1
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York.

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Founded by the Romans,

3
00:00:13,640 --> 00:00:16,040
by the 9th century AD,

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this was one of the great Christian
cities of Anglo-Saxon England.

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But York had a shock coming.

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Because in 866 AD,
an entire army arrived here,

7
00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:30,880
turned the place Viking
and called it Jorvik.

8
00:00:30,880 --> 00:00:33,120
This city,
and half of England besides,

9
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became part of Scandinavia.

10
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'Today, even over 1,000 years later,

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'the image of the marauding Viking
warrior is as strong as ever...'

12
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Thank you.
'..especially up here.'

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What we know, or think we know,
about the Vikings

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is much more myth than reality.

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Even the famed horned helmets
are a modern invention.

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So, just who WERE the Vikings?

17
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'I'm going to find out
the truth about the Vikings...

18
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'..leaving Britain behind
to enter their land

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'and their own mysterious world.'

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Even now, this place feels
like it's on the edge of everything.

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'It's going to take me
all over Scandinavia...'

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Do you have a map?

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00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:38,320
'..and far beyond.'

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These are Arabic Dirhams,
minted in places like Baghdad.

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'And, as an archaeologist,

26
00:01:46,240 --> 00:01:49,480
'I'll be seeking out some of
the most telling evidence of all...

27
00:01:51,440 --> 00:01:54,040
'..the remains of ancient people...'

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This flamboyant hairstyle
just adds to his allure.

29
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'..and the stunning treasures
they left behind...

30
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'..all to get inside the heads
of the Vikings themselves.'

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Oh, wow! How can that be
1,000 years old?

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'The real Vikings -
from their point of view.'

33
00:02:40,680 --> 00:02:45,320
'To start my investigation,
I've come to Norway...'

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00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:47,360
Smoked salmon.

35
00:02:51,040 --> 00:02:56,920
'..in particular, Bergen, a port
that faces the wild Atlantic Ocean.'

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If I'm going to understand
the origins of the Vikings,

37
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then this is the place to start,

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because at the end of the 8th
century, it's likely that the ships

39
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carrying those first raiders
set out from this coastline.

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It's hard to imagine that it was
from here, 1,200 or so years ago,

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that so much terror was unleashed,
but this is how I wanted to feel

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00:03:26,360 --> 00:03:30,880
at the beginning of this journey, so
that I could try and understand

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this seismic moment
in European history

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from the Viking point of view.

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The Vikings
weren't just savage pirates,

46
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but sophisticated traders,
who criss-crossed the known world,

47
00:03:50,520 --> 00:03:56,440
running silks and silver,
as well as slaves and stolen booty.

48
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Epic adventurers, who voyaged
to the exotic cities of Asia

49
00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:06,600
and the unknown mysteries
of America.

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While much of Dark Age Europe
had been shaped

51
00:04:14,160 --> 00:04:16,760
by the civilising influence of Rome,

52
00:04:16,760 --> 00:04:20,560
up here in Scandinavia, the Vikings
had emerged from a distinctive,

53
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in fact, a unique, culture.

54
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They were untainted by concepts like
the written law and life in towns,

55
00:04:29,360 --> 00:04:31,840
far less by belief
in a Christian God.

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The Vikings bequeathed to us
a part of our cultural DNA

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that's wilder, darker,
more mysterious

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than anything
that was to be had from Rome.

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And it wasn't just what they did
that made them dangerous.

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It was what they thought
and what they believed.

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'Right here in Bergen
are some of the preserved remains

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00:05:03,880 --> 00:05:07,520
'of one of the very earliest Vikings
ever found...

63
00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:11,120
'..although, it has to be said,

64
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'they're not exactly
in the best of shape.'

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These poor fragments are all that
remains of the skeleton of a man.

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These are arm bones...

67
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..and these are parts of one leg.

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Alongside him were grave goods,
including his sword.

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So it's safe to say
that he was a warrior.

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But what's remarkable about him,
what's fascinating,

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is that this individual is the first

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that we know of to have been buried
in true, classic Viking style.

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He was buried inside a Viking ship

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that was intended to take him
to the afterlife,

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to Valhalla,
where he would feast and fight

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alongside the Norse Gods themselves.

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He was a sea-borne warrior.

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He would have been carrying
the responsibility

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and the expectations of his family,
who would be hoping that he would

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return richer, more famous,
with a great reputation,

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00:06:27,960 --> 00:06:30,200
that would change
not just his life, but theirs.

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A Viking
wasn't only something you were,

83
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but something you did.

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To go a-Viking, was to head out

85
00:06:43,800 --> 00:06:46,040
into the open seas
in search of adventure.

86
00:06:50,120 --> 00:06:53,160
Their transport was
a technological miracle,

87
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the notorious Viking longboat -

88
00:06:55,800 --> 00:06:59,120
an icon of an entire Age.

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'From Bergen, it's just a short hop
to Norway's capital, Oslo...

90
00:07:17,520 --> 00:07:21,600
'..resting place of the finest
Viking ship ever unearthed.'

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00:07:32,160 --> 00:07:39,000
Like our man, it dates from the very
beginning of the Viking Age.

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This stunning craft
is the Oseberg Ship.

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It's certainly the most famous
Viking ship we have

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and, to my eyes, beyond a shadow
of a doubt, the most beautiful.

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This was once one of the most
sophisticated ships in the world...

96
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..the epitome of technological
brilliance and maritime audacity.

97
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The ship itself
is the work of many craftsmen,

98
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but here, in this carving,

99
00:08:15,200 --> 00:08:18,600
is the imagination and the skill

100
00:08:18,600 --> 00:08:23,520
of just one artist, one person.

101
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It's this exciting, vivid depiction
of a dragon or sea serpents

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twisted together, biting tails.

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The scales on the skin
are picked out

104
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with these carefully-etched lines.

