Technology In The Vikings

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The Exploration Topic I have chosen to study further in this course is the Vikings’ technological advancements. This topic consists of talking about their weapons, armor, clothing, ships, tools, and other various types of technology that helped them evolve. I wanted to focus on how their lifestyle and way of life was different from other generations and what tools aided them that separates themselves from other time periods. So, by focusing on this specific topic, I have learned numerous things about the Vikings and facts that completely changed my viewpoint of the Vikings and what their true lifestyle was like. This allowed me to research more about the tools they used during their time and what kind of clothing/armor they wore and why. By…show more content…
Gisli’s Saga, as I mentioned, showcases the technology of the Vikings because it shows how they had special weapons where they gave each weapon its own nickname and sometimes had its own supernatural power. In the Saga of Ref the Sly, this saga shows Ref the Sly building his own ship for him to escape Iceland because he is exiled and is an outcast because of the murders he has committed. However, a perfect example of how the Viking’s technology is prominent in the literature I have read so far is one of the short stories called King Olaf Tryggvason Builds the Long Serpent because it gives info on what type of ships they built during this time. For example, “the Long Serpent had thirty-four rooms, or rowers’ benches… [and it] was the best and most costly ship-ever built in Norway” (The Vikings Age: A Reader 153). Therefore, technology is prominent in understanding literature that deals with the Viking Age as it helps in understanding the Viking’s…show more content…
By understanding the Vikings technology, this allows us to identify the genre of the literature better as we can understand the content of the literature with the knowledge given about their ships and weapons. I can also understand the Viking literature and identifying what kind of literary genre a piece of literature is because I can identify if a piece of work is fiction, non-fiction, or historical fiction by understanding by what kind of ships and weapons they had available to them. By utilizing this information, I can determine if a piece of work is credible or someone’s own interpretation of how the Vikings lived, rather than the actual truth. From the reading in The Vikings, which was written by Julian D. Richards, I learned that they even had sophisticated navigation instruments that were used in sea travel. One instrument he mentions in his book was “a simple bearing dial [that] would have allowed Viking Age sailors to travel due east or west along a line of latitude, although the method requires the sun to be visible for most of the journey” (Richards 52). Hence, this shows how during the Viking age, they evolved and had certain technology, like their ships and instruments/tools, that was advanced compared to earlier civilizations. Therefore, by utilizing information such as what tools, ships, weapons, and armor/clothing the Vikings had during

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