Daily Life in the VIKING AGE

World of the Norse was created for the Cranbrook Institute of Science by Darrell Markewitz. This site is an unofficial educational support service intented to provide extra background to the exhibit.

What makes individual objects from any culture interesting is their context - the stories that they can tell. The World of the Norse presents over 175 individual replica objects inside three realistic living settings.

Within this virtual tour, the Objects are listed in the same order and groupings as they would be seen inside World of the Norse. In brackets after each is the artifact prototype location / date, materials used / artisan. Those objects that are replicas of original artifacts (or similar) seen in 'Full Circle - First Contact' are also indicated. Suggestions of how separate objects can be compared to other similar pieces elsewhere in the exhibit are made.

INTRODUCTION

Photo by Anne Crown

" Our popular view of the Viking Age is shaped by the sensational and the romantic, an image of violent raiders in dragon headed ships. But who were the Norse, the people living in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Iceland at the turn of the first Millennium? Only a very few men would have gone Viking. What was life like for the rest of the people who stayed home in Scandinavia?
This exhibit offers you a snapshot of the daily life of these people. Here working replicas of the artifacts shown in FULL CIRCLE - FIRST CONTACT are placed together as you might have found them at home or in camp.

the CHIEFTAIN	the BONDI	the TOWN HOUSE

for more information on the Viking Age...

A Curator's Note:                                                                                                November 4, 2003

The many objects seen in World of the Norse are the work of a group of modern artisans who are interested in the forms and techniques of the Viking Age. Although the majority of pieces have been created by Darrell Markewitz of the Wareham Forge, other artists are credited for their work.

The objects created for World of the Norse are mostly 'replica' grade. In this they conform to the general appearances of items from the Viking Age, but may differ in fine detail from the original artifact prototypes. Generally both modern and period tools and techniques have been used in their creation, the modern techniques have been hidden where ever possible. Raw materials are generally modern, the substitutions having been made primarily for reasons of cost. The wood boards are all saw cut (rather than split). The metal although mainly hand forged, is modern mild steel (rather than wrought iron.) Cloth is chosen from commercial sources (rather than all hand woven). Although all of the items seen are 'real' (ie - not props made of plastic), all of the tools have been purposely left blunt for safety reasons.
On the structures, modern construction details (such as fasteners) have been used, but every attempt has been made keep these hidden.

The serious student of the Viking Age is reminded to keep the scope and limitations of this exhibit in mind when looking for fine details in construction. In many cases individual pieces are combination designs that may take elements from several artifact prototypes. The intent of World of the Norse is to provide the general public with a feel for daily life in the Viking Age - not to provide exact reproductions of specific artifacts.