All language subtitles for The UnXplained s06e04 Mysteries of the Vikings.eng

Ruthless
raiders plundering throughout Europe.

Bold navigators braving
treacherous high seas.

And mighty heroes, who wielded

unbreakable swords.

During the Middle Ages,
the Vikings were infamous

for being a bloodthirsty
band of seafaring warriors

who would appear out of
the mists of the Atlantic Ocean

and attack without warning.

But while we’re all aware

of the Vikings’
notorious reputation,

is it possible that they were

not merely the savage
brutes we think of today

but rather a highly
advanced civilization?

Well, that is what
we’ll try and find out.

It’s a land of wild beauty,

filled with towering fjords

and dense forests.

This region in northern Europe

that includes Norway,
Sweden and Denmark,

is a place of
spectacular vistas,

where vast sheets of
ice lie beneath night skies

that are illuminated
by the northern lights.

And over a thousand years ago,

this untamed region gave birth

to a legendary and
mysterious people

who fascinate us to this day.

We call them... Vikings.

The Vikings are embedded
in our consciousness.

When we think of
the archetypal warrior,

we think of the Viking.

The Vikings are
the quintessential

fighting race.

We love the idea of the
Vikings being these superheroes,

and we’ve embellished
them a little bit.

We’ve made them
blood-curdling savages.

It’s just because these
characters really appeal to us.

What we term a Viking
today is a Scandinavian person

who lived between 793 and 1066.

And that is a period when

Scandinavians were
raiding and pillaging,

and they were known
throughout Europe

for specifically
brutal Viking culture.

This is a maritime culture,
it’s focused around boats,

and all based on the waterways.

The Vikings poured in with
sort of brute strength, with fury.

They ransacked
sacred monasteries

and completely upset the balance
of power throughout Europe.

The Viking Age
goes through phases.

At the start, the
raids are just raiding.

And then armies land,

and they’re there to
take land and conquer.

And then Viking
kingdoms come together.

At one point, the Vikings
had conquered all of England.

And so the impact of the
Viking Age is, um, extraordinary.

What is interesting
is they seem to have achieved

so much while being
functionally illiterate.

Some historians have
tended to assume that because

the Vikings were illiterate,

their technology must
have been primitive.

But in fact, their achievements
in technology are considerable.

They were great shipbuilders,
they were great sword makers

and great metalsmiths.

It was simply that
they weren’t at a stage

where they could write
down what they were doing.

Trade routes
established by the Vikings

would change the
course of world history.

And their impact on medieval
Europe can still be seen today.

Yet the lack of written records
about these fierce conquerors

has left the details
of their life and times

shrouded in mystery.

We have a lot of archaeological
excavations which tell us about

where the Vikings settled
and where they went.

But what we lack is
long, epic descriptions of

the lives of the Vikings,
that is, long stories

in the words of the
Vikings themselves.

What I find baffling
about the Viking Age

is how little we know.

You can come across
wonderful material finds, buildings,

forts and whatnot, but
you don’t know anything

about, really, the story
of the people themselves.

While there are
no definitive historical accounts

written by the
Vikings themselves,

there is a curious collection

of fictional poems and stories

written about the Vikings

that might potentially offer a
glimpse into their civilization.

These epic tales are known

as the Icelandic Sagas.

The Icelandic Sagas, most
of the ones that are preserved,

come from the 13th,

14th, even 15th century.

So they are talking about
events that happened

centuries before when
they were written down.

They reproduce stories

that has been told and
retold over the centuries.

The storytellers who
are behind the sagas

take motifs and ideas from
other stories that they have heard,

or from the history that
they think that they know.

And that’s why some of
the stories are so good.

What we should
remember about the sagas

is that they were
meant to entertain.

Because of this, historical
accuracy was not really

the top priority for
the person who was...

Who was telling the saga.

For centuries, historians
have dismissed the Icelandic Sagas

as nothing more than
the fictional creations

of anonymous
storytellers and poets

who had no direct
knowledge of the Vikings.

But is it possible that these
fantastic stories contain

shreds of truth that could
shed light on the Viking Age?

Perhaps the answer can be found
by examining the Sagas’ account

of a legendary, larger-than-life
Viking warrior named...

Ragnar Lodbrok.

The story of Ragnar
Lodbrok is really

one of the most exciting
Viking Age stories.

It starts by Ragnar
defeating a dragon

in order to be able to marry
a very beautiful woman.

