They gave me a wondrous wife
Damsel for money
Brave, I-de equal, Honorable to Khrafn.
In my house in a storm of abuse
Adalrad was an obstacle.
That's why the warrior
He hardly knits words.
(Gunnlaug Serpentine language. Skald poetry. Translation by S. V. Petrov)
In 921-922, the Arab traveler Ahmad ibn Fadlan, as secretary of the embassy of the Abbasid Caliph al-Muktadir, visited the Volga Bulgaria and wrote a report in the form of travel notes, in which he described in detail the life and political relations of the Oguzes, Bashkirs, Bulgars, Rus and Khazars. “I saw the Rus,” he wrote, “when they arrived on their trade business and settled down near the Atyl River. I have not seen [people] with more perfect bodies than them. They are like palms, blond, red in face, white in body. " That is, if the Russians are Scandinavians, and scientists have no particular doubts about this today, then we are talking about those Vikings who came here to trade. And it was with them that Ibn Fadlan met.
Here they are, so popular among women in Scandinavia, "fibula-turtle". (National Museum, Copenhagen)
However, almost more important knowledge about the physical appearance of the Vikings is given to us today by archaeological finds of skeletons of that time. So far, about 500 Viking skeletons have been found in Denmark. Archaeological excavations in Scandinavia confirm that the men of the Viking Age were really good-looking and well-groomed - at least in their best years. Skeletons found during excavations have survived to this day, which suggest that the average height of their owners was 5 feet 7, 75 inches, and the leaders could be at least 6 feet, or even even taller. The find of a carriage found in an Oseberg burial is very indicative, decorated with three-dimensional images of male heads, made so carefully that literally every detail is visible: their hair is combed, beards are neatly trimmed, mustaches, the ends of which were braided into braids, are bent up. However, the faces of men and women during the Viking Age were more similar than they are today. The faces of the women were, so to speak, more masculine than those of women today, with more prominent eyebrows. On the other hand, Viking men were more feminine in appearance than men today, with less prominent jaws and eyebrows. We can also assume that all of them, both men and women, must have been more muscular than we are today, due to the hard physical work that they did.
Combs are very often found in burials from the Viking Age. And with them tweezers and all sorts of other cosmetic devices. (National Museum, Copenhagen)
Genetic studies have shown that Vikings in Western Scandinavia, and therefore in Denmark, were predominantly red-haired. However, in Northern Scandinavia, in the Stockholm area, blonde hair dominated.
And this, you know what? Ear cleaner! (National Museum, Copenhagen)
Red-haired or blond anyway, the Vikings took great care of their hair, as evidenced by combs made of wood or bone, which are one of the most common finds from the Viking Age. The Vikings often kept such combs in boxes, since, apparently, they were very important items to them. Archaeological finds of the Viking “beauty items” show that they have remained virtually unchanged over time. In addition to the combs, these are ear-cleaning spoons and tweezers. Interestingly, the wear marks on the teeth indicate that the toothpicks were used the most actively.
Makeup should also be added to the list of beauty items. For example, Ibrahim al-Tarushi, a merchant from the Moorish Cordoba, who visited the Viking trading city of Hedeby, admits that, although much there seemed strange to him and did not like it, it must be admitted that its inhabitants are beautiful and skillfully use cosmetics. “They use a special eye paint,” he notes. - Because of this, their beauty does not fade; on the contrary, it suits both men and women very much. For example, the English chronicler of the XII century John Wallingford, however, already at the end of the Viking Age, wrote that in the earlier significant sources he met a lot of very positive reviews about Scandinavian men. Eyewitnesses reported that the latter regularly visited the bathhouse on Saturdays, always combed their hair, dressed beautifully and therefore enjoyed enviable success with the ladies.
Gold-plated buckles often adorned Viking clothing. (National Museum, Copenhagen)
The same Ibn Fadlan describes the customs of the Russians related to personal hygiene as very strange and calls them "dirty". However, let's not forget that he came to them from a culture in which personal hygiene was a high priority. As a Muslim, he was used to bathing five times a day before praying. Therefore, for him they seemed "dirty" and seemed, but even if the Vikings he met did not meet the Muslim standards of cleanliness, they were not dirty or unhygienic from the point of view of the Northern Europeans. Just in their opinion, men from Scandinavia, by the standards of that time, were, on the contrary, quite well-groomed.
Women's hair is also remarkably well preserved in burials. They were usually long and loose or braided.
We can see this in small silver and bronze female figures. (National Museum, Copenhagen)
Skeletons show that arthritis of the back, arms and knees was a common disease of Viking farmers. Many Vikings also suffered from dental problems. More than a quarter of the population had holes in their teeth. Some skulls had only a few teeth left at the time of death. Of course, there were some other diseases that also reduced the life span of the Vikings, but the bones, of course, do not show this. First of all, it was pneumonia and inflamed wounds, which for a long time caused death until the invention of penicillin. There are many written sources from the European Middle Ages that describe which plants were used to treat certain diseases at that time. However, we can only guess what knowledge the Vikings had about the healing properties of plants and how, using them, the Scandinavian healers achieved a healing effect.
Viking Age silver figurine. Possibly depicts the goddess Freya. (National Museum, Copenhagen)
Whatever it was, but life at that time was difficult. Including in the Viking society. Infant mortality was very high, and Vikings rarely reached 35-40 years of age. Few people lived to be 50 years old. As with today, women often lived a little longer than men.
