0:00:09 > 0:00:10York.
0:00:10 > 0:00:12Founded by the Romans,
0:00:12 > 0:00:15by the 9th century AD,
0:00:15 > 0:00:20this was one of the great Christian cities of Anglo-Saxon England.
0:00:20 > 0:00:23But York had a shock coming.
0:00:23 > 0:00:26Because in 866 AD, an entire army arrived here,
0:00:26 > 0:00:29turned the place Viking and called it Jorvik.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32This city, and half of England besides,
0:00:32 > 0:00:34became part of Scandinavia.
0:00:36 > 0:00:40'Today, even over 1,000 years later,
0:00:40 > 0:00:46'the image of the marauding Viking warrior is as strong as ever...'
0:00:46 > 0:00:50Thank you. '..especially up here.'
0:00:50 > 0:00:52What we know, or think we know, about the Vikings
0:00:52 > 0:00:55is much more myth than reality.
0:00:55 > 0:00:59Even the famed horned helmets are a modern invention.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02So, just who WERE the Vikings?
0:01:07 > 0:01:11'I'm going to find out the truth about the Vikings...
0:01:13 > 0:01:17'..leaving Britain behind to enter their land
0:01:17 > 0:01:20'and their own mysterious world.'
0:01:20 > 0:01:26Even now, this place feels like it's on the edge of everything.
0:01:26 > 0:01:30'It's going to take me all over Scandinavia...'
0:01:30 > 0:01:31Do you have a map?
0:01:34 > 0:01:37'..and far beyond.'
0:01:37 > 0:01:41These are Arabic Dirhams, minted in places like Baghdad.
0:01:42 > 0:01:45'And, as an archaeologist,
0:01:45 > 0:01:48'I'll be seeking out some of the most telling evidence of all...
0:01:50 > 0:01:53'..the remains of ancient people...'
0:01:53 > 0:01:59This flamboyant hairstyle just adds to his allure.
0:02:00 > 0:02:04'..and the stunning treasures they left behind...
0:02:07 > 0:02:13'..all to get inside the heads of the Vikings themselves.'
0:02:13 > 0:02:16Oh, wow! How can that be 1,000 years old?
0:02:16 > 0:02:20'The real Vikings - from their point of view.'
0:02:39 > 0:02:44'To start my investigation, I've come to Norway...'
0:02:44 > 0:02:46Smoked salmon.
0:02:50 > 0:02:56'..in particular, Bergen, a port that faces the wild Atlantic Ocean.'
0:03:00 > 0:03:02If I'm going to understand the origins of the Vikings,
0:03:02 > 0:03:04then this is the place to start,
0:03:04 > 0:03:08because at the end of the 8th century, it's likely that the ships
0:03:08 > 0:03:11carrying those first raiders set out from this coastline.
0:03:15 > 0:03:20It's hard to imagine that it was from here, 1,200 or so years ago,
0:03:20 > 0:03:25that so much terror was unleashed, but this is how I wanted to feel
0:03:25 > 0:03:29at the beginning of this journey, so that I could try and understand
0:03:29 > 0:03:34this seismic moment in European history
0:03:34 > 0:03:36from the Viking point of view.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43The Vikings weren't just savage pirates,
0:03:43 > 0:03:49but sophisticated traders, who criss-crossed the known world,
0:03:49 > 0:03:55running silks and silver, as well as slaves and stolen booty.
0:03:57 > 0:04:03Epic adventurers, who voyaged to the exotic cities of Asia
0:04:03 > 0:04:05and the unknown mysteries of America.
0:04:09 > 0:04:13While much of Dark Age Europe had been shaped
0:04:13 > 0:04:15by the civilising influence of Rome,
0:04:15 > 0:04:19up here in Scandinavia, the Vikings had emerged from a distinctive,
0:04:19 > 0:04:22in fact, a unique, culture.
0:04:22 > 0:04:28They were untainted by concepts like the written law and life in towns,
0:04:28 > 0:04:31far less by belief in a Christian God.
0:04:32 > 0:04:37The Vikings bequeathed to us a part of our cultural DNA
0:04:37 > 0:04:41that's wilder, darker, more mysterious
0:04:41 > 0:04:44than anything that was to be had from Rome.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47And it wasn't just what they did that made them dangerous.
0:04:47 > 0:04:51It was what they thought and what they believed.
0:04:58 > 0:05:02'Right here in Bergen are some of the preserved remains
0:05:02 > 0:05:06'of one of the very earliest Vikings ever found...
0:05:08 > 0:05:10'..although, it has to be said,
0:05:10 > 0:05:13'they're not exactly in the best of shape.'
0:05:19 > 0:05:24These poor fragments are all that remains of the skeleton of a man.
0:05:24 > 0:05:26These are arm bones...
0:05:28 > 0:05:31..and these are parts of one leg.
0:05:33 > 0:05:38Alongside him were grave goods, including his sword.
0:05:38 > 0:05:42So it's safe to say that he was a warrior.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50But what's remarkable about him, what's fascinating,
0:05:50 > 0:05:54is that this individual is the first
0:05:54 > 0:06:00that we know of to have been buried in true, classic Viking style.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06He was buried inside a Viking ship
0:06:06 > 0:06:08that was intended to take him to the afterlife,
0:06:08 > 0:06:11to Valhalla, where he would feast and fight
0:06:11 > 0:06:13alongside the Norse Gods themselves.
0:06:13 > 0:06:17He was a sea-borne warrior.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20He would have been carrying the responsibility
0:06:20 > 0:06:23and the expectations of his family, who would be hoping that he would
0:06:23 > 0:06:27return richer, more famous, with a great reputation,
0:06:27 > 0:06:29that would change not just his life, but theirs.
0:06:33 > 0:06:36A Viking wasn't only something you were,
0:06:36 > 0:06:37but something you did.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42To go a-Viking, was to head out
0:06:42 > 0:06:45into the open seas in search of adventure.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52Their transport was a technological miracle,
0:06:52 > 0:06:54the notorious Viking longboat -
0:06:54 > 0:06:58an icon of an entire Age.
0:07:06 > 0:07:13'From Bergen, it's just a short hop to Norway's capital, Oslo...
0:07:16 > 0:07:20'..resting place of the finest Viking ship ever unearthed.'
0:07:31 > 0:07:38Like our man, it dates from the very beginning of the Viking Age.
0:07:38 > 0:07:43This stunning craft is the Oseberg Ship.
0:07:43 > 0:07:47It's certainly the most famous Viking ship we have
0:07:47 > 0:07:51and, to my eyes, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the most beautiful.
0:07:53 > 0:07:58This was once one of the most sophisticated ships in the world...
0:08:00 > 0:08:07..the epitome of technological brilliance and maritime audacity.
0:08:08 > 0:08:12The ship itself is the work of many craftsmen,
0:08:12 > 0:08:14but here, in this carving,
0:08:14 > 0:08:17is the imagination and the skill
0:08:17 > 0:08:22of just one artist, one person.