Later on, Ragnar is out sailing

on adventures in
various places in Europe.

In the end, Ragnar
is defeated in battle,

and the death of Ragnar

is famous in the Sagas.

He’s captured by his opponent,

and thrown into a pit of snakes,

where he dies after
being bitten by many.

It’s a kind of torture
death, of course.

This is, of course,
a literary motif

that has been told about
many people before Ragnar.

I mean, this is... this
is great storytelling.

It’s not historical fact.

While many parts
of the Ragnar Lothbrok story,

such as his death by snakebites,

are most likely fictional
embellishments...

some experts claim
that the events in the Sagas

which took place
after Ragnar’s death,

may actually have
a basis in fact.

In the saga, very
soon after Ragnar apparently died,

a lot of Vikings got together

to form what is
called the Great Army.

This Great Army starts to

more or less systematically
conquer England.

In the Sagas,
the Viking Great Army headed for

one of the key sites in
England, which was Repton.

And Repton was the site
of a very wealthy monastery.

Now, archaeological excavating
actually found evidence of this.

We know that it was attacked
by, presumably, the Vikings,

because a lot of it was ruined.

And there were a lot
of Scandinavian graves.

So, this is a really quite
unique example where

we have archaeological
evidence backing up

something that comes
up in the Saga literature.

The Sagas are written by people

who wanted to preserve

a great deal of
information about the past.

So they’re not making up
this stuff out of whole cloth.

Are they changing the story
slightly in their rendition?

Yes. But they’re
relating a story

that was very, very
influential to them,

and had been for
hundreds of years.

Do the Icelandic
Sagas contain important information

about the Vikings that has
been overlooked for centuries?

Perhaps the answer can
be found by examining

a number of mysterious
Viking swords

that were so
exceptionally strong

we still don’t know
how they were made.

Throughout Europe

there are numerous museums

that house a countless number

of ancient Viking artifacts,

some of which are more
than 1,000 years old.

Perhaps the most
fascinating objects

left behind by the
Vikings are their swords.

These extraordinary blades

are an iconic symbol
of the Viking Age.

And not only were
they formidable in battle,

but they also feature detailed

and exquisite craftsmanship.

The thing about the
Viking swords in particular

is you’ll see, on a lot of
these hilts of the Viking era,

repeating geometric symbols.

Oftentimes, these hilts
were further decorated

largely with silver,
or perhaps copper

or gold inlaid into the hilt.

And some were incredibly
advanced in their techniques.

Quite beautiful,

and hard to produce even
today in a modern shop.

The
sophistication of Viking swords

shows how important
these blades were

to their warrior culture.

And, in fact, powerful
weapons featured prominently

in Viking mythology.

The Icelandic Sagas
are filled with epic tales

about supernatural
swords and spears

that were wielded by the gods.

The god Odin is the supreme
being of the Norse system.

He had an unusual
spear, the Gungnir.

Now, this is an incredible
spear. It can travel.

It’s well-balanced, so it can
go far with great accuracy.

Odin has this spear that
almost seems to be laser-guided.

It finds its target
regardless of how it’s thrown.

And then Thor, of
course, as we all know,

has his hammer called Mjölnir.

It creates thunder,
but it also can,

create massive devastation.

Thor’s hammer,
Mjolnir, it’s associated with

the skill of the blacksmith.

Blacksmiths were
often considered,

just by nature, somewhat magic.

Right? To be able to
take this raw material

and produce an
incredible steel sword.

While the Sagas
speak of magical armaments,

in reality, 170 special Viking
swords have been recovered

which are so unparalleled
in strength and craftmanship

that they are the
real-life embodiment

of mythical weapons
celebrated in the Sagas.

To this day, no one
knows how they were made.

And curiously, many of them bear

the mysterious
inscription "Ulfberht."

The Ulfberht swords
were made between about

800 and 1000 AD.

So, right solid in the
high Viking period,

when they were
trading and raiding.

Some of the Viking swords seem
to be much better than others.

And these were the
so-called Ulfberht swords.

It was assumed,
without any evidence,

that it was a swordsmith’s name.

But why the name Ulfberht
was used is still a mystery.

What does Ulfberht mean?

It’s probably not a person.

It was probably a word of power.

Typically, ulf means "wolf."

And berht is an
adjective meaning "bright."

So it might be "bright wolf."

Even more mysterious
than their enigmatic inscription

is the seemingly impossible
strength of Ulfberht swords.

I’ve analyzed 40 or
50 Ulfberht swords.