105
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And while it's one thing
to be handed an object

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that you can hold in your hand

107
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and be told,
"This is 1,000 or 1,200 years old",

108
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it's of another order
of magnitude to stand

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beneath something like this.

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This says that the Vikings
were real people with huge ambition.

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This is just one of hundreds,
or thousands, of ships

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built during the Viking Age.

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THIS is what the Vikings
were capable of.

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The Vikings might have burst into
our British history

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in a blizzard of flashing axes,

116
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but the culture
that gave rise to them

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certainly didn't appear
out of a clear blue sky.

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Instead, they were the product
of thousands of years

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of cultural evolution.

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They were shaped
by their land and by the sea

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and by countless generations
of Scandinavian "proto-Vikings".

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And it's only
by understanding the world

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of their most distant ancestors

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that we can hope
to dig down to their real roots,

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to distil the very Viking essence,
if you like,

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and to see why, and how, the
terrifying phenomenon of the Vikings

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ever came to be.

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'To discover the very earliest
roots of the Vikings,

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'I'm leaving Oslo behind
and heading east,

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'to the very heart of the Baltic.'

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It's taking me
450 miles from Norway,

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to a Swedish island called Gotland.

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To really get to grips
with the Vikings,

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to have any chance of seeing who
they were and where they came from,

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you have to dig down towards the
roots of the world that bore them.

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And that means going all the way
back to pre-historic Scandinavia.

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And, I can tell you, there's some
pretty strange stuff down there.

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The streamlined longboat was key
to everything the Vikings achieved.

139
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And the very beginning of
the longboat's story

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can be found here in the Baltic,
on Gotland.

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'Joakim Wehlin
is a local archaeologist,

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'who's promised to help me
find some ancient rock carvings.

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'The only trouble is,
they're submerged and, in winter,

144
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'also stuck under a lot of ice!

145
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'And to make matters even worse,
it's getting dark!'

146
00:11:45,440 --> 00:11:46,680
ICE CRACKS

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This is exactly what they tell you
not to do in all the warning films.

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ICE CREAKS AND CRACKS

149
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Exactly. It's not...

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Oh, how frustrating. I mean,
they're just... Oh, I can see them!

151
00:12:07,320 --> 00:12:11,640
Honestly, I've got... Yeah?
Yeah, yeah, I can. I can see it.

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You see there, the dark.
There's the line of the boat.

153
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You can see the curving hull.
It's there. Amazing. Yeah, it is.

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It's really cool, actually.
It's great!

155
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Effectively, what we've got
is a sunken Bronze Age rock carving.

156
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It's great!

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Just amazing.

158
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I suppose the obvious question is,
why is that rock art here?

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Because it feels like
the middle of nowhere,

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Yes, today, it's the nowhere,
but back in the Bronze Age,

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I think this is a meeting place.
People gathering around here.

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You see the open landscape.
High points all over here.

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In the Bronze Age,
would the sea have been closer

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and, therefore, easier to see?
Yeah, the sea would have been closer

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and also there was a freshwater lake
just next. You can see the remains.

166
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So this is the only place
for freshwater at the time.

167
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And so,
if it was a place that mattered,

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because people were accustomed
to coming here to talk or to trade

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or whatever,
then it would have made sense

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to make carvings in the rock here.
Exactly.

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If you look at the rock art
that is made

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on the mid-Eastern part of Sweden,
it is the same kind of rock art.

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There's something symbolic
about something from so long ago

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being trapped under the ice.

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'Rock carvings have been found
all over Scandinavia,

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'going back thousands of years,
into the Iron Age and beyond.

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'And there's a very definite
recurring theme.'

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I can see right away the ships, with
people in them, with a crew. Yes.

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00:14:01,360 --> 00:14:05,720
People with weapons -
swords and axes.

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And the ships
are actually really good.

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There's quite a lot of detail.

182
00:14:10,480 --> 00:14:11,280
You know, this...

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This coming up at the bow and then
you've even got a serpent head

184
00:14:16,080 --> 00:14:19,160
at the bow of the ship. Yes,
and sometimes it looks almost like

185
00:14:19,160 --> 00:14:21,480
you can see the direction of it.

186
00:14:21,480 --> 00:14:25,480
So the people who are making the
carvings, you, kind of, get a sense

187
00:14:25,480 --> 00:14:29,560
of how familiar they are
with ships, with boats,

188
00:14:29,560 --> 00:14:32,800
because there's detail and
a real familiarity with the shape.

189
00:14:35,480 --> 00:14:39,920
'The rock carvings are stunning,
but they're not the only remains

190
00:14:39,920 --> 00:14:43,760
'that testify to the Vikings'
ancient sea-faring roots.'

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00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:47,040
Very evocative.

192
00:14:59,840 --> 00:15:04,520
'Next morning, I'm still on Gotland.
I'm searching out more evidence

193
00:15:04,520 --> 00:15:07,960
'of the earliest maritime ancestors
of the Vikings.'

194
00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:14,040
What I've come to see here is
much, much older than these trees,

195
00:15:14,040 --> 00:15:17,760
but the fact that
it's partly concealed by a forest

196
00:15:17,760 --> 00:15:21,560
just adds another layer of mystery
and it kind of sets you up

197
00:15:21,560 --> 00:15:25,440
for the expectation that you're
about to see something magical.

198
00:15:43,600 --> 00:15:48,880
This vast monument is called
the Stone Ship of Ansarve...

199
00:15:50,800 --> 00:15:54,080
..and it's around 3,000 years old.

200
00:15:57,280 --> 00:16:02,800
Anyone coming here couldn't help
but be struck by its sheer scale.

201
00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:09,080
I've walking into
lots of stone circles in my time,

202
00:16:09,200 --> 00:16:09,720
I've walking into
lots of stone circles in my time,

203
00:16:09,720 --> 00:16:10,720
but nothing like this.

