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Vikings: Menacing Marauders or Homebodies?

Forensic anthropologist Emily Peschel says tooth enamel answers the question

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Viking lore sets up the ancient Scandinavians as violent plunderers of any land they could sail to, and they sailed to many.

But over the past 50 years (beginning with British historian Peter Sawyer’s The Age of the Vikings), historians have come around to believing that Vikings were not the barbarians they’ve often been made out to be. The historic misreading makes sense: Vikings didn’t keep many written records, so most of what is known about them comes from people they conquered, who understandably would have held a grudge.

In fact, historians now say, Vikings were quite civilized. They practiced excellent hygiene, and they were sufficiently progressive to grant women the right to inherit property and divorce their husbands. They also enjoyed recreational skiing and created one of the world’s first chess sets.

The idea of a kinder, gentler Viking is also supported by research conducted by forensic anthropologist Emily Peschel, whose analysis of skeletons and teeth exhumed from an ancient Viking burial ground in Gotland, Sweden, reveals that most were born and died in the immediate vicinity. Based on what she has seen, Peschel (MED’14) believes that most Vikings were content to farm or to work as tradesmen or craftsmen. Her data may also shed new light on how people interacted with one another at the time the Vikings ruled Scandinavia, between AD 780 and 1070.