0:08:22 > 0:08:30It's this exciting, vivid depiction of a dragon or sea serpents
0:08:30 > 0:08:33twisted together, biting tails.
0:08:33 > 0:08:35The scales on the skin are picked out
0:08:35 > 0:08:38with these carefully-etched lines.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41And while it's one thing to be handed an object
0:08:41 > 0:08:43that you can hold in your hand
0:08:43 > 0:08:48and be told, "This is 1,000 or 1,200 years old",
0:08:48 > 0:08:53it's of another order of magnitude to stand
0:08:53 > 0:08:56beneath something like this.
0:08:56 > 0:09:03This says that the Vikings were real people with huge ambition.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06This is just one of hundreds, or thousands, of ships
0:09:06 > 0:09:09built during the Viking Age.
0:09:09 > 0:09:12THIS is what the Vikings were capable of.
0:09:20 > 0:09:25The Vikings might have burst into our British history
0:09:25 > 0:09:27in a blizzard of flashing axes,
0:09:27 > 0:09:30but the culture that gave rise to them
0:09:30 > 0:09:33certainly didn't appear out of a clear blue sky.
0:09:33 > 0:09:37Instead, they were the product of thousands of years
0:09:37 > 0:09:39of cultural evolution.
0:09:39 > 0:09:42They were shaped by their land and by the sea
0:09:42 > 0:09:48and by countless generations of Scandinavian "proto-Vikings".
0:09:48 > 0:09:50And it's only by understanding the world
0:09:50 > 0:09:53of their most distant ancestors
0:09:53 > 0:09:57that we can hope to dig down to their real roots,
0:09:57 > 0:10:01to distil the very Viking essence, if you like,
0:10:01 > 0:10:07and to see why, and how, the terrifying phenomenon of the Vikings
0:10:07 > 0:10:09ever came to be.
0:10:18 > 0:10:22'To discover the very earliest roots of the Vikings,
0:10:22 > 0:10:25'I'm leaving Oslo behind and heading east,
0:10:25 > 0:10:27'to the very heart of the Baltic.'
0:10:30 > 0:10:34It's taking me 450 miles from Norway,
0:10:34 > 0:10:37to a Swedish island called Gotland.
0:10:39 > 0:10:42To really get to grips with the Vikings,
0:10:42 > 0:10:46to have any chance of seeing who they were and where they came from,
0:10:46 > 0:10:51you have to dig down towards the roots of the world that bore them.
0:10:51 > 0:10:55And that means going all the way back to pre-historic Scandinavia.
0:10:55 > 0:10:59And, I can tell you, there's some pretty strange stuff down there.
0:11:06 > 0:11:10The streamlined longboat was key to everything the Vikings achieved.
0:11:14 > 0:11:16And the very beginning of the longboat's story
0:11:16 > 0:11:20can be found here in the Baltic, on Gotland.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26'Joakim Wehlin is a local archaeologist,
0:11:26 > 0:11:30'who's promised to help me find some ancient rock carvings.
0:11:31 > 0:11:35'The only trouble is, they're submerged and, in winter,
0:11:35 > 0:11:38'also stuck under a lot of ice!
0:11:38 > 0:11:42'And to make matters even worse, it's getting dark!'
0:11:44 > 0:11:45ICE CRACKS
0:11:50 > 0:11:53This is exactly what they tell you not to do in all the warning films.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56ICE CREAKS AND CRACKS
0:11:56 > 0:11:57Exactly. It's not...
0:12:02 > 0:12:06Oh, how frustrating. I mean, they're just... Oh, I can see them!
0:12:06 > 0:12:10- Honestly, I've got...- Yeah? - Yeah, yeah, I can. I can see it.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16You see there, the dark. There's the line of the boat.
0:12:16 > 0:12:22- You can see the curving hull. It's there. Amazing.- Yeah, it is.
0:12:22 > 0:12:24- It's really cool, actually. - It's great!
0:12:24 > 0:12:30Effectively, what we've got is a sunken Bronze Age rock carving.
0:12:30 > 0:12:32It's great!
0:12:33 > 0:12:34Just amazing.
0:12:38 > 0:12:41I suppose the obvious question is, why is that rock art here?
0:12:41 > 0:12:44Because it feels like the middle of nowhere,
0:12:44 > 0:12:46Yes, today, it's the nowhere, but back in the Bronze Age,
0:12:46 > 0:12:51I think this is a meeting place. People gathering around here.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54You see the open landscape. High points all over here.
0:12:54 > 0:12:56In the Bronze Age, would the sea have been closer
0:12:56 > 0:13:00- and, therefore, easier to see? - Yeah, the sea would have been closer
0:13:00 > 0:13:05and also there was a freshwater lake just next. You can see the remains.
0:13:05 > 0:13:09So this is the only place for freshwater at the time.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12And so, if it was a place that mattered,
0:13:12 > 0:13:17because people were accustomed to coming here to talk or to trade
0:13:17 > 0:13:19or whatever, then it would have made sense
0:13:19 > 0:13:22- to make carvings in the rock here. - Exactly.
0:13:22 > 0:13:25If you look at the rock art that is made
0:13:25 > 0:13:30on the mid-Eastern part of Sweden, it is the same kind of rock art.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36There's something symbolic about something from so long ago
0:13:36 > 0:13:38being trapped under the ice.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44'Rock carvings have been found all over Scandinavia,
0:13:44 > 0:13:50'going back thousands of years, into the Iron Age and beyond.
0:13:51 > 0:13:55'And there's a very definite recurring theme.'
0:13:55 > 0:14:00- I can see right away the ships, with people in them, with a crew.- Yes.
0:14:00 > 0:14:04People with weapons - swords and axes.
0:14:04 > 0:14:07And the ships are actually really good.
0:14:07 > 0:14:09There's quite a lot of detail.
0:14:09 > 0:14:10You know, this...
0:14:11 > 0:14:15This coming up at the bow and then you've even got a serpent head
0:14:15 > 0:14:18- at the bow of the ship.- Yes, and sometimes it looks almost like
0:14:18 > 0:14:20you can see the direction of it.
0:14:20 > 0:14:24So the people who are making the carvings, you, kind of, get a sense
0:14:24 > 0:14:28of how familiar they are with ships, with boats,
0:14:28 > 0:14:31because there's detail and a real familiarity with the shape.
0:14:34 > 0:14:39'The rock carvings are stunning, but they're not the only remains
0:14:39 > 0:14:42'that testify to the Vikings' ancient sea-faring roots.'
0:14:44 > 0:14:46Very evocative.
0:14:58 > 0:15:03'Next morning, I'm still on Gotland. I'm searching out more evidence
0:15:03 > 0:15:07'of the earliest maritime ancestors of the Vikings.'
0:15:08 > 0:15:13What I've come to see here is much, much older than these trees,
0:15:13 > 0:15:16but the fact that it's partly concealed by a forest
0:15:16 > 0:15:20just adds another layer of mystery and it kind of sets you up
0:15:20 > 0:15:24for the expectation that you're about to see something magical.
0:15:42 > 0:15:48This vast monument is called the Stone Ship of Ansarve...