204
00:16:11,760 --> 00:16:14,600
In a stone circle,
you never quite know how to feel -

205
00:16:14,600 --> 00:16:15,360
you don't really know for sure
what you're being told,

206
00:16:15,440 --> 00:16:17,440
you don't really know for sure
what you're being told,

207
00:16:17,440 --> 00:16:21,400
but you come in here
and, without anyone saying a word,

208
00:16:21,400 --> 00:16:24,120
you know exactly what this is.

209
00:16:26,360 --> 00:16:28,720
Like Britain's stone circles,

210
00:16:28,720 --> 00:16:32,160
the purpose of ancient
ship monuments is mysterious.

211
00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:42,240
Many are graves.

212
00:16:42,240 --> 00:16:43,240
But not all.

213
00:16:45,720 --> 00:16:47,600
Every one of them, though,

214
00:16:47,600 --> 00:16:50,640
testifies to
the symbolic importance of the sea

215
00:16:50,640 --> 00:16:55,720
to the people who lived on Gotland
long before the Viking Age.

216
00:16:58,880 --> 00:17:01,080
It's such a Baltic thing to do.

217
00:17:01,080 --> 00:17:05,240
You don't get ship settings
in France or in Britain

218
00:17:05,240 --> 00:17:08,400
but you do get them here -
lots and lots of them.

219
00:17:17,760 --> 00:17:21,840
The prehistory of Scandinavia
was dominated by the sea.

220
00:17:21,840 --> 00:17:25,280
With its rugged coastline
of fjords and inlets,

221
00:17:25,280 --> 00:17:29,960
it was often much easier
to travel by sea than over land.

222
00:17:32,760 --> 00:17:36,440
In the Baltic Sea alone
there are over 50,000 islands,

223
00:17:36,440 --> 00:17:39,480
convenient stopping-off points,

224
00:17:39,480 --> 00:17:42,200
service stations or lay-bys,
if you like,

225
00:17:42,200 --> 00:17:45,000
along an ancient maritime motorway.

226
00:17:47,600 --> 00:17:50,840
It was these
ancient maritime skills

227
00:17:50,840 --> 00:17:54,280
that evolved into
the seagoing prowess of the Vikings,

228
00:17:54,280 --> 00:17:58,720
their daring raids,
and their great epic voyages.

229
00:18:03,440 --> 00:18:05,280
The ancestors of the Vikings

230
00:18:05,280 --> 00:18:07,960
had the salt of the sea
running through their veins.

231
00:18:09,080 --> 00:18:13,160
But they were also a people
who were shaped by their land.

232
00:18:18,120 --> 00:18:20,000
When you travel though Scandinavia,

233
00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:23,160
you begin to realise
just how huge and varied a land

234
00:18:23,160 --> 00:18:24,680
the Vikings inhabited.

235
00:18:27,640 --> 00:18:30,360
From the cold, northern mountains
of Norway,

236
00:18:30,360 --> 00:18:32,080
where arable land was scarce...

237
00:18:34,920 --> 00:18:38,640
..all the way down to the fertile
plains of Denmark and the South.

238
00:18:42,880 --> 00:18:46,400
Travel in prehistoric Scandinavia
might have been dominated by the sea

239
00:18:46,400 --> 00:18:50,000
but survival depended on the land.

240
00:18:51,800 --> 00:18:55,440
How successfully you could
tend animals and grow crops.'

241
00:19:02,280 --> 00:19:04,960
The geography of Scandinavia
provides for

242
00:19:04,960 --> 00:19:08,440
many different landscapes
and many different climates

243
00:19:08,440 --> 00:19:11,920
and people living in different parts
are affected in different ways.

244
00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:13,240
In the far north,

245
00:19:13,240 --> 00:19:16,960
where the soils are thin
and the winters are long and dark,

246
00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:19,040
it's very difficult to grow crops -

247
00:19:19,040 --> 00:19:21,440
it's even a challenge
to keep animals.

248
00:19:21,440 --> 00:19:24,560
But in the South,
especially during the Bronze Age -

249
00:19:24,560 --> 00:19:27,200
the time where people were
making those ship carvings -

250
00:19:27,200 --> 00:19:29,600
there was actually
an economic surplus.

251
00:19:29,600 --> 00:19:34,080
There was plenty of good grazing and
the land was good for many crops.

252
00:19:40,960 --> 00:19:44,240
Having visited the coasts
of Norway and Sweden,

253
00:19:44,240 --> 00:19:48,480
I'm now heading for Denmark,
and its capital, Copenhagen.

254
00:19:50,120 --> 00:19:52,960
Because just 100 miles from here,

255
00:19:52,960 --> 00:19:56,200
there's a remarkable site
that reveals how Bronze Age people

256
00:19:56,200 --> 00:19:58,440
thrived off
the fertile land of the South.

257
00:20:05,960 --> 00:20:08,000
3,500 years ago,

258
00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:11,640
this place was an important
settlement of wealthy farmers.

259
00:20:13,480 --> 00:20:16,400
These are the burial mounds
of Borum Eshoj

260
00:20:16,400 --> 00:20:22,160
and they were built between
1,400 and 1,300 years BC.

261
00:20:25,200 --> 00:20:29,000
At that time, there were more than
40 mounds in this area alone...

262
00:20:30,960 --> 00:20:34,560
..and 45,000
dotted right across Denmark.

263
00:20:37,160 --> 00:20:40,480
One of the many extraordinary things
about these mounds,

264
00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:44,720
is the effort, the colossal effort
it takes to build them

265
00:20:44,720 --> 00:20:47,800
and it's estimated
that when this was first completed,

266
00:20:47,800 --> 00:20:49,120
it was eight times as big.

