Norwegian Vikings had more weapons and are considered to have been more barbaric than their Danish counterparts, according to a new study. Violence was widespread, also within Norwegian communities.
A team of researchers at the University of Oslo, NTNU in Trondheim and the University of South Florida has been studying the skeletons of Norwegian and Danish Vikings, along with Viking graves in both countries. “There’s a lot of hatchet and sword wounds on the Norwegians’ bones, much more than among the Danes,” Professor Jan Bill at the University of Oslo told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK).
More than a third of all the Norwegian skeletons indicated fatal violence, compared to just 6 percent for the Danes. The amount of weapons found in the Norwegian Vikings’ graves was also much higher than in Danish graves.
NewsinEnglish.no staff