It’s certainly interesting
to find that many of them

still have a sharp edge,
which is certainly unexpected.

These swords were made
of a very high carbon steel.

The chemistry’s completely
different to any other weapons

found in medieval Europe.

It would be vastly superior to
any other weapon in combat.

To forge
these extraordinary swords,

the Vikings would have had to
generate extreme temperatures,

exceeding 3,000
degrees Fahrenheit.

But incredibly, the technology
to accomplish such a feat

is not known to have existed
until the Industrial Revolution,

nearly 800 years after
the end of the Viking Age.

So how did Viking
blacksmiths forge

these marvels of
medieval warfare?

The search answers
leads far from Scandinavia...

to Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin.

Here in his workshop,

blacksmith Ric Furrer is
committed to forging swords

that closely resemble
an authentic Ulfberht.

How I reproduce
an Ulfberht blade

is prepare the raw materials.

It would start with
rock, with iron ore;

something that
mirrors the chemistry

of some of the blades
that have been found.

So, you’d crush that,

put it into a ceramic
cup, a crucible,

fill it completely to the top,

and then join it together

with other materials.

So we need a
little bit of glass.

The glass acts as a flux
and a protective coating.

And then, right after
that, all of that material

gets brought up to about
3,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

So, very hot.

Hotter than a
typical blacksmith fire

would be allowed to get.

A little more.

In the Sagas,

heat control in the
fire was very important.

It was even mentioned
as being important when

when, the two dwarf
brothers made Thor’s hammer.

And we’ve got a
nice temperature here.

After heating the
metal with temperatures that,

as far as we know, were
supposedly impossible

to achieve during
the Viking Age,

the raw material
becomes molten liquid.

And when the liquid cools down,

it hardens into a
purified chunk of metal

called an ingot.

And you
would take this steel ingot,

and then start forging it.

So, you’d change its shape,

making it progressively
more bar-like as you go.

Ready, ready? Three hits.

One hit. Hit. Hit.

And that’s it. That
looks really good.

So, if you look here, we
have the finished blade.

How did Viking blacksmiths,

working with
comparatively primitive tools,

complete this process with
such precision and expertise?

It’s a fascinating
question that,

despite his extensive
understanding of metallurgy

and years of intense study,
even Ric cannot answer.

I don’t think anyone
has produced an Ulfberht

using completely
traditional methods.

Because we don’t know
what those methods were.

The Vikings had these
mythological stories

that involve weapons
in the hands of a god.

And it isn’t a far stretch to
say that some of the swords

that they actually had could
also do miraculous things.

There’s still a huge
mystery in steel.

Were the Ulfberht swords

really infused with
mystical powers?

It may sound incredible,

but then again,
we still don’t know

how the Vikings
were able to forge

such exceptionally
strong blades.

And there’s another artifact

that is just as astonishing.

It’s a small, seemingly
ordinary piece of crystal

that Viking sailors
used to navigate

beyond the edge
of the known world.

For centuries, the Vikings were

masters of the high seas.

Employing the era’s most
sophisticated techniques,

Viking shipbuilders
created iconic vessels

that are referred
to as longships.

Incredibly, numerous
longships from the Viking Age

have actually survived
the ravages of time,

and can be seen
today in museums.

When you think
about our image of the Viking,

of course we all know
the iconic ship and how

that’s part of the
mythos of Vikings today.

However, people don’t realize

that the Viking ships
were fairly large,

sometimes 100 feet long.

Boats were arguably

the most important
component of Viking life,

and they were very
good at building them.

Their technology was
so much more advanced

in shipbuilding
than anyone else’s.

These boats
were made to flex with the waves.

That’s why often referred
them as a sea snake.

Because they could sort
of snake through the waves.

So, a lot of it was the prowess
of their boat-building skill

that really defined
the achievements

of the Vikings, and
enabled them to do so much.

Without the Viking longship,

there wouldn’t have
been a Viking Age.

The longship, of
course, was the tool

that you could use
to project power.

You could transport
soldiers, warriors,

over long distances, quickly.

And you could
ride far up rivers,

and you could get across oceans,

making these long expeditions

that takes you all the
way to faraway lands.

While the
incredible shipbuilding prowess

of the Vikings is well-known,

another very important key to
their success on the high seas

remains shrouded in mystery.

When talking about the Vikings,

you’re faced with a mystery:

how did the Vikings navigate?

They were able to navigate
with tremendous accuracy.