267
00:20:56,120 --> 00:20:59,120
To build one of these
you need 150 people

268
00:20:59,120 --> 00:21:02,200
working flat out
for three or four months,

269
00:21:02,200 --> 00:21:04,120
so whoever commissioned it

270
00:21:04,120 --> 00:21:07,080
had to have resources
to organise those people,

271
00:21:07,080 --> 00:21:10,880
to feed those people and
to give them the tools for the job.

272
00:21:10,880 --> 00:21:14,720
But all of this is and was
rich farming land,

273
00:21:14,720 --> 00:21:18,840
it provides surplus grain
and surplus animals.

274
00:21:18,840 --> 00:21:22,880
So the families
who buried in mounds like these

275
00:21:22,880 --> 00:21:27,000
weren't just trying to survive off
the land, they had control over it.

276
00:21:29,960 --> 00:21:32,280
These mounds suggest
that the people here

277
00:21:32,280 --> 00:21:34,240
enjoyed a relatively good life,

278
00:21:34,240 --> 00:21:37,720
especially compared to
the tougher conditions of the north.

279
00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:41,800
But wherever you lived,
north or south,

280
00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:44,880
surviving a Scandinavian winter
wasn't easy.

281
00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:57,480
Experimental archaeologists
working here have created

282
00:21:57,480 --> 00:21:59,320
an exact replica of the houses

283
00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:02,320
these Bronze Age farmers
would have lived in.

284
00:22:04,960 --> 00:22:08,600
And since I've come here in
February, it's just the right time

285
00:22:08,600 --> 00:22:11,680
to get a taste for the winter food
their lives depended on.

286
00:22:15,160 --> 00:22:18,320
My guide is food expert, Bi Skaarup.

287
00:22:23,080 --> 00:22:25,480
It's all very well for us
in the 21st century,

288
00:22:25,480 --> 00:22:29,240
but what kind of challenges
faced Bronze Age farmers

289
00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:32,960
as the long dark nights
of winter set in?

290
00:22:32,960 --> 00:22:36,560
The most important thing
was to get enough provisions

291
00:22:36,560 --> 00:22:38,680
to get you through the winter.

292
00:22:38,680 --> 00:22:43,880
If you were completely
starved in the spring,

293
00:22:43,880 --> 00:22:47,240
you couldn't start working the land
and that was very important.

294
00:22:47,240 --> 00:22:50,680
Is there anything interesting
to drink in the Bronze Age?

295
00:22:50,680 --> 00:22:52,960
Yes, definitely,
and I've made some for you.

296
00:22:52,960 --> 00:22:54,520
I was hoping you'd say that. Yeah.

297
00:22:58,800 --> 00:23:00,760
The residue of this drink

298
00:23:00,760 --> 00:23:04,280
was found in a bark bucket
in a burial mound.

299
00:23:04,280 --> 00:23:05,720
So its malted wheat,

300
00:23:05,720 --> 00:23:12,200
honey, bog myrtle to give a bit
of bitterness, and cranberries.

301
00:23:13,840 --> 00:23:15,880
Slainte mhath. Skol.

302
00:23:20,960 --> 00:23:23,600
That's fantastic, it really is.

303
00:23:23,600 --> 00:23:26,600
It just tastes like fruit juice.
Yes.

304
00:23:26,600 --> 00:23:31,280
But that's a fermented...
It is. ..drink. So that would last.

305
00:23:31,280 --> 00:23:32,560
It would.

306
00:23:32,560 --> 00:23:35,160
That would see you through
a winter's night, wouldn't it? Yes.

307
00:23:36,800 --> 00:23:40,240
Fermented drinks
may have kept the cold at bay,

308
00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:44,320
but more of a problem
was keeping food through the winter.

309
00:23:44,320 --> 00:23:45,520
Especially meat.

310
00:23:46,960 --> 00:23:50,560
I brought some meat,
marinated in whey.

311
00:23:50,560 --> 00:23:52,000
What sort of meat is that?

312
00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:53,840
It's pork. Right.

313
00:23:53,840 --> 00:24:01,680
And that's edible now just
having been soaked or sat in whey?

314
00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:04,880
Now, you're not just having me on,
are you? No, I'm not. OK.

315
00:24:09,520 --> 00:24:10,800
It's got all the texture,

316
00:24:10,800 --> 00:24:13,360
but it only tastes
very faintly of meat. Mmm-hmm.

317
00:24:13,360 --> 00:24:15,160
But, you know...

318
00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:20,640
But then I do like raw meat,
I've always been drawn that way!

319
00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:27,960
Preparing for winter,
surviving it, together.

320
00:24:27,960 --> 00:24:32,920
It's such a shared human experience
for anyone in Northern Europe.

321
00:24:35,240 --> 00:24:37,200
I remember speaking
to a woman on Shetland once

322
00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:40,160
and I asking her
how she coped with the winter

323
00:24:40,160 --> 00:24:42,600
and she said she enjoyed it
and looked forward to it.

324
00:24:42,600 --> 00:24:44,440
And I asked her why, and she said

325
00:24:44,440 --> 00:24:46,680
the satisfaction
was preparing for it

326
00:24:46,680 --> 00:24:49,480
and feeling proof
against the winter.

327
00:24:51,120 --> 00:24:53,800
And so the people here
in the Bronze Age,

328
00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:56,960
they would have been
making plans for the winter,

329
00:24:56,960 --> 00:24:58,480
laying down supplies,

330
00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:02,040
and as well as making sure
they had the basics of life,

331
00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:07,600
they were finding time to prepare
a few barrels of fermented drink

332
00:25:07,600 --> 00:25:11,040
so that, as well as surviving,
they could also take the edge off

333
00:25:11,040 --> 00:25:12,840
and enjoy themselves as well.