0:15:49 > 0:15:53..and it's around 3,000 years old.
0:15:56 > 0:16:01Anyone coming here couldn't help but be struck by its sheer scale.
0:16:04 > 0:16:08I've walking into lots of stone circles in my time,
0:16:08 > 0:16:09but nothing like this.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13In a stone circle, you never quite know how to feel -
0:16:13 > 0:16:16you don't really know for sure what you're being told,
0:16:16 > 0:16:20but you come in here and, without anyone saying a word,
0:16:20 > 0:16:23you know exactly what this is.
0:16:25 > 0:16:27Like Britain's stone circles,
0:16:27 > 0:16:31the purpose of ancient ship monuments is mysterious.
0:16:38 > 0:16:41Many are graves.
0:16:41 > 0:16:42But not all.
0:16:44 > 0:16:46Every one of them, though,
0:16:46 > 0:16:49testifies to the symbolic importance of the sea
0:16:49 > 0:16:54to the people who lived on Gotland long before the Viking Age.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00It's such a Baltic thing to do.
0:17:00 > 0:17:04You don't get ship settings in France or in Britain
0:17:04 > 0:17:07but you do get them here - lots and lots of them.
0:17:16 > 0:17:20The prehistory of Scandinavia was dominated by the sea.
0:17:20 > 0:17:24With its rugged coastline of fjords and inlets,
0:17:24 > 0:17:29it was often much easier to travel by sea than over land.
0:17:31 > 0:17:35In the Baltic Sea alone there are over 50,000 islands,
0:17:35 > 0:17:38convenient stopping-off points,
0:17:38 > 0:17:41service stations or lay-bys, if you like,
0:17:41 > 0:17:44along an ancient maritime motorway.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49It was these ancient maritime skills
0:17:49 > 0:17:53that evolved into the seagoing prowess of the Vikings,
0:17:53 > 0:17:57their daring raids, and their great epic voyages.
0:18:02 > 0:18:04The ancestors of the Vikings
0:18:04 > 0:18:07had the salt of the sea running through their veins.
0:18:08 > 0:18:12But they were also a people who were shaped by their land.
0:18:17 > 0:18:18When you travel though Scandinavia,
0:18:18 > 0:18:22you begin to realise just how huge and varied a land
0:18:22 > 0:18:23the Vikings inhabited.
0:18:26 > 0:18:29From the cold, northern mountains of Norway,
0:18:29 > 0:18:31where arable land was scarce...
0:18:33 > 0:18:37..all the way down to the fertile plains of Denmark and the South.
0:18:41 > 0:18:45Travel in prehistoric Scandinavia might have been dominated by the sea
0:18:45 > 0:18:49but survival depended on the land.
0:18:50 > 0:18:54How successfully you could tend animals and grow crops.'
0:19:01 > 0:19:04The geography of Scandinavia provides for
0:19:04 > 0:19:07many different landscapes and many different climates
0:19:07 > 0:19:10and people living in different parts are affected in different ways.
0:19:10 > 0:19:12In the far north,
0:19:12 > 0:19:16where the soils are thin and the winters are long and dark,
0:19:16 > 0:19:18it's very difficult to grow crops -
0:19:18 > 0:19:20it's even a challenge to keep animals.
0:19:20 > 0:19:23But in the South, especially during the Bronze Age -
0:19:23 > 0:19:26the time where people were making those ship carvings -
0:19:26 > 0:19:28there was actually an economic surplus.
0:19:28 > 0:19:33There was plenty of good grazing and the land was good for many crops.
0:19:39 > 0:19:43Having visited the coasts of Norway and Sweden,
0:19:43 > 0:19:47I'm now heading for Denmark, and its capital, Copenhagen.
0:19:49 > 0:19:52Because just 100 miles from here,
0:19:52 > 0:19:55there's a remarkable site that reveals how Bronze Age people
0:19:55 > 0:19:57thrived off the fertile land of the South.
0:20:05 > 0:20:063,500 years ago,
0:20:06 > 0:20:10this place was an important settlement of wealthy farmers.
0:20:12 > 0:20:15These are the burial mounds of Borum Eshoj
0:20:15 > 0:20:21and they were built between 1,400 and 1,300 years BC.
0:20:24 > 0:20:28At that time, there were more than 40 mounds in this area alone...
0:20:30 > 0:20:33..and 45,000 dotted right across Denmark.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39One of the many extraordinary things about these mounds,
0:20:39 > 0:20:43is the effort, the colossal effort it takes to build them
0:20:43 > 0:20:46and it's estimated that when this was first completed,
0:20:46 > 0:20:48it was eight times as big.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58To build one of these you need 150 people
0:20:58 > 0:21:01working flat out for three or four months,
0:21:01 > 0:21:03so whoever commissioned it
0:21:03 > 0:21:06had to have resources to organise those people,
0:21:06 > 0:21:09to feed those people and to give them the tools for the job.
0:21:09 > 0:21:13But all of this is and was rich farming land,
0:21:13 > 0:21:17it provides surplus grain and surplus animals.
0:21:17 > 0:21:21So the families who buried in mounds like these
0:21:21 > 0:21:26weren't just trying to survive off the land, they had control over it.
0:21:29 > 0:21:31These mounds suggest that the people here
0:21:31 > 0:21:33enjoyed a relatively good life,
0:21:33 > 0:21:36especially compared to the tougher conditions of the north.
0:21:38 > 0:21:40But wherever you lived, north or south,
0:21:40 > 0:21:44surviving a Scandinavian winter wasn't easy.
0:21:53 > 0:21:56Experimental archaeologists working here have created
0:21:56 > 0:21:58an exact replica of the houses
0:21:58 > 0:22:01these Bronze Age farmers would have lived in.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07And since I've come here in February, it's just the right time
0:22:07 > 0:22:10to get a taste for the winter food their lives depended on.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17My guide is food expert, Bi Skaarup.
0:22:22 > 0:22:24It's all very well for us in the 21st century,
0:22:24 > 0:22:28but what kind of challenges faced Bronze Age farmers
0:22:28 > 0:22:32as the long dark nights of winter set in?
0:22:32 > 0:22:35The most important thing was to get enough provisions
0:22:35 > 0:22:37to get you through the winter.
0:22:37 > 0:22:42If you were completely starved in the spring,
0:22:42 > 0:22:46you couldn't start working the land and that was very important.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49Is there anything interesting to drink in the Bronze Age?
0:22:49 > 0:22:52Yes, definitely, and I've made some for you.
0:22:52 > 0:22:53- I was hoping you'd say that.- Yeah.
0:22:57 > 0:22:59The residue of this drink
0:22:59 > 0:23:03was found in a bark bucket in a burial mound.
0:23:03 > 0:23:04So its malted wheat,
0:23:04 > 0:23:11honey, bog myrtle to give a bit of bitterness, and cranberries.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15- Slainte mhath.- Skol.
0:23:20 > 0:23:22That's fantastic, it really is.
0:23:22 > 0:23:25- It just tastes like fruit juice. - Yes.