Yet, for all we know,
they had no compass.

The compass was
a Chinese invention,

and without a compass,
how could they navigate?

Well, "the stars," you say,

but actually, if you’ve
ever been there,

to the Northern Atlantic,

you realize how cloudy it is.

On a cloudy day, you
cannot see the Sun,

you cannot see the stars.

And yet here they were,

navigating throughout
Northern Europe.

And the question
is, how did they do it?

Some researchers
believe the mystery of Viking navigation

may be solved by examining
the Icelandic Sagas,

which include tales
of a legendary tool

used by Viking sailors.

In the Norse Sagas,
we get an account

of what could be described
as Viking technology,

and it involves a
mysterious crystal

called the sunstone,

or the sólarsteinn,
as they term it.

And this is a kind
of translucent stone

that had special,
magical powers.

The Viking sagas tell us
about how this great sunstone

was held by the captain
of a Viking warship

up to a cloudy sky

in order to be able to make out

where the Sun was located

in order to be able to navigate.

It’s been long rumored
from little glimpses in the Sagas

that the sunstone may
have been a major part

of the navigational
abilities of the Vikings,

giving them an edge that other
people at the time did not have.

But knowing exactly what it is

is tantalizingly in
the realm of legend.

Was the magical
sunstone just a fictional creation,

or could it have actually
been a real-life tool

that allowed the Vikings

to become
extraordinary navigators?

While
investigating a 16th-century

sunken English warship,

underwater archaeologists
uncover an unusual crystal.

Although the shipwreck
is English, some believe

this crystal may be connected
to the mythical Viking sunstone.

There was a find from
an Elizabethan shipwreck

from the Channel Islands,
where they actually have

picked up a piece of calcite

quite close to some
navigational equipment

on a shipwreck site.

It’s a mineral, calcite,

and it has a particular quality

that it lets polarized
light pass through it.

And polarized light
comes from the Sun,

even if it’s covered by clouds.

Does the
discovery of a calcite crystal

inside an English warship
suggest that this same material

was the real-life sunstone
used by the Vikings

to navigate the high
seas centuries earlier?

According to tests
conducted in 2011

by physicists from the
University of Rennes in France,

the answer is yes.

It turns out that if you
look at a calcite crystal,

you see not one
image, but two images,

each one polarized
slightly differently.

And as you scan the sky,

the intensity of
these two changes,

depending upon where
the Sun is located.

But when you lock on to the Sun,

the two images
are equally bright.

Bingo, that’s where
the Sun is located.

And that’s how the Vikings
could do it without a compass,

without superior
navigational equipment,

without elaborate maps.

No, they simply
matched the two images,

and bingo, that was it.

To think that a crystal was
the tool the Vikings used

to precisely navigate
the high seas

centuries before the
invention of the compass...

It’s intriguing.

And it begs the question,
how far did they sail?

Believe it or not, there’s
evidence to suggest

that the Vikings
traveled all the way

to the heart of North America.

One of the most intriguing tales

from the Icelandic Sagas

involves a group of Vikings

who embarked on a daring
voyage across the Atlantic Ocean...

on a quest to
reach a faraway realm

known as Vinland.

According to the Sagas,
Vinland was a bountiful paradise,

and for centuries,
historians thought it was

merely the stuff of
myth and legend.

But then, in 1960, Norwegian
husband-and-wife team

Helge and Anne
Ingstad set out to prove

not only that Vinland
was a real place

but also that it was
located in North America.

Helge and Anne Stine
Ingstad combed the entire coast

of Canada to try
and find this site.

And they were very
confident that the Sagas

had an element of fact about it.

And they were right, they did.

The Norwegian couple uncovered

the remains of a
Viking settlement

on the northern
tip of Newfoundland

that dated to the
11th century AD.

This profound discovery,

which is now a UNESCO
World Heritage Site

called L’Anse aux Meadows,

is indisputable proof

that the Sagas may hold
more truth about the Vikings

than we ever thought possible.

L’Anse aux Meadows is
actually the physical evidence

of Scandinavian habitation

on the North American continent.

The Vikings did
discover North America

500 years before
Christopher Columbus.

We know that there
were Viking settlements in the New World.

When I was a young boy,
that was considered a legend.

Now it is historical fact.

And they may have
actually been more extensive

than we see in the
Sagas themselves.

L’Anse aux
Meadows is in Newfoundland.

And we know that
they were there,

but then, of course,
it begs the question,

how far in did they get?

