Vikings

Viking essay
How did the Vikings survive?
     
        The Viking era started around the 8th century AC. This Scandinavian race lived in the cold northern parts of Europe, noted for their war ships and aggressive warfare. Not a lot was heard about their rural life the equal status of their women in their society, or how they lived. Apparently the Vikings were the first European society to form a law system. Their lifestyles simple, relying on what was available were they lived. Family, workers, slaves and animals all living in close proximity. Warmth and food the main considerations.      
 
        Viking homes (see appendix one) depended on the natural recourses available. Generally the walls were wooden logs laid on top of a row of stone to help prevent the wood rotting. Sometimes on this stone they laid floor planks to help insulate.   The rooves were usually made of turf or thatch. In most parts of Scandinavia there was plenty of timber. Though up the northern parts of Norway and Atlantic areas this was scarce so stone and turf were mainly used.
The homes were one oblong room known as “longhouses”. In the centre of these basic buildings an open fire pit/hearth was laid, giving heat and light were the family and some of the farm stock slept.
This room was snug, dark, smelly and smoky, for chimneys were not known of so fumes escaped through a hole in the roof or gaps in the roof.

Basically Vikings were farming people. The home life based around the farmstead with a cluster of houses, stables, barns, boathouses and smithy. A wood lined well usually can be located and sometimes tracks made of tightly packed logs ran between the buildings to help avoid the mud. The homes provided warmth, shelter and protection for them to survive the extreme winter and storms.

      Their food source depended on what they could find and what season they were in. Spring and Autumn were important seasons for them because it was easier to find meat, fish,...