0:23:25 > 0:23:30- But that's a fermented... - It is.- ..drink. So that would last.
0:23:30 > 0:23:31It would.
0:23:31 > 0:23:34- That would see you through a winter's night, wouldn't it?- Yes.
0:23:35 > 0:23:39Fermented drinks may have kept the cold at bay,
0:23:39 > 0:23:43but more of a problem was keeping food through the winter.
0:23:43 > 0:23:44Especially meat.
0:23:46 > 0:23:49I brought some meat, marinated in whey.
0:23:49 > 0:23:51What sort of meat is that?
0:23:51 > 0:23:52- It's pork.- Right.
0:23:52 > 0:24:00And that's edible now just having been soaked or sat in whey?
0:24:00 > 0:24:04- Now, you're not just having me on, are you?- No, I'm not.- OK.
0:24:08 > 0:24:09It's got all the texture,
0:24:09 > 0:24:12- but it only tastes very faintly of meat.- Mmm-hmm.
0:24:12 > 0:24:14But, you know...
0:24:15 > 0:24:19But then I do like raw meat, I've always been drawn that way!
0:24:22 > 0:24:27Preparing for winter, surviving it, together.
0:24:27 > 0:24:32It's such a shared human experience for anyone in Northern Europe.
0:24:34 > 0:24:36I remember speaking to a woman on Shetland once
0:24:36 > 0:24:39and I asking her how she coped with the winter
0:24:39 > 0:24:41and she said she enjoyed it and looked forward to it.
0:24:41 > 0:24:43And I asked her why, and she said
0:24:43 > 0:24:45the satisfaction was preparing for it
0:24:45 > 0:24:48and feeling proof against the winter.
0:24:50 > 0:24:52And so the people here in the Bronze Age,
0:24:52 > 0:24:56they would have been making plans for the winter,
0:24:56 > 0:24:57laying down supplies,
0:24:57 > 0:25:01and as well as making sure they had the basics of life,
0:25:01 > 0:25:06they were finding time to prepare a few barrels of fermented drink
0:25:06 > 0:25:10so that, as well as surviving, they could also take the edge off
0:25:10 > 0:25:11and enjoy themselves as well.
0:25:11 > 0:25:14So they'd be in here with their extended families,
0:25:14 > 0:25:17with the animals for extra warmth,
0:25:17 > 0:25:20and if they had got their plans right, and they pulled together,
0:25:20 > 0:25:22then they would survive,
0:25:22 > 0:25:25and having survived a winter like that,
0:25:25 > 0:25:28then I'm sure it would make the spring and the summer that followed
0:25:28 > 0:25:29that bit sweeter.
0:25:32 > 0:25:34Having eaten like a Viking ancestor,
0:25:34 > 0:25:37I'm going to spend the night like one,
0:25:37 > 0:25:41in the moonlit shadow of those ancient mounds.
0:25:41 > 0:25:46Now, you can read all the books you want,
0:25:46 > 0:25:53but the only way to even get close to having a Bronze Age experience...
0:25:56 > 0:25:58..is to do it.
0:25:59 > 0:26:03Hopefully these sheepskins will make all the difference.
0:26:10 > 0:26:12Don't suppose there were many occasions
0:26:12 > 0:26:15when a Bronze Age person had a night to him or herself
0:26:15 > 0:26:17inside a house like this.
0:26:17 > 0:26:22They would have been with their family almost all of the time.
0:26:24 > 0:26:29In Britain, Bronze Age people lived in round houses,
0:26:29 > 0:26:32but over here,
0:26:32 > 0:26:35the rectangular timber houses of Borum Eshoj
0:26:35 > 0:26:39were the direct ancestors of the Viking longhouses
0:26:39 > 0:26:41that would appear 2,000 years later.
0:26:50 > 0:26:51Well...
0:26:53 > 0:26:55..there we go.
0:26:55 > 0:27:00I have to report, first of all, that despite all my best intentions
0:27:00 > 0:27:04to report throughout the night, I fell asleep.
0:27:07 > 0:27:12All I can really say is, it was warm enough
0:27:12 > 0:27:15and here I am.
0:27:15 > 0:27:20I've survived my Bronze Age winter's night.
0:27:20 > 0:27:21Quite good, really.
0:27:30 > 0:27:33Incredibly, it's even possible to get a glimpse
0:27:33 > 0:27:36of the very inhabitants of Borum Eshoj themselves.
0:27:42 > 0:27:44In Copenhagen,
0:27:44 > 0:27:48an entire 3,000-year-old family from the settlement
0:27:48 > 0:27:51has been carefully preserved.
0:28:03 > 0:28:05And this is the mum.
0:28:06 > 0:28:09What's most moving of all to me
0:28:09 > 0:28:11is the preservation of the clothing
0:28:11 > 0:28:13that she was put into after she died.
0:28:15 > 0:28:18She's wearing a short-sleeved woollen blouse,
0:28:18 > 0:28:20the lower half of her body is covered
0:28:20 > 0:28:25by this perfectly-preserved folded blanket or skirt also of wool,
0:28:25 > 0:28:29and you can't resist the possibility
0:28:29 > 0:28:33that if you could somehow bring someone back who was there that day,
0:28:33 > 0:28:37they could look at this and recognise her and know who she was.
0:28:44 > 0:28:47And this splendid individual is the son.
0:28:52 > 0:28:55The fact that his hair has been preserved,
0:28:55 > 0:28:57this flamboyant hairstyle,
0:28:57 > 0:29:01just adds to his allure
0:29:01 > 0:29:03and you get the sense,
0:29:03 > 0:29:06looking at how he's styled himself,
0:29:06 > 0:29:11that there is just a trace of his personality in there as well.
0:29:17 > 0:29:19But it's the husband and father
0:29:19 > 0:29:22whose remains are the most telling of all.
0:29:24 > 0:29:29Everything about this guy says big man -
0:29:29 > 0:29:31the size of him,
0:29:31 > 0:29:34his musculature, the mass of his bones -
0:29:34 > 0:29:38all of his life, he had access to a good diet.
0:29:38 > 0:29:40That in itself suggests wealth.
0:29:40 > 0:29:44His fingernails were neatly manicured
0:29:44 > 0:29:45so he was the kind of man
0:29:45 > 0:29:48who had the time to take care of his appearance.
0:29:48 > 0:29:51He lived to be around 60 years old,
0:29:51 > 0:29:53which is a good age, really, by any standards.
0:29:54 > 0:29:59In life and in death, he was the centre of the family.
0:30:03 > 0:30:06It's clear that in Denmark and the south,
0:30:06 > 0:30:09the Bronze Age ancestors of the Vikings lived a good life.
0:30:13 > 0:30:15But the further north you lived,
0:30:15 > 0:30:18the progressively tougher things must have become
0:30:18 > 0:30:20for anyone trying to farm the land.
0:30:26 > 0:30:27For the Vikings themselves,
0:30:27 > 0:30:292,000 years later,
0:30:29 > 0:30:32the varied geography of their lands
0:30:32 > 0:30:34would shape very different destinies.
