The Deadliest Weapon Vikings Ever Made

Not the sword. The deadliest Viking weapon was the one they could make from their own bogs. In this video: How Vikings turned pea-sized lumps from a bog into iron, and why every weapon was a budget decision Mail and helmets: the armor that cost more than a sword, and where horned helmets really came from The sword: how pattern-welded blades were made, and why Norway has thousands of them Spear and shield: the weapon of the battle line and the saga weapon nobody has ever found Bows, arrows and the long knife: the cheapest iron in the arsenal and the Birka warrior grave Ulfberht: the famous "Viking" swords that Vikings probably never made The axe that became the Dane axe, and why an emperor's guard was named after it Sources: Anne Stalsberg (2008), Herstellung und Verbreitung der Vlfberht-Schwertklingen, Zeitschrift fur Archaologie des Mittelalters 36 Anne Stalsberg and Oddmunn Farbregd (2011), Why so Many Viking Age Swords in Norway? Ingo Petri (2019), Material and Properties of VLFBERHT Swords, in The Sword: Form and Thought, Boydell Alan Williams (2009), A Metallurgical Study of Some Viking Swords, Gladius 29 Hector Cole (2023), Scandinavian Arrowheads of the Viking Age, EXARC Journal 2023/2 Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson et al. (2017), A female Viking warrior confirmed by genomics, American Journal of Physical Anthropology 164 Museum of Cultural History, Oslo: the Langeid excavation (2011) and test cutting with the Langeid axe National Museum of Denmark: Viking Age axes and the Mammen grave David Jacobson et al. (2024), on violence in Viking Age Norway and Denmark, Journal of Anthropological Archaeology Ibn Fadlan, Mission to the Volga, trans. James Montgomery #Vikings #VikingHistory #VikingAge