334
00:25:12,840 --> 00:25:15,760
So they'd be in here
with their extended families,

335
00:25:15,760 --> 00:25:18,320
with the animals for extra warmth,

336
00:25:18,320 --> 00:25:21,240
and if they had got their plans
right, and they pulled together,

337
00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:23,040
then they would survive,

338
00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:26,080
and having survived
a winter like that,

339
00:25:26,080 --> 00:25:29,440
then I'm sure it would make the
spring and the summer that followed

340
00:25:29,440 --> 00:25:30,800
that bit sweeter.

341
00:25:33,160 --> 00:25:35,800
Having eaten like a Viking ancestor,

342
00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:38,480
I'm going to spend
the night like one,

343
00:25:38,480 --> 00:25:42,680
in the moonlit shadow
of those ancient mounds.

344
00:25:42,680 --> 00:25:47,640
Now, you can read
all the books you want,

345
00:25:47,640 --> 00:25:54,160
but the only way to even get close
to having a Bronze Age experience...

346
00:25:57,400 --> 00:25:59,160
..is to do it.

347
00:26:00,840 --> 00:26:04,840
Hopefully these sheepskins
will make all the difference.

348
00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:13,440
Don't suppose
there were many occasions

349
00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:16,360
when a Bronze Age person
had a night to him or herself

350
00:26:16,360 --> 00:26:18,360
inside a house like this.

351
00:26:18,360 --> 00:26:23,400
They would have been with
their family almost all of the time.

352
00:26:25,560 --> 00:26:30,440
In Britain, Bronze Age people
lived in round houses,

353
00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:32,960
but over here,

354
00:26:32,960 --> 00:26:36,320
the rectangular timber houses
of Borum Eshoj

355
00:26:36,320 --> 00:26:40,200
were the direct ancestors
of the Viking longhouses

356
00:26:40,200 --> 00:26:42,840
that would appear 2,000 years later.

357
00:26:51,440 --> 00:26:52,600
Well...

358
00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:56,240
..there we go.

359
00:26:56,240 --> 00:27:01,440
I have to report, first of all,
that despite all my best intentions

360
00:27:01,440 --> 00:27:05,200
to report throughout the night,
I fell asleep.

361
00:27:08,480 --> 00:27:13,320
All I can really say is,
it was warm enough

362
00:27:13,320 --> 00:27:16,160
and here I am.

363
00:27:16,160 --> 00:27:21,040
I've survived my Bronze Age
winter's night.

364
00:27:21,040 --> 00:27:22,240
Quite good, really.

365
00:27:31,800 --> 00:27:34,840
Incredibly, it's even possible
to get a glimpse

366
00:27:34,840 --> 00:27:37,480
of the very inhabitants
of Borum Eshoj themselves.

367
00:27:43,560 --> 00:27:45,720
In Copenhagen,

368
00:27:45,720 --> 00:27:49,640
an entire 3,000-year-old family
from the settlement

369
00:27:49,640 --> 00:27:51,920
has been carefully preserved.

370
00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:06,240
And this is the mum.

371
00:28:07,280 --> 00:28:10,160
What's most moving of all to me

372
00:28:10,160 --> 00:28:12,640
is the preservation of the clothing

373
00:28:12,640 --> 00:28:14,720
that she was put into
after she died.

374
00:28:15,880 --> 00:28:19,160
She's wearing
a short-sleeved woollen blouse,

375
00:28:19,160 --> 00:28:21,600
the lower half of her body
is covered

376
00:28:21,600 --> 00:28:26,240
by this perfectly-preserved folded
blanket or skirt also of wool,

377
00:28:26,240 --> 00:28:30,360
and you can't resist the possibility

378
00:28:30,360 --> 00:28:34,120
that if you could somehow bring
someone back who was there that day,

379
00:28:34,120 --> 00:28:38,720
they could look at this and
recognise her and know who she was.

380
00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:48,600
And this splendid individual
is the son.

381
00:28:53,080 --> 00:28:56,280
The fact that his hair
has been preserved,

382
00:28:56,280 --> 00:28:58,720
this flamboyant hairstyle,

383
00:28:58,720 --> 00:29:02,160
just adds to his allure

384
00:29:02,160 --> 00:29:04,240
and you get the sense,

385
00:29:04,240 --> 00:29:07,680
looking at how he's styled himself,

386
00:29:07,680 --> 00:29:12,440
that there is just a trace
of his personality in there as well.

387
00:29:18,120 --> 00:29:20,880
But it's the husband and father

388
00:29:20,880 --> 00:29:23,120
whose remains
are the most telling of all.

389
00:29:25,480 --> 00:29:30,000
Everything about this guy
says big man -

390
00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:32,600
the size of him,

391
00:29:32,600 --> 00:29:35,760
his musculature,
the mass of his bones -

392
00:29:35,760 --> 00:29:38,960
all of his life,
he had access to a good diet.

393
00:29:38,960 --> 00:29:41,720
That in itself suggests wealth.

394
00:29:41,720 --> 00:29:45,040
His fingernails
were neatly manicured

395
00:29:45,040 --> 00:29:46,480
so he was the kind of man

396
00:29:46,480 --> 00:29:49,400
who had the time
to take care of his appearance.

397
00:29:49,400 --> 00:29:52,400
He lived to be around 60 years old,

398
00:29:52,400 --> 00:29:54,720
which is a good age,
really, by any standards.

399
00:29:56,000 --> 00:30:00,880
In life and in death,
he was the centre of the family.

400
00:30:04,640 --> 00:30:07,080
It's clear
that in Denmark and the south,

401
00:30:07,080 --> 00:30:10,680
the Bronze Age ancestors
of the Vikings lived a good life.

402
00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:16,360
But the further north you lived,

403
00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:19,080
the progressively tougher
things must have become

404
00:30:19,080 --> 00:30:21,000
for anyone trying to farm the land.

405
00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:28,520
For the Vikings themselves,

406
00:30:28,520 --> 00:30:30,600
2,000 years later,

407
00:30:30,600 --> 00:30:33,400
the varied geography of their lands

408
00:30:33,400 --> 00:30:35,640
would shape
very different destinies.