0:30:38 > 0:30:41Scandinavia was always a land divided.
0:30:41 > 0:30:46In the south, there was plentiful farmland and relative affluence,
0:30:46 > 0:30:50but the north was always a different, a tougher prospect.
0:30:50 > 0:30:54There WAS land available, but it was limited.
0:30:54 > 0:30:58A lot of it around the sides of and at the necks of the Fjords,
0:30:58 > 0:31:02so perhaps it's no surprise that of all the Vikings
0:31:02 > 0:31:06it was the Norwegians who ventured furthest in search of,
0:31:06 > 0:31:08quite literally, pastures new,
0:31:08 > 0:31:12where a man wasn't just wedged in between the mountains and the sea.
0:31:17 > 0:31:20But, of course, we know that the Vikings weren't just expert sailors
0:31:20 > 0:31:22and skilled ship builders.
0:31:25 > 0:31:28They were also warriors.
0:31:29 > 0:31:32Even by the standards of the Dark Ages,
0:31:32 > 0:31:34the Vikings were especially adept
0:31:34 > 0:31:37when it came to the messy business of killing.
0:31:37 > 0:31:42And again, it was something deeply rooted in their Scandinavian past.
0:31:49 > 0:31:51To discover the origins
0:31:51 > 0:31:54of the Vikings' natural talent for bloody combat,
0:31:54 > 0:31:58I'm moving on from the peaceful farmers of Bronze Age Jutland -
0:31:58 > 0:32:02to later, and much more violent times.
0:32:05 > 0:32:07The Iron Age.
0:32:19 > 0:32:20This is the Hjortspring Boat,
0:32:20 > 0:32:23and it's one of the most famous sea-going vessels
0:32:23 > 0:32:26that you will ever lay eyes on.
0:32:28 > 0:32:31I've seen lots of photographs of this over the years
0:32:31 > 0:32:32but they can't do it justice.
0:32:32 > 0:32:35It's a bit like if you've only seen a Hollywood star
0:32:35 > 0:32:36in movies and magazines
0:32:36 > 0:32:39and then one day you find yourself standing next to them
0:32:39 > 0:32:41and all at once,
0:32:41 > 0:32:43you have to deal with their physical presence as well,
0:32:43 > 0:32:46so it's like that in here for me.
0:32:59 > 0:33:03The Hjortspring Boat dates to around 350 BC.
0:33:03 > 0:33:07That's around 1,000 years after our Bronze Age family.
0:33:10 > 0:33:14But still 1,000 years before the first Viking raids.
0:33:18 > 0:33:20About a third of it was recovered,
0:33:20 > 0:33:24enough to allow its shape to be recreated as a metal frame,
0:33:24 > 0:33:27cradling its precious timbers,
0:33:27 > 0:33:31and revealing a form that was perfect for war.
0:33:33 > 0:33:36One of the most important things to notice about the Hjortspring Boat
0:33:36 > 0:33:38is that it's beautifully symmetrical.
0:33:38 > 0:33:42It has an up-thrusting prow at this end
0:33:42 > 0:33:44and exactly the same at the other.
0:33:47 > 0:33:50There's room for about two-dozen men,
0:33:50 > 0:33:55each using paddles like these, these are made from maple wood,
0:33:55 > 0:33:58and they could fairly get skipping along through the water.
0:33:59 > 0:34:03Now, because it's got the prow at each end
0:34:03 > 0:34:07it means as soon as you beach it you're already in position
0:34:07 > 0:34:09to go back out into the water as soon as you want.
0:34:09 > 0:34:11Why is that important?
0:34:11 > 0:34:14Because the Hjortspring Boat is designed for a quick getaway.
0:34:22 > 0:34:26We know that this very boat experienced bloody battle.
0:34:28 > 0:34:29When it was discovered
0:34:29 > 0:34:32it was found packed with shields, swords, and spears.
0:34:35 > 0:34:38All the weapons of a small army.
0:34:40 > 0:34:44Men like these were well practiced in war and seaborne raiding
0:34:44 > 0:34:48a thousand years before the first true Viking raid.
0:34:48 > 0:34:51And so the Vikings didn't just spring out of nowhere, fully formed,
0:34:51 > 0:34:54instead they were the product,
0:34:54 > 0:34:57the evolution of a dynamic and often violent history.
0:34:57 > 0:35:00All across Scandinavia there were tribes
0:35:00 > 0:35:04with their own identities and territories and allegiances,
0:35:04 > 0:35:09and they learnt to fight, first of all, by fighting each other.
0:35:10 > 0:35:13Warriors like those that paddled the Hjortspring Boat
0:35:13 > 0:35:15were the forefathers of the true Vikings.
0:35:15 > 0:35:18The were the seeds from which the Vikings grew.
0:35:22 > 0:35:25The Iron Age was a violent time right across Europe.
0:35:28 > 0:35:31And Scandinavia was no exception,
0:35:31 > 0:35:34as local tribes 2,000 years ago tussled for power.
0:35:37 > 0:35:41But as they did so, another force was on the move.
0:35:43 > 0:35:45The Romans.
0:35:48 > 0:35:50The Southern edge of Denmark
0:35:50 > 0:35:52is as close as the Scandinavian world ever came
0:35:52 > 0:35:54to the might of Rome.
0:35:55 > 0:35:58And the presence of the Roman Empire
0:35:58 > 0:36:01would play its own part in the how the Vikings came to be.
0:36:03 > 0:36:05Rome had seemed unstoppable,
0:36:05 > 0:36:06but in 9AD an event occurred
0:36:06 > 0:36:09which was to send shockwaves throughout Europe
0:36:09 > 0:36:13and even had implications for the far north and Scandinavia.
0:36:15 > 0:36:19About 250 miles to the south of modern-day Denmark,
0:36:19 > 0:36:22in the dense woodland of Northern Germany,
0:36:22 > 0:36:25Rome's Northern army was brought to an abrupt halt
0:36:25 > 0:36:28by an alliance of local Germanic tribes.
0:36:28 > 0:36:33Three legions of Roman soldiers, around 32,000 men,
0:36:33 > 0:36:38were lured deep into the Teutoburg Forest, and there, annihilated.
0:36:42 > 0:36:45It marked the end of Roman expansion into Northern Europe.
0:36:45 > 0:36:50Scandinavia was, and would always remain, outside the Empire.
0:36:57 > 0:37:01The halting of Rome brought another level of division
0:37:01 > 0:37:02between the north and the south.
0:37:04 > 0:37:07Now, as well as their different geographies,
0:37:07 > 0:37:11you could add a divergent economic landscape as well.
0:37:13 > 0:37:15This land, Denmark,
0:37:15 > 0:37:18and the rest of Scandinavia was never ruled by Rome.
0:37:18 > 0:37:21But the Roman Empire had an insatiable appetite
0:37:21 > 0:37:24for exotic goods from the north,
0:37:24 > 0:37:29animal furs, oils, and this stuff - amber.