These hairpins-buckles have become more fashionable over time than “brooches-turtles”. (Archaeological Museum Dublin)
On the runestones and in various written sources, we can read about the bloody dramas that took place in the Viking society, and about the parents who mourned the lost sons. That is, violence was an important cause of death for these people. And, of course, many skeletons were found that show terrible wounds, each of which was certainly fatal.
Archaeologists were less fortunate with Viking clothing. Viking Age clothing finds are very rare. They are often made up of small pieces of material that have been preserved for the most part by accident. But our knowledge of Scandinavian clothing is supplemented by written sources, as well as images of clothing on small figurines and tapestries.
Like today's men and women, Vikings were dressed according to gender, age, and economic status. Men preferred to wear pants and tunics, while women wore dresses and underwear. The usual clothing of the Vikings was made from local materials such as wool and linen, woven by the hands of their women. But there were also exceptions - that is, clothes made from fabrics brought by merchants or obtained in military campaigns.
Gotland runestone G 268 depicting a man in wide trousers. (Historical Museum, Stockholm)
Although mostly homespun was used in the clothing, this does not mean that it was not dyed. Moreover, the most popular were bright blue and red colors. Colored yarn in the Viking Age could be produced by boiling matter along with various plants containing dyes. For example, the clothing of the Viking men used colors such as yellow, red, purple and blue. Blue was found only in the burials of wealthy people, as it was obtained from the imported indigo dye, which was very expensive. About 40% of the finds of Viking Age fabrics have been identified as being made of linen. Therefore, flax was to become an important plant for the production of Viking clothing. Studies show that more than 20 kg of flax is required to obtain sufficient material for the manufacture of a tunic. In addition, from the moment the flax was sown until the tunic was sewn, at least 400 hours of labor were required. So the production of clothing in Scandinavia in those years was very, very laborious. But on the other hand, in Denmark, several places were discovered in which flax was produced on an almost industrial scale. Thus, it was flax that was supposed to occupy one of the first places in the trade list of goods offered by the Vikings.
The Hornelund Hoard contains two garment brooches and a gold ring. These two brooches are the finest Viking Age products in Denmark. The relief of the brooches was made by punching along the matrix. They are decorated with wire filigree and grain. Decorating them with foliage and grape leaves has its origins in Christian art. They were clearly made by a Danish jeweler in the last half of the 10th century.
Finds from the graves of wealthy people show that clothing belonging to a certain class must have been imported. The upper classes thus demonstrated their wealth, decorating it with silk and gold threads, and taking Byzantium as a model. In addition, the Vikings supplemented their clothing with jewelry and fur from various animals.
The fashion was simple. Women usually wore a dress with straps with underwear (shirt) and a skirt underneath. Such a dress was tight-fitting, and it was sewn from a rough material, and wedge-shaped inserts were used to give it a shape. Let's cover it resembled a sundress. At the same time, on each shoulder, the strap was pinned with a brooch-clip in the form of a tortoiseshell. It was customary to connect both brooches with a chain of beads.
This is how the English artist Angus McBride portrayed Viking women.
Women of this period also wore a cloak over their shoulders, which was fastened with a small round or "trilobite brooch". The cloak and dress could be decorated with woven borders and stripes of fur.
A woman's obligatory garment was a belt with small leather wallets for storing small items such as sewing needles and flint.
The clothes the children wore mirrored their parents in both type and fineness. Young girls wore sundress dresses, while boys wear the same tunics and pants as adult men.
The Arab diplomat Ibn Fadlan wrote that he saw during his travels Viking women wearing green glass necklaces. By the way, bulging brooches have been found in various parts of Europe where Vikings settled, including England, Ireland, Russia and Iceland. This indicates that Viking women, too, may have taken part in their husbands' expeditions.
Viking women. Rice. Angus McBoide. A "trilobite brooch" is clearly visible on the woman's chest in the center.
The most common clothing for men was a tunic. resembling a long shirt without buttons that could go down to the knees. On their shoulders, the men wore raincoats, the ends of which were fastened with a beautiful brooch-hairpin. The cloak was gathered on the hand opposite to the one in which he held the sword or ax. Thus, one could see at a glance whether the Viking was right-handed or left-handed.
The Vikings did not wear earrings. But they brought them from their wanderings. So they are found in Scandinavia. (National Museum, Copenhagen)
We don't know much about the shape of the pants that the Vikings wore. There is an image by which one can judge that they were wide up to the knee, and narrow below the knees and, moreover, were wrapped with leather straps. As shoes, men wore leather shoes resembling Indian moccasins or rather high boots. The caps were made of material or leather.
The silver treasure from Terslev in Zealand contains 6, 6 kg of silver, including 1,751 coins. 1708 from coins of Arab origin. The most recent coin is dated 944, that is, this treasure was buried in the second half of the tenth century. It has many neck and hand rings, chains with toiletries and jewelry. There is a platter with four goblets from Northern Europe and a large hammered bowl, which is most likely from Persia. (National Museum, Copenhagen)
In this photo, the same treasure is on display at the museum. In the distance, top right, golden "brooches-turtles" (National Museum, Copenhagen)
Since there were no pockets in their clothes, the men wore belts or rope at their belts. On them, a man could carry a wallet or a knife. The wallet could contain not only money - most often Arab dirhams, but various necessary little things: a comb, tweezers, a nail file, a toothpick, and game bones.