409
00:30:39,720 --> 00:30:41,960
Scandinavia was always
a land divided.

410
00:30:41,960 --> 00:30:47,080
In the south, there was plentiful
farmland and relative affluence,

411
00:30:47,080 --> 00:30:51,480
but the north was always
a different, a tougher prospect.

412
00:30:51,480 --> 00:30:54,920
There WAS land available,
but it was limited.

413
00:30:54,920 --> 00:30:59,400
A lot of it around the sides of
and at the necks of the Fjords,

414
00:30:59,400 --> 00:31:03,200
so perhaps it's no surprise
that of all the Vikings

415
00:31:03,200 --> 00:31:07,520
it was the Norwegians
who ventured furthest in search of,

416
00:31:07,520 --> 00:31:09,720
quite literally, pastures new,

417
00:31:09,720 --> 00:31:13,600
where a man wasn't just wedged in
between the mountains and the sea.

418
00:31:17,920 --> 00:31:21,520
But, of course, we know that the
Vikings weren't just expert sailors

419
00:31:21,520 --> 00:31:23,120
and skilled ship builders.

420
00:31:26,360 --> 00:31:29,240
They were also warriors.

421
00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:33,000
Even by the standards
of the Dark Ages,

422
00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:35,560
the Vikings were especially adept

423
00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:38,840
when it came to
the messy business of killing.

424
00:31:38,840 --> 00:31:43,840
And again, it was something deeply
rooted in their Scandinavian past.

425
00:31:50,320 --> 00:31:52,360
To discover the origins

426
00:31:52,360 --> 00:31:55,080
of the Vikings' natural talent
for bloody combat,

427
00:31:55,080 --> 00:31:59,560
I'm moving on from the peaceful
farmers of Bronze Age Jutland -

428
00:31:59,560 --> 00:32:02,960
to later,
and much more violent times.

429
00:32:06,600 --> 00:32:08,040
The Iron Age.

430
00:32:20,080 --> 00:32:21,640
This is the Hjortspring Boat,

431
00:32:21,640 --> 00:32:24,560
and it's one of the most famous
sea-going vessels

432
00:32:24,560 --> 00:32:26,920
that you will ever lay eyes on.

433
00:32:29,160 --> 00:32:32,000
I've seen lots of photographs
of this over the years

434
00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:34,000
but they can't do it justice.

435
00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:36,280
It's a bit like
if you've only seen a Hollywood star

436
00:32:36,280 --> 00:32:37,520
in movies and magazines

437
00:32:37,520 --> 00:32:40,640
and then one day you find yourself
standing next to them

438
00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:41,960
and all at once,

439
00:32:41,960 --> 00:32:44,800
you have to deal with
their physical presence as well,

440
00:32:44,800 --> 00:32:46,840
so it's like that in here for me.

441
00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:03,880
The Hjortspring Boat
dates to around 350 BC.

442
00:33:03,880 --> 00:33:08,560
That's around 1,000 years
after our Bronze Age family.

443
00:33:11,440 --> 00:33:15,680
But still 1,000 years before
the first Viking raids.

444
00:33:19,120 --> 00:33:21,400
About a third of it was recovered,

445
00:33:21,400 --> 00:33:25,640
enough to allow its shape
to be recreated as a metal frame,

446
00:33:25,640 --> 00:33:28,320
cradling its precious timbers,

447
00:33:28,320 --> 00:33:32,240
and revealing a form
that was perfect for war.

448
00:33:34,000 --> 00:33:37,720
One of the most important things to
notice about the Hjortspring Boat

449
00:33:37,720 --> 00:33:39,880
is that it's
beautifully symmetrical.

450
00:33:39,880 --> 00:33:43,120
It has an up-thrusting prow
at this end

451
00:33:43,120 --> 00:33:45,640
and exactly the same at the other.

452
00:33:48,440 --> 00:33:51,240
There's room
for about two-dozen men,

453
00:33:51,240 --> 00:33:56,120
each using paddles like these,
these are made from maple wood,

454
00:33:56,120 --> 00:33:58,960
and they could fairly get
skipping along through the water.

455
00:34:00,560 --> 00:34:04,440
Now, because it's got
the prow at each end

456
00:34:04,440 --> 00:34:07,920
it means as soon as you beach it
you're already in position

457
00:34:07,920 --> 00:34:10,720
to go back out into the water
as soon as you want.

458
00:34:10,720 --> 00:34:12,160
Why is that important?

459
00:34:12,160 --> 00:34:15,840
Because the Hjortspring Boat
is designed for a quick getaway.

460
00:34:23,760 --> 00:34:27,160
We know that this very boat
experienced bloody battle.

461
00:34:29,280 --> 00:34:30,440
When it was discovered

462
00:34:30,440 --> 00:34:33,600
it was found packed with
shields, swords, and spears.

463
00:34:36,720 --> 00:34:38,960
All the weapons of a small army.

464
00:34:41,200 --> 00:34:45,040
Men like these were well practiced
in war and seaborne raiding

465
00:34:45,040 --> 00:34:49,120
a thousand years before
the first true Viking raid.

466
00:34:49,120 --> 00:34:52,000
And so the Vikings didn't just
spring out of nowhere, fully formed,

467
00:34:52,000 --> 00:34:55,240
instead they were the product,

468
00:34:55,240 --> 00:34:58,880
the evolution of a dynamic
and often violent history.

469
00:34:58,880 --> 00:35:01,720
All across Scandinavia
there were tribes

470
00:35:01,720 --> 00:35:05,840
with their own identities
and territories and allegiances,

471
00:35:05,840 --> 00:35:09,840
and they learnt to fight, first
of all, by fighting each other.