0:37:29 > 0:37:31It's relatively common in Denmark and Norway,
0:37:31 > 0:37:34but it's extremely rare in the Mediterranean
0:37:34 > 0:37:37and the Romans loved it for making jewellery.
0:37:37 > 0:37:41All of this meant trade and trade meant new wealth for a few people
0:37:41 > 0:37:44and a desire for luxury goods from the Empire,
0:37:44 > 0:37:47the sort of stuff that only Rome could provide.
0:37:48 > 0:37:52And that only the rich and powerful could afford.
0:38:04 > 0:38:07Many Roman discoveries in Scandinavia
0:38:07 > 0:38:10are of simple pottery, or occasionally coins.
0:38:14 > 0:38:17But some finds have been spectacular.
0:38:22 > 0:38:24This is the Hoby Burial Hoard,
0:38:24 > 0:38:27it was found in the grave of a chieftain,
0:38:27 > 0:38:32a man aged somewhere between 40 and 60 years old.
0:38:32 > 0:38:34We don't know how he died,
0:38:34 > 0:38:39but this collection that went into the ground with him
0:38:39 > 0:38:42tells us a lot about what he had achieved in life.
0:38:44 > 0:38:47It's the kind of banqueting set that you would normally expect
0:38:47 > 0:38:51a high-ranking Roman official to have.
0:38:51 > 0:38:53It's a wonder to behold,
0:38:53 > 0:38:57it's so rich and elegant,
0:38:57 > 0:38:59but the piece de resistance
0:38:59 > 0:39:03are two solid silver cups, each weighing about a kilogram.
0:39:05 > 0:39:08Now, the originals are away being conserved and analysed,
0:39:08 > 0:39:12but what I have here, what I'm allowed to handle,
0:39:12 > 0:39:14are two replicas.
0:39:15 > 0:39:20What they show are various scenes from Homer's Iliad.
0:39:20 > 0:39:22This lavish collection
0:39:22 > 0:39:27was handed over to a man who could appreciate Roman finery,
0:39:27 > 0:39:29who was schooled enough in Roman ways
0:39:29 > 0:39:33to understand Classical stories from the Classical World.
0:39:38 > 0:39:41It's telling that nothing of this magnificence
0:39:41 > 0:39:43has ever been found in the far north.
0:39:53 > 0:39:56Scandinavia always remained outwith the Roman Empire
0:39:56 > 0:39:59and it's important to remember that
0:39:59 > 0:40:01when thinking about how the countries here developed.
0:40:01 > 0:40:06We take it for granted, in the English part of Britain at least,
0:40:06 > 0:40:09that Rome brought more than the legions,
0:40:09 > 0:40:11it brought towns and roads,
0:40:11 > 0:40:14public entertainments,
0:40:14 > 0:40:17towards the end of the period it brought Christianity as well.
0:40:17 > 0:40:22But more than that, Rome brought literacy and the rule of law.
0:40:22 > 0:40:24You can quite justifiably argue
0:40:24 > 0:40:27that the Romans brought the time of our pre-history to an end.
0:40:29 > 0:40:31But none of that happened here,
0:40:31 > 0:40:34there were no towns, there was no literacy,
0:40:34 > 0:40:36there were no new religions,
0:40:36 > 0:40:40right through the Roman period and the Viking Age itself.
0:40:40 > 0:40:43An extra thousand years of being left alone
0:40:43 > 0:40:45and that made all the difference.
0:40:45 > 0:40:49Because here was a culture that was left to do what it wanted,
0:40:49 > 0:40:53people who were left to do what they wanted to do,
0:40:53 > 0:40:54their own way of being,
0:40:54 > 0:40:57they had their own leaders, their own Gods.
0:40:57 > 0:41:01And so, in that light, perhaps it comes as no surprise
0:41:01 > 0:41:03that when those first Viking raiders
0:41:03 > 0:41:05attacked a remote Northumbrian monastery
0:41:05 > 0:41:08they felt they had nothing to fear from a Christian God,
0:41:08 > 0:41:13because he was obviously no match for Odin and Thor.
0:41:19 > 0:41:22Ship-building skills and warrior prowess
0:41:22 > 0:41:25gave the Vikings the means to terrorise the Christian world.
0:41:30 > 0:41:35But it was the Norse Gods that defined their Viking spirit.
0:41:38 > 0:41:40Sagas written in the 13th century
0:41:40 > 0:41:42give us a unique insight
0:41:42 > 0:41:45into beliefs that can be traced right back
0:41:45 > 0:41:47to their prehistoric ancestors.
0:41:50 > 0:41:51They believe in a pantheon of Gods,
0:41:51 > 0:41:57but the main God was Thor.
0:41:57 > 0:42:00READS FROM BOOK IN OLD NORSE
0:42:00 > 0:42:03Which means, "Thor is the strongest of all the Gods."
0:42:03 > 0:42:05Cos I remember, as a little boy,
0:42:05 > 0:42:09from the comics that I was reading, knowing about Thor,
0:42:09 > 0:42:12is it true he had the hammer, he had the belt of power?
0:42:12 > 0:42:14- Yes.- Is all that in the old versions?
0:42:14 > 0:42:15Yes.
0:42:15 > 0:42:20READS FROM BOOK IN OLD NORSE
0:42:20 > 0:42:26Which means Thor has three special objects, one is a hammer. Mjolnir.
0:42:26 > 0:42:28I remember Mighty Mjolnir.
0:42:28 > 0:42:30Does Mjolnir mean anything, as a name?
0:42:30 > 0:42:34Does it have a sense of something powerful in the name?
0:42:34 > 0:42:39It means... it designates the crushing power that he has.
0:42:39 > 0:42:42It says that the Giants are well familiar with the hammer
0:42:42 > 0:42:45because Thor is always crushing their skulls with it.
0:42:45 > 0:42:48There is the Girdle of Might, obviously...
0:42:48 > 0:42:50That's not quite so catchy, is it?
0:42:50 > 0:42:52READS FROM BOOK IN OLD NORSE
0:42:55 > 0:43:00So when he puts on this girdle, his strength doubles.
0:43:00 > 0:43:02And he gets a much neater waist.
0:43:02 > 0:43:06Probably, as well.
0:43:06 > 0:43:11Is Thor top of the tree, top God?
0:43:11 > 0:43:16Well, he's among the top Gods, but probably the highest one is Odin.
0:43:16 > 0:43:18And as it says here,
0:43:18 > 0:43:23he is the highest and most glorious of the Gods that we know of,
0:43:23 > 0:43:29and so he is the one who is worshipped by chieftains and kings.
0:43:31 > 0:43:34Unlike Christianity, Viking belief
0:43:34 > 0:43:37wasn't so much about an immortal soul
0:43:37 > 0:43:39but an immortal reputation.
0:43:41 > 0:43:44They didn't really care about the afterlife,
0:43:44 > 0:43:48they wanted glory and honour in this life.
0:43:48 > 0:43:53And then it says here in the sayings of Odin...
0:43:53 > 0:43:55READS FROM BOOK IN OLD NORSE
0:43:58 > 0:44:01"Your castle will die, your friends will die, you'll die."