Is it possible the Vikings

traveled deep into
North America?

Well, there are those who
believe the answer is yes.

And they claim that
the proof can be found

more than 2,000 miles
away from Newfoundland...

in Alexandria, Minnesota.

This small city, about 130
miles northeast of Minneapolis,

is home to the Runestone Museum.

Inside is an artifact

that many point to as evidence

that the Vikings traveled

well beyond the
northeastern tip of Canada

and into the
heartland of America.

Because on display
is the remarkable,

yet controversial,
Kensington Runestone.

The Kensington Runestone

is about the size
of a gravestone.

And it was discovered
in 1898 in Kensington,

in Douglas County in Minnesota

by a Swedish
immigrant, Olof Ohman.

And it is covered in runes.

And what intrigues
people is that it seems to be

incontrovertible proof
that the Vikings were there.

Runes are Viking works of art.

And runestones are located

pretty much throughout
the Viking realm.

Runes were kind of
cumbersome to write with,

and so things
tended to be short.

So what you end up with
is very often cryptic poetry

with a tremendous
amount of meaning

packed into very
obscure passages.

So, even to be able to
understand these runes

was sort of a master craft.

For over a century, people
have speculated about the meaning

of the cryptic markings on
the Kensington Runestone.

By comparing it with
other known runestones,

historians have theorized
that the stone tells the tale

of a Viking expedition.

Allegedly, the
Kensington Runestone has

an intriguing story

written in runic script,

about a group of
about 30 Vikings,

who journey from Vinland

all the way down into
what is now Minnesota.

Now, ten of them are massacred

en route by the local people.

But the suggestion is
that these Vikings made it

to the interior of
North America.

Based on this translation,

many believe that the
Kensington Runestone

is a memorial to
Vikings who died

on their quest to
explore North America.

But skeptics have questioned

the stone’s authenticity.

This could
either be a genuine account

of an incredible journey

by intrepid warriors
deep into America.

Or the other theory is that
this was Swedish immigrants

trying to prove
to their neighbors

that they had a
much longer presence

and an entitlement to be there

because their ancestors
had been there.

But the idea that
these warriors ventured

deep into North America,

into places that we know
well today, Minnesota...

That really captures
the imagination.

The truth about the
Kensington Runestone

is a fascinating enigma
that continues to be explored.

But there’s another
Viking mystery

that has drawn
even more attention.

It involves the
fate of a settlement

that was home to more than
2,000 people who vanished.

A fleet of Viking longships

sets off from the
shores of Iceland

on a 900-nautical-mile journey

to settle a new
colony in Greenland.

The expedition is
led by famed explorer

and notorious
outlaw Erik the Red.

Erik the Red
is kind of a character.

Because he’s in Norway,
kills a man, gets outlawed,

leaves Norway, gets to Iceland,

kills a man, gets outlawed.

So, he’s constantly, like,

one of these guys that is

trying to evade the law.

So he thinks, "All right,
off to Greenland I go."

When the
Vikings travel to Greenland,

they’re bringing the
whole households over.

So, these would have been
a major, major movement in

these boats going
across open oceans,

with cows and pigs and
ducks and dogs and things.

And these were rough seas,

these north seas can be
very rough and very wavy,

and could potentially
be dangerous.

A large number
of people go there.

They set out with 24 ships,

and then there was a
terrible, almost a tsunami,

and only 14 ships
made it to Greenland.

And they settled there.

Historians
estimate that approximately 500

Viking settlers
landed and established

the colony in Greenland.

And remarkably, several
ruins of this settlement

have endured for
nearly a thousand years.

You can do tourism
in Greenland today,

and you can see the remains.

There’s a lot of
archaeology going on.

They dug up a lot of farmsteads,

but the buildings are mostly
just, you know, foundations.

Which is interesting, since
they were made out of stone.

The place is a wild place
where the wind blows.

It’s a harsh, barren,
treeless landscape.

And yet, they survived
with this thriving colony.

Over time,
Viking colonists in Greenland

became successful merchants,

and established lucrative trade
routes all throughout Europe.

In the Middle Ages,
there was a craze for ivory.

Rich people, churches
couldn’t get enough ivory,

and a lot of that
ivory came from

walrus tusks in Greenland.

So the Vikings who were
living in Greenland were making

lots of money selling
ivory to the rest of Europe.

Over the
course of nearly 500 years,

the prosperous
Viking colony grew

to a population of
more than 2,000 people.