472
00:35:10,960 --> 00:35:14,280
Warriors like those that paddled
the Hjortspring Boat

473
00:35:14,280 --> 00:35:16,760
were the forefathers
of the true Vikings.

474
00:35:16,760 --> 00:35:19,600
The were the seeds
from which the Vikings grew.

475
00:35:23,400 --> 00:35:26,480
The Iron Age was a violent time
right across Europe.

476
00:35:29,280 --> 00:35:32,800
And Scandinavia was no exception,

477
00:35:32,800 --> 00:35:35,800
as local tribes 2,000 years ago
tussled for power.

478
00:35:38,400 --> 00:35:41,920
But as they did so,
another force was on the move.

479
00:35:43,960 --> 00:35:45,880
The Romans.

480
00:35:49,440 --> 00:35:51,120
The Southern edge of Denmark

481
00:35:51,120 --> 00:35:53,240
is as close as
the Scandinavian world ever came

482
00:35:53,240 --> 00:35:54,920
to the might of Rome.

483
00:35:56,600 --> 00:35:59,240
And the presence of the Roman Empire

484
00:35:59,240 --> 00:36:02,440
would play its own part
in the how the Vikings came to be.

485
00:36:04,880 --> 00:36:06,520
Rome had seemed unstoppable,

486
00:36:06,520 --> 00:36:07,760
but in 9AD an event occurred

487
00:36:07,760 --> 00:36:10,120
which was to send shockwaves
throughout Europe

488
00:36:10,120 --> 00:36:14,280
and even had implications
for the far north and Scandinavia.

489
00:36:16,480 --> 00:36:20,400
About 250 miles
to the south of modern-day Denmark,

490
00:36:20,400 --> 00:36:23,000
in the dense woodland
of Northern Germany,

491
00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:25,960
Rome's Northern army
was brought to an abrupt halt

492
00:36:25,960 --> 00:36:29,720
by an alliance
of local Germanic tribes.

493
00:36:29,720 --> 00:36:34,800
Three legions of Roman soldiers,
around 32,000 men,

494
00:36:34,800 --> 00:36:39,560
were lured deep into the Teutoburg
Forest, and there, annihilated.

495
00:36:43,680 --> 00:36:46,720
It marked the end of Roman expansion
into Northern Europe.

496
00:36:46,720 --> 00:36:50,880
Scandinavia was, and would
always remain, outside the Empire.

497
00:36:58,640 --> 00:37:01,960
The halting of Rome
brought another level of division

498
00:37:01,960 --> 00:37:03,200
between the north and the south.

499
00:37:05,600 --> 00:37:08,520
Now, as well as
their different geographies,

500
00:37:08,520 --> 00:37:12,520
you could add a divergent
economic landscape as well.

501
00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:15,960
This land, Denmark,

502
00:37:15,960 --> 00:37:19,200
and the rest of Scandinavia
was never ruled by Rome.

503
00:37:19,200 --> 00:37:22,400
But the Roman Empire
had an insatiable appetite

504
00:37:22,400 --> 00:37:25,120
for exotic goods from the north,

505
00:37:25,120 --> 00:37:30,080
animal furs, oils,
and this stuff - amber.

506
00:37:30,080 --> 00:37:32,720
It's relatively common
in Denmark and Norway,

507
00:37:32,720 --> 00:37:35,520
but it's extremely rare
in the Mediterranean

508
00:37:35,520 --> 00:37:37,960
and the Romans loved it
for making jewellery.

509
00:37:37,960 --> 00:37:42,640
All of this meant trade and trade
meant new wealth for a few people

510
00:37:42,640 --> 00:37:45,360
and a desire for luxury goods
from the Empire,

511
00:37:45,360 --> 00:37:48,320
the sort of stuff that
only Rome could provide.

512
00:37:49,960 --> 00:37:53,000
And that only the rich
and powerful could afford.

513
00:38:05,600 --> 00:38:08,200
Many Roman discoveries
in Scandinavia

514
00:38:08,200 --> 00:38:11,160
are of simple pottery,
or occasionally coins.

515
00:38:15,800 --> 00:38:18,680
But some finds
have been spectacular.

516
00:38:23,120 --> 00:38:24,920
This is the Hoby Burial Hoard,

517
00:38:24,920 --> 00:38:28,920
it was found in the grave
of a chieftain,

518
00:38:28,920 --> 00:38:33,640
a man aged somewhere between
40 and 60 years old.

519
00:38:33,640 --> 00:38:35,680
We don't know how he died,

520
00:38:35,680 --> 00:38:40,080
but this collection
that went into the ground with him

521
00:38:40,080 --> 00:38:43,400
tells us a lot about
what he had achieved in life.

522
00:38:45,560 --> 00:38:48,360
It's the kind of banqueting set
that you would normally expect

523
00:38:48,360 --> 00:38:52,280
a high-ranking
Roman official to have.

524
00:38:52,280 --> 00:38:54,680
It's a wonder to behold,

525
00:38:54,680 --> 00:38:58,080
it's so rich and elegant,

526
00:38:58,080 --> 00:39:00,200
but the piece de resistance

527
00:39:00,200 --> 00:39:03,840
are two solid silver cups,
each weighing about a kilogram.

528
00:39:06,080 --> 00:39:09,600
Now, the originals are away
being conserved and analysed,

529
00:39:09,600 --> 00:39:13,480
but what I have here,
what I'm allowed to handle,

530
00:39:13,480 --> 00:39:15,200
are two replicas.

531
00:39:16,720 --> 00:39:21,720
What they show are various scenes
from Homer's Iliad.

532
00:39:21,720 --> 00:39:23,600
This lavish collection

533
00:39:23,600 --> 00:39:28,200
was handed over to a man
who could appreciate Roman finery,

534
00:39:28,200 --> 00:39:30,480
who was schooled enough
in Roman ways

535
00:39:30,480 --> 00:39:34,120
to understand Classical stories
from the Classical World.