0:44:01 > 0:44:06READS FROM BOOK IN OLD NORSE
0:44:06 > 0:44:09"Your reputation will never die if you get a good one."
0:44:10 > 0:44:13That's why they weren't afraid of dying in battle,
0:44:13 > 0:44:15with courage and honour.
0:44:15 > 0:44:18The worst thing that could happen to a Viking
0:44:18 > 0:44:21was to be said a coward.
0:44:25 > 0:44:28The end of the Roman Empire early in the 5th century
0:44:28 > 0:44:32saw Scandinavia standing on the brink of the Viking Age.
0:44:35 > 0:44:37A final piece of the jigsaw
0:44:37 > 0:44:41was the emergence of bigger regional leaders.
0:44:44 > 0:44:49Heading back to Sweden, 40 miles North of Stockholm,
0:44:49 > 0:44:52there's evidence of a consolidation of power
0:44:52 > 0:44:54across ever greater areas of land.
0:45:02 > 0:45:06Stretching away ahead of me are the burial mounds of Gamla Uppsala.
0:45:08 > 0:45:14They were built sometime between around 550AD and 700AD,
0:45:14 > 0:45:19that's a time after the Romans but before the coming of the Vikings.
0:45:24 > 0:45:26These mounds seem truly vast,
0:45:26 > 0:45:30even compared to those of Bronze Age Denmark, 2,000 years earlier.
0:45:32 > 0:45:33And, crucially,
0:45:33 > 0:45:36these were only built for a very select few.
0:45:38 > 0:45:42We'll never know exactly who was buried here.
0:45:42 > 0:45:45The pyres, the funeral bonfires that raged here
0:45:45 > 0:45:49and that these mounds were built on top of burned so intensely
0:45:49 > 0:45:51that nothing survived to be buried
0:45:51 > 0:45:55except some charred human bone and some melted grave goods.
0:45:55 > 0:45:56But whoever they were,
0:45:56 > 0:45:58the people who could command this kind of burial
0:45:58 > 0:46:03were certainly amongst the wealthiest and the most powerful in all of Scandinavia
0:46:03 > 0:46:05and they wielded power all across the land.
0:46:20 > 0:46:23The mounds were built one after the other
0:46:23 > 0:46:27during a period lasting 100 years, maybe more,
0:46:27 > 0:46:32so it's tempting to think about a dynasty, a royal lineage,
0:46:32 > 0:46:36one family maintaining control generation after generation
0:46:36 > 0:46:41so the people buried in these mounds might be the very first Kings and Queens.
0:46:47 > 0:46:49In the shadow of these mounds
0:46:49 > 0:46:52evidence has been even found of an ancient royal palace.
0:46:57 > 0:47:02Archaeologist John Ljungkvist has found some remarkable remains
0:47:02 > 0:47:05that reveal just how lavish a palace it once was.
0:47:12 > 0:47:17Here we've got two of the spirals that we find
0:47:17 > 0:47:21on the doors of the hall.
0:47:21 > 0:47:25Look at that! Fantastic.
0:47:25 > 0:47:29There would have been a longer bit as well, extending...
0:47:29 > 0:47:32Yeah, would have had a tang like this,
0:47:32 > 0:47:35but unfortunately it's broken on this one.
0:47:35 > 0:47:38Take it away. Take it from me.
0:47:39 > 0:47:40And what else?
0:47:41 > 0:47:48- Oh, so that would have been all as one, all one.- Yeah.- That's amazing.
0:47:48 > 0:47:53You get the sense that it's not just a functional building,
0:47:53 > 0:47:56it's been decorated to be stunning.
0:47:56 > 0:47:59It's when you see these beautifully crafted,
0:47:59 > 0:48:01beautifully wrought finishing touches,
0:48:01 > 0:48:04that you realise it wasn't just a big hall,
0:48:04 > 0:48:08it was the best hall finished to the highest standards.
0:48:08 > 0:48:13Absolutely, it is a fantastic house, I've never seen anything similar.
0:48:14 > 0:48:19The fine ironwork adorned huge timber doors to an interior
0:48:19 > 0:48:22that would have both impressed and intimidated visitors.
0:48:24 > 0:48:26The inside would be huge,
0:48:26 > 0:48:29it's like a living room 200 square metres big.
0:48:29 > 0:48:33And the walls had been whitewashed.
0:48:33 > 0:48:37So it's not like a smoky, really Dark Age,
0:48:37 > 0:48:41really a very nice palace with white, shiny, nice walls.
0:48:41 > 0:48:45I wonder how they maintained it, cos there would have been big fires inside as well,
0:48:45 > 0:48:48so they'd have to be constantly...
0:48:48 > 0:48:51- Yeah!- ..whitewashing the inside. - Yeah, absolutely!
0:48:52 > 0:48:55This was the royal person's,
0:48:55 > 0:49:00the Prince's reception rooms and the reception area.
0:49:00 > 0:49:03And it's the lofty position that it has in the landscape,
0:49:03 > 0:49:08down to those fields, it's way below us.
0:49:08 > 0:49:12So the working people are literally beneath us
0:49:12 > 0:49:14and we are above everybody else.
0:49:14 > 0:49:18And just over there, of course, they've got the presence
0:49:18 > 0:49:21of their ancestors buried in these mounds,
0:49:21 > 0:49:26they've got people so that they can say this is ours and I can prove that,
0:49:26 > 0:49:30- because my father was here and his father was here.- Yeah.
0:49:34 > 0:49:39Gamla Uppsala is one of the most important pre-Viking sites in all of Scandinavia.
0:49:42 > 0:49:46It reveals a new centralisation of power in the east,
0:49:46 > 0:49:48the first people who were not just chiefs,
0:49:48 > 0:49:51but regional kings and queens.
0:49:54 > 0:49:56But it's important for another reason too,
0:49:56 > 0:50:00because this place was also a centre of a very violent religion.
0:50:02 > 0:50:04A reminder that this world was very different
0:50:04 > 0:50:08to the emerging Christian kingdoms beyond the borders of the Viking world.
0:50:12 > 0:50:16There are disturbing reports of ritual sacrifice,
0:50:16 > 0:50:20of nine males of every living creature,
0:50:20 > 0:50:25dogs, horses, even men, being taken to a nearby grove
0:50:25 > 0:50:28and their dead bodies hung up on the branches
0:50:28 > 0:50:31where they were left to rot together.
0:50:36 > 0:50:40Archaeologists working hereabouts are tempted to think
0:50:40 > 0:50:43that this might be the location where it all went on.
0:50:43 > 0:50:48Now, all over the trees here, there are little runes,
0:50:48 > 0:50:52little offerings of bits of jewellery and ribbons,
0:50:52 > 0:50:57here someone has even made and brought in a plaster cast of Thor's hammer,
0:50:57 > 0:51:05so even after all this time, this place matters on some level to all sorts of people.
0:51:10 > 0:51:13Evidence of exactly what went on here has been lost...
0:51:15 > 0:51:19..but one extremely rare pagan find has been unearthed nearby.
