You may think of Vikings as warriors raiding and ransacking Medieval European villages. But this image of Viking hordes embarking on sea voyages with the sole purpose of pillaging is changing with new discoveries that reveal extensive trade networks spanning Europe and beyond.
Experts are revealing entirely different relationships built on the exchange of a wide variety of goods from far away places for Viking society.
Archaeological evidence reveals that materially, the Viking world was like that of the Iron Age, says Søren Michael Sindbæk, an archaeologist as Aarhus University in Denmark. Despite that, it was also “quite globalized,” he says, with ships and traders sourcing goods from far and wide.
Famous Viking Pillaging
The Viking age commonly spans the 8th century to the 11th century. Raiding clearly was an important part of Viking relations with other peoples, and it became highly profitable and organized over time.
