So, we’re going to explore the Viking longhouse not just as a physical house but as a human home which the Vikings were not only connected to out of necessity but also emotionally and even spiritually. This points to the significance of the longhouse as a cultural tradition and even as a symbol of identity. Though it was an innovation in and of itself, Neolithic northern Europe saw a similar style of wooden beam-strengthened and rectangular abodes.Īn interesting trend is that Viking longhouses, like their prehistoric predecessors, were almost always built with wood – even when getting wood was impractical or when the material was scarce. The Viking longhouse followed an architectural tradition dating back three thousand years before Viking times. The longhouse was prevalent in Viking communities wherever they put down roots. They were made up of wooden support posts which lined the walls, a residential area centred around a hearth, a byre in which animals lived during the winter, benches flanking the longhouses’ longer sides, and various supporting rooms. Viking longhouses were between five and seven meters wide. They ranged from as little as nine meters in length to over 80. True to their name, longhouses are largely defined as either linear or convex dwellings with a minimally double length-to-width ratio, in which humans lived year-round and domestic animals inhabited during the winter. So, between travel and outdoor work, Vikings spent the bulk of their time within their longhouses. In fact, the everyday Viking existence was largely agricultural, dealing with plant cultivation and animal husbandry. When they weren’t out fishing, hunting, trading – or voyaging to different continents – the Vikings were spending time indoors. The longhouse was the archetypal residential building in the Viking-Age Nordic countries. Some archaeologists have likened the construction of a Viking longhouse, with its supporting wooden “legs” and turf, woof, or dirt “body”, to a human body, reaffirming the important role this structure played in the Vikings’ lives. The key to finding the remains of a longhouse lies in the obviously systematic holes left by their supporting wooden poles. Wood, unlike stone, bone, and other durable materials, unfortunately, doesn’t preserve well, which makes excavations tricky. Mostly used in the building of longhouses was wood, along with stone and peat. Most Scandinavian landscapes, other than those of Denmark, are rocky, mountainous, cold, and not exactly booming with fertile ground. The material longhouses were constructed depending on the surrounding terrain. So, most of our modern Viking longhouse knowledge comes from archaeological excavations, as well as subsequent studies and reconstructions. The sagas in science, however, are largely used solely to complement archaeological finds – never as factual historical sources on their own. The Icelandic sagas, written in Old Norse between the 13th and 14th centuries, contain occasional mentions of Viking longhouses. Though writing did exist during the Viking Age, mainly in the form of short and simple runic inscriptions on stone, bone, and wood, most literary sources don’t mention the Viking longhouses until centuries later. Viking longhouses went out of style a few centuries ago. But the Viking longhouse actually served functions quite similar to our modern-day abodes – give or take a few freshly minted, bog-iron swords hanging on the walls. It can be hard to picture Viking longhouses as dynamic spaces once bursting with life instead of static, stone-and-rubble archaeological finds. It’s more than just a place to lay your head at night. It’s where your belly laugh, cry, let your hair down, hosts guests, reflect, and chow down. Your home, be it rural or urban, apartment or house, shared or solo, is likely the most significant space in your life. Read on for our breakdown of Viking longhouses – the on-land heart of Viking Age existence in the Nordic regions. If you’ve ever wondered what life was like for our favourite 9th-century sailors when they weren’t casting off, we’ve got you covered.
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