And their descendants lived
in Greenland until the 1400s,

centuries beyond what
is commonly thought to be

the end of the Viking Age.

And then...

the colonists mysteriously...

disappeared from history.

We know that
they were there in 1408,

because there was a wedding,

and that record made
it into records in Iceland.

So, in 1408, there
was a big ceremony,

big enough to say that this
was still a thriving community,

and that is the
last written record

of the Vikings in Greenland.

Numerous theories
have been proposed to explain

the mysterious disappearance
of the Greenland colony.

Some say that the
colonists fell victim

to mankind’s greatest adversary,

Mother Nature.

During this period,
known as the Little Ice Age,

Greenland was blanketed

in a punishing and
interminable frost.

In the north, it made
summer so cold,

it maybe seemed like winter.

And it happened for
several years in a row.

It might have also promoted
people to just leave the area.

It’s possible
that Mother Nature’s wrath

obliterated the Vikings’
booming economy.

In 2018, groundbreaking
new research

from scientists at the
University of Oslo revealed

that an unexpected set of
circumstances may have triggered

the Viking equivalent
to the Great Depression.

Something like 80%
of the ivory that turns up

in Europe came from Greenland.

We know from scientific evidence
now that that walrus declined.

So, all of a sudden,
that whole economic

basis seems to disappear.

While there are many theories

for the cause of the
Greenland colony’s

mysterious disappearance

an even more
confounding question is...

where did the people go?

If 2,000 people from
Greenland moved back to Iceland

or to Norway, there would
be some sort of record.

There’s not.

But if they all packed
onto ships, you know,

the seas were very dangerous.

And so, yeah, it’s possible
that the entire population

of Greenland was
killed in a storm, maybe.

That’s at the
bottom of the ocean

where we can find it,
or maybe it’s lost forever.

The disappearance
of the Greenland colony

was the fascinating final
chapter in Viking history.

And although the truth about
their fate remains elusive,

archaeologist are
making new discoveries

that could reveal
secrets about the Vikings

that have been
lost for centuries.

Just outside
the small village of Gjellestad,

a group of archaeologists
from the Norwegian Institute

of Cultural Heritage Research

is investigating an
ancient Viking burial mound

when they make a
remarkable discovery.

The team unearthed a
65-foot-long Viking ship

that is the largest
ship recovered

in more than 100 years.

This huge vessel was buried

at the beginning
of the Viking Age,

around 800 AD,
and is referred to...

as the Gjellestad ship.

There’s a good reason
for being very curious about

the Gjellestad ship, and
that is that it might actually

be one of the very oldest
sailing ships in Scandinavia.

So, you could say
that the Gjellestad is

a new piece to the puzzle
about the Viking Age.

And I think it’s a
very important one.

For over a thousand years,

this hallowed ground

concealed 5 longhouses

and 13 burial sites.

Curiously, experts believe

that an ancient Viking king was

ritually buried inside
the Gjellestad ship.

The Gjellestad site
provided the first opportunity

for 100 years to
excavate a ship grave.

And, and this was
a fantastic opportunity,

because 100 years ago,

archaeological
excavation methods were

much, much different
from what they are today.

With our modern technology,
there was much bigger chance of

really harvesting a lot of
knowledge from the excavation

of this mound.

The excavation
of the Gjellestad ship

will reveal details
of Viking culture

that have yet to be discovered,

and could prove
the Icelandic Sagas

are based more
on fact than fiction.

It’s exciting to think that
each new artifact found

brings us closer
to understanding

the real life of
this fascinating

and exceptional
Norse civilization.

The Vikings represent these

people who are adventurous...

who did things that,

as we think about
it, were amazing.

How do you go thousands
of miles on a boat,

from this place to this place,

at a time when no
one else is doing that?

I think those kinds
of components

are part of the reason why we’re
so fascinated with the Vikings.

It’s really great that there’s
so much interest in the Vikings.

Because it creates
a space for scientists

and the researchers
to really back it up.

We’ve got new sites
coming to light, and we’ve got

new scientific methods that
are telling us more and more

about these real people
behind those legends.

And that combination
of the real evidence and

the fictional side is really
something quite special.

It’s surprising how
little we actually know

about the Vikings.

Were they merely ruthless
and barbaric invaders,

or does their notorious
reputation overshadow the fact

that they were a highly
sophisticated culture?

The mystery of who
the Vikings really were

is perhaps what makes
them so fascinating.

But for now, their
true history remains...

unexplained.

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