0:51:24 > 0:51:29The object is a clue as to why the people of Scandinavia
0:51:29 > 0:51:33were so different from those living in the rest of Europe.
0:51:35 > 0:51:36It's a bronze pendant,
0:51:36 > 0:51:41once upon a time it would have been worn around the neck of a woman
0:51:41 > 0:51:44who lived sometime towards the end of the 7th century.
0:51:45 > 0:51:47It's quite obviously a horse,
0:51:47 > 0:51:49but this is no ordinary horse.
0:51:50 > 0:51:53This is the mount of Odin himself,
0:51:53 > 0:51:58one of the most important and powerful of the old pagan Gods.
0:51:58 > 0:52:00This is Old Norse,
0:52:00 > 0:52:04the woman who wore this didn't believe in one God,
0:52:04 > 0:52:05she believed in many.
0:52:16 > 0:52:21After a journey that's taken me all over Scandinavia, I've come back to Oslo.
0:52:26 > 0:52:30And to the Oseberg ship that also played its part in Viking belief.
0:52:35 > 0:52:39Because this vessel wasn't only to be used to ferry the living.
0:52:40 > 0:52:42But also the dead.
0:52:43 > 0:52:46Viking funerals, at least for the high and mighty,
0:52:46 > 0:52:52were massive, elaborate affairs with rituals lasting weeks at a time.
0:52:54 > 0:52:57Of course, the dead had to be placed aboard
0:52:57 > 0:53:00because it was them who were making the journey
0:53:00 > 0:53:02and then around them would be heaped
0:53:02 > 0:53:06all of the things they might need and want in the next life,
0:53:06 > 0:53:09so sumptuous clothes, jewellery for display,
0:53:09 > 0:53:11food and drink,
0:53:11 > 0:53:16and also, and importantly, there was usually an element of sacrifice,
0:53:16 > 0:53:21And so dogs, maybe hunting dogs and also lap dogs and pets,
0:53:21 > 0:53:26would be killed and put beside their owners,.
0:53:26 > 0:53:31In this instance, as many as 15 horses were slaughtered
0:53:31 > 0:53:33and laid out for use in the next world.
0:53:33 > 0:53:38And you have to imagine the impact that would have had
0:53:38 > 0:53:40on the people who were watching.
0:53:40 > 0:53:44For one thing, it was a display of wealth beyond their reach,
0:53:44 > 0:53:47this only happened to the few,
0:53:47 > 0:53:50and they would see all the valuables going in,
0:53:50 > 0:53:54then the animals being killed and put alongside.
0:53:54 > 0:53:58It would have stayed with those spectators for a lifetime,
0:53:58 > 0:54:03and they in turn would have passed stories about what they had seen
0:54:03 > 0:54:05down through the generations
0:54:05 > 0:54:08so whoever went into the next life aboard this ship
0:54:08 > 0:54:10would never be forgotten.
0:54:19 > 0:54:23When I look out into the Atlantic from here,
0:54:23 > 0:54:24I feel a great deal of respect,
0:54:24 > 0:54:26if not downright admiration,
0:54:26 > 0:54:30for the people who embarked on their journeys.
0:54:30 > 0:54:34I don't think they were driven by greed, far less bloodlust,
0:54:34 > 0:54:39instead I think the motivations were ambition and opportunity.
0:54:39 > 0:54:43They were living at a time when populations were expanding,
0:54:43 > 0:54:47but here in Norway, beautiful though it is, space is finite.
0:54:47 > 0:54:52There's a limit to how much good land there is available to expand into,
0:54:52 > 0:54:56so who could blame some of them when they knew that out there
0:54:56 > 0:55:01was plenty of land as well as gold and silver that might be acquired.
0:55:08 > 0:55:11I've seen how, over thousands of years,
0:55:11 > 0:55:15a strange and unique Scandinavian culture
0:55:15 > 0:55:17gave rise to the Viking Age.
0:55:19 > 0:55:23But when the magnificent Oseberg ship burial was unearthed
0:55:23 > 0:55:26it contained an unexpected twist in the tale.
0:55:34 > 0:55:36As an archaeologist,
0:55:36 > 0:55:40I tend to spend a lot of my time talking about powerful men,
0:55:40 > 0:55:43but when the Oseberg ship was excavated
0:55:43 > 0:55:49the big surprise was that it contained two women.
0:55:49 > 0:55:54And these are the remains of one of them, in fact the older of the two.
0:55:58 > 0:56:02We can tell that this venerable lady
0:56:02 > 0:56:07was perhaps as much as 80 years old when she died
0:56:07 > 0:56:12and it was cancer of some sort that finally claimed her.
0:56:12 > 0:56:15But beyond those two certainties,
0:56:15 > 0:56:19we know very little about this woman
0:56:19 > 0:56:23or about the other woman she was buried alongside.
0:56:24 > 0:56:28The remains of a high-status woman is another reminder
0:56:28 > 0:56:31that the Vikings weren't all about warrior men.
0:56:32 > 0:56:37And analysis of the second woman makes things even more complicated.
0:56:38 > 0:56:41While there's every reason to believe the older woman
0:56:41 > 0:56:45was Scandinavian born and bred,
0:56:45 > 0:56:47analysis of DNA taken from the younger woman's skeleton
0:56:47 > 0:56:51at least allows for the possibility
0:56:51 > 0:56:54that she was from as far away as the Middle East.
0:56:54 > 0:56:57So that by as early as the end of the 8th century
0:56:57 > 0:56:58the Vikings were doing much more
0:56:58 > 0:57:01than just cause trouble for their neighbours,
0:57:01 > 0:57:04like the people in the British Isles.
0:57:04 > 0:57:08They had contacts into the East, into Eastern Europe.
0:57:13 > 0:57:18I started out on the Atlantic coast wanting to discover how the Vikings came to be.
0:57:21 > 0:57:22But even the possibility
0:57:22 > 0:57:26that that younger Oseberg woman came from so far away
0:57:26 > 0:57:29is the beginning of a whole new story.
0:57:31 > 0:57:34After thousands of years,
0:57:34 > 0:57:37of the Age of Vikings had begun.
0:57:37 > 0:57:40No borders or boundaries could contain them,
0:57:40 > 0:57:44and the oceans and rivers gave them unlimited access
0:57:44 > 0:57:47throughout the known world and beyond.
0:57:50 > 0:57:52Next time, the Vikings go East...
0:57:54 > 0:57:58..building a vast trade network of luxuries.
0:57:59 > 0:58:05Silk was so valuable, it made the perilous river journeys to get here more than worthwhile.
0:58:05 > 0:58:08And slaves.
0:58:08 > 0:58:10These are slave collars.
0:58:10 > 0:58:15And you can imagine the humiliation of having something like this placed around your neck.
0:58:18 > 0:58:23And beginning a process of colonisation that was the beginning of a Viking Empire.
0:58:23 > 0:58:27By marrying the locals, their blood mixed with our blood.
0:58:27 > 0:58:30And they're still here with us today.
0:58:44 > 0:58:45Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd