THE VIKINGS

1. THE VIKINGS

2. My Research • CLOTHES • SHIPS • FOOD • WOMEN AND CHILDREN

3. CLOTHES • Like most people in Europe at the time, the Vikings used wool more than anything else for making clothes. The Vikings brought sheep with them to the islands they settled in the North Atlantic for wool and meat. "The Faeroe Islands" even means "the Sheep islands". Clothes were spun and woven by the women. They also dyed the cloth with mineral and vegetable dyes of red, green, brown, yellow or blue. • Linen was also used for clothes. Even today you can find Viking Age place names in Scandinavia like "Lin-åker" (lin= linen/flax, åker= field).

4. SHIPS • Viking Ships • Arguably the greatest achievement of the Vikings was their boat and shipbuilding. The Vikings were not the first people to build ships but they did build the best ships anyone had made up to that time.

5. The longship is part of the popular image of the Vikings today but there were many different types of boat for different purposes. so far no two boats have been found that are the same.

6. FOOD • The first words that come to mind when one thinks of Vikings are "raid", "barbarian" "bombardment", or something similar. Literally, the word Viking means raider. One theory why the Vikings started to attack and gain their notoriety was food. Scandinavia clearly could not provide enough food for the Vikings. The focus of this page is not to show how evil the Vikings were, but rather to explain what their food was like. • The Vikings enjoyed many different foods and drinks, despite the harsh climate in their home in northern Europe. They were also very frugal with their food, since there was not much available. For example, any fish that was not eaten was immediately preserved.

7. Fish was an important part of the diet. For the Vikings who lived on the coast, freshwater fish was the main source of protein. Cod, herring, and haddock bones have been found to prove this. Fish could be preserved by drying it in the wind or smoking it. They also pickled the fish in salt water, thus preserving it. This job, however important, was boring and was given to slaves. • Much of a Viking woman's time was spent cooking. A stove was placed in the middle of the one-room house. Although they had a hole in the roof, Viking houses were always smoky. The actual stove was constructed of metal. Dishes were made of wood, mainly beech wood. Storage jars were made of ceramics. Viking children were kept occupied with a multitude of chores around the farmyard. Such work included feeding the livestock, weeding the garden, and chasing pesky birds away from the crops. After a meal, Viking women would sew.

8. WOMEN • The Vikings lived in large family groups. Children, parents and grandparents lived together. When the eldest son took over the family farm, he became the head of the family and responsible for the well-being of them all. He had to provide the food the family needed. • His wife, the lady of the household, had to see to it that the food lasted during the long, dark winter. She made butter and cheese, dried and smoked meat and fish for storage and she was also expected to know about herbs for making medicine and care for the sick and wounded. The farm animals were also her responsibility and when her husband went trading, went Viking, or hunting she also ran the farm in his absence. In rich families she would have servants and slaves to help her. As a visible sign of her authority and power the lady of the household wore the keys to the food chests at her waist.

9. CHILDREN • Babies and toddlers automatically stayed with their mother at a divorce. The bigger children were divided between the parents according to the wealth and status of the two families. • With her right to property, inheritance and divorce the Viking woman had more legal rights than most women elsewhere in Europe at the time. Children were also protected by law as members of the family, and their rights to inheritance even after a divorce.

10. THANK YOU I HOPE YOU LIKED IT