada and Newfoundland. How hard is that to say?
@zyxw2000
September 24, 2024 at 9:23 pm
She said they traveled to North America.
@akvavit0
September 24, 2024 at 8:53 pm
Best and most accurate viking show is called hem till midgård.
@zyxw2000
September 24, 2024 at 8:56 pm
PBS had a show about a female warrior buried surrounded by all her weapons, breaking the myth that only males fought.
@pb51-d8f
September 24, 2024 at 8:58 pm
Is there any indication that the Vikings were tattooed as they’re portrayed in the tv shows and movies.
@NancyTaylor-k5u
September 24, 2024 at 9:02 pm
Mariah Road
@crichards6489
September 24, 2024 at 9:08 pm
Fab
@VampireCrusader
September 24, 2024 at 9:13 pm
Your lookin at em.
@Zack16611
September 25, 2024 at 11:13 am
Why is the lighting so weird in this interview? It feels dark in the room or something
@andreasericsson6989
September 25, 2024 at 11:13 am
For contraception, vikings did what most people did 1000 or so years ago. Induced miscarriage by eating poisonous mushrooms and herbs.
@Phi1618033
September 25, 2024 at 11:19 am
Were Vikings especially good at writing disco music?
@newstatusvideo4618
September 25, 2024 at 11:49 am
Amber Lodge
@Amanda-yh7sk
September 25, 2024 at 12:03 pm
Wired didn’t have any Viking ish decoration to put on the desk like they always do? 😭
@asyvin0951096
September 25, 2024 at 12:27 pm
Saying that if there were more shield maidens there would be more evidence but weren’t most Viking funerals a pyre burning?
@mjhout
September 25, 2024 at 12:30 pm
How does she feel about the culture minister in Sweden destroying viking artifacts?
@DeafMatch
September 25, 2024 at 1:15 pm
ship breast….!!!
@Ikkeligeglad
September 25, 2024 at 1:40 pm
According to what you show, it is only Norwegians who traveled out into the world and conquered land, what about the Swedes and Danes, didn’t they go Viking?
As far as I know, it was the Swedes who founded Kievian Rus and that it was the Danes who subjugated most of England (Danelaw)
Regarding hygiene, Lørdag (Saturday) means washing day
@Wut3225
September 25, 2024 at 6:16 pm
Not quite that simple with the Danelaw. Saxons would often use Dane to refer to even scandinavians of norwegian origin.
@Zombot012
September 25, 2024 at 1:50 pm
Why would you include that commie terrorist’s question at 17:31, wtf is wrong with you? Maybe allow a swastika next time, wtf, seriously?! Hey WIRED, do you know how offensive the hammer and sickle is to people who were under communist regime?! And how sh*t that stupid terrorist flag is?
@Naheed_Ahmed1917
September 25, 2024 at 1:57 pm
17:29 black red guard lmfao
@blackstone163
September 25, 2024 at 1:59 pm
Man this is amazing content, love the Viking information!!
@blackwolf085
September 25, 2024 at 2:18 pm
I disagree with what she said that your dna isn’t being compared to individual viking communities. My True Ancestry works with Nat Geo and other archeological sites to compare people’s DNA to the DNA found in archeological sites, and even labels them so you can research about the site elsewhere. The areas where I had the longest matching DNA segments was in viking Iceland, particularly at a gravesite of a Danish person in northern Iceland and another grave near the west coast of iceland where a noble woman was buried with a boat. So while DNA ancestry sites like Ancestry and 23&me generally don’t compare individual DNA, there are other sites that do.
@AvianSavara
September 25, 2024 at 2:21 pm
Here for the sudden BRG appearance.
@corydorastube
September 25, 2024 at 2:51 pm
I can assure you that the Normans of Normandy are very proud of their Viking heritage.
@dieubermensch
September 25, 2024 at 2:57 pm
Dodged that question in the end
@crudelissimus
September 25, 2024 at 3:30 pm
There should be a correction @ 11:00 and onwards, as this is clearly something she isn’t actually familiar with. Viking is NOT a verb, and never has been. This can be checked by anyone looking up a good old norse dictionary like Cleasby & Vigfússon or Fritzner’s. “Viking” exists as two nouns, one of which is also used as a name at times. We have:
víkingr. m.(noun): a pirate, raider, robber, etc. this is often used as a name as well.
and
víking. f.(noun): a journey, a raid, etc.
this last one is what’s often misunderstood by people – and in this surprising case – an archeologist. This is often due to the dative use of “víking”; “víkingu”, found on runestones like Vg 61 and DR 334: “… í víkingu”, where it may appear to say something like “go a viking”, as if viking is a verb, but its really just to “on a viking(expedition)”.
@Schmorgus
September 25, 2024 at 3:32 pm
Really, super religious Spain traveler said Nordic people threw babies in the sea, and you think there’s ANY credibility to that source? 🤣
@geelebee63
September 25, 2024 at 5:38 pm
I know how they avoided pregnancy…I read this in some history book when I was a kid. They would soak a small sponge in vinegar and place it up inside the lady bits, right at the top. This would dissolve the sp**m 😮
@sharonkaczorowski8690
September 25, 2024 at 6:46 pm
I discovered and fell in love with the sagas as an undergraduate many decades ago…still love them.
@101shadeira
September 25, 2024 at 6:54 pm
Vikings were amazing boat builders
@GalbraithLewis-b3s
September 25, 2024 at 7:37 pm
Green Court
@TomiTapio
September 25, 2024 at 8:38 pm
Bath every Saturday = LÖRdag. — moon day, Tiw’s day, Wodins day, Thors day Freyas day Friday, then bath day and sun day
@GrantNault-l8i
September 25, 2024 at 8:53 pm
Ernser Roads
@hyperluke1034
September 25, 2024 at 9:13 pm
Some of this started to sound familiar and then I realized I read her book! I highly recommend “River Kings” to anyone interested in the archaeology of the period and some of the key historical points. Read on the beach this summer and found it easy enough to parse.