536
00:39:39,400 --> 00:39:42,440
It's telling
that nothing of this magnificence

537
00:39:42,440 --> 00:39:44,680
has ever been found
in the far north.

538
00:39:54,240 --> 00:39:57,680
Scandinavia always remained
outwith the Roman Empire

539
00:39:57,680 --> 00:40:00,000
and it's important to remember that

540
00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:02,960
when thinking about
how the countries here developed.

541
00:40:02,960 --> 00:40:07,720
We take it for granted, in the
English part of Britain at least,

542
00:40:07,720 --> 00:40:10,440
that Rome brought
more than the legions,

543
00:40:10,440 --> 00:40:12,840
it brought towns and roads,

544
00:40:12,840 --> 00:40:15,080
public entertainments,

545
00:40:15,080 --> 00:40:18,520
towards the end of the period
it brought Christianity as well.

546
00:40:18,520 --> 00:40:23,360
But more than that, Rome brought
literacy and the rule of law.

547
00:40:23,360 --> 00:40:25,320
You can quite justifiably argue

548
00:40:25,320 --> 00:40:28,840
that the Romans brought the time
of our pre-history to an end.

549
00:40:30,160 --> 00:40:32,600
But none of that happened here,

550
00:40:32,600 --> 00:40:35,440
there were no towns,
there was no literacy,

551
00:40:35,440 --> 00:40:37,080
there were no new religions,

552
00:40:37,080 --> 00:40:40,960
right through the Roman period
and the Viking Age itself.

553
00:40:40,960 --> 00:40:44,360
An extra thousand years
of being left alone

554
00:40:44,360 --> 00:40:46,640
and that made all the difference.

555
00:40:46,640 --> 00:40:50,720
Because here was a culture
that was left to do what it wanted,

556
00:40:50,720 --> 00:40:54,320
people who were left
to do what they wanted to do,

557
00:40:54,320 --> 00:40:55,800
their own way of being,

558
00:40:55,800 --> 00:40:58,880
they had their own leaders,
their own Gods.

559
00:40:58,880 --> 00:41:02,040
And so, in that light,
perhaps it comes as no surprise

560
00:41:02,040 --> 00:41:03,920
that when those first Viking raiders

561
00:41:03,920 --> 00:41:06,120
attacked a remote
Northumbrian monastery

562
00:41:06,120 --> 00:41:09,840
they felt they had nothing to fear
from a Christian God,

563
00:41:09,840 --> 00:41:14,400
because he was obviously no match
for Odin and Thor.

564
00:41:20,600 --> 00:41:23,200
Ship-building skills
and warrior prowess

565
00:41:23,200 --> 00:41:26,680
gave the Vikings the means
to terrorise the Christian world.

566
00:41:31,960 --> 00:41:36,360
But it was the Norse Gods
that defined their Viking spirit.

567
00:41:39,240 --> 00:41:41,720
Sagas written in the 13th century

568
00:41:41,720 --> 00:41:43,320
give us a unique insight

569
00:41:43,320 --> 00:41:45,920
into beliefs that
can be traced right back

570
00:41:45,920 --> 00:41:48,760
to their prehistoric ancestors.

571
00:41:51,040 --> 00:41:53,040
They believe in a pantheon of Gods,

572
00:41:53,040 --> 00:41:58,120
but the main God was Thor.

573
00:41:58,120 --> 00:42:00,960
READS FROM BOOK IN OLD NORSE

574
00:42:00,960 --> 00:42:04,000
Which means, "Thor is the strongest
of all the Gods."

575
00:42:04,000 --> 00:42:06,320
Cos I remember, as a little boy,

576
00:42:06,320 --> 00:42:10,080
from the comics that I was reading,
knowing about Thor,

577
00:42:10,080 --> 00:42:13,360
is it true he had the hammer,
he had the belt of power?

578
00:42:13,360 --> 00:42:15,200
Yes. Is all that in the old versions?

579
00:42:15,200 --> 00:42:16,600
Yes.

580
00:42:16,600 --> 00:42:21,280
READS FROM BOOK IN OLD NORSE

581
00:42:21,280 --> 00:42:27,360
Which means Thor has three special
objects, one is a hammer. Mjolnir.

582
00:42:27,360 --> 00:42:29,200
I remember Mighty Mjolnir.

583
00:42:29,200 --> 00:42:31,840
Does Mjolnir mean anything,
as a name?

584
00:42:31,840 --> 00:42:35,480
Does it have a sense
of something powerful in the name?

585
00:42:35,480 --> 00:42:40,000
It means... it designates
the crushing power that he has.

586
00:42:40,000 --> 00:42:43,000
It says that the Giants
are well familiar with the hammer

587
00:42:43,000 --> 00:42:47,080
because Thor is always
crushing their skulls with it.

588
00:42:47,080 --> 00:42:49,320
There is the Girdle of Might,
obviously...

589
00:42:49,320 --> 00:42:51,320
That's not quite so catchy, is it?

590
00:42:51,320 --> 00:42:53,760
READS FROM BOOK IN OLD NORSE

591
00:42:56,840 --> 00:43:00,920
So when he puts on this girdle,
his strength doubles.

592
00:43:00,920 --> 00:43:03,720
And he gets a much neater waist.

593
00:43:03,720 --> 00:43:06,960
Probably, as well.

594
00:43:06,960 --> 00:43:12,080
Is Thor top of the tree, top God?

595
00:43:12,080 --> 00:43:16,920
Well, he's among the top Gods,
but probably the highest one is Odin.

596
00:43:16,920 --> 00:43:19,600
And as it says here,

597
00:43:19,600 --> 00:43:24,480
he is the highest and most glorious
of the Gods that we know of,

598
00:43:24,480 --> 00:43:30,760
and so he is the one who is
worshipped by chieftains and kings.

599
00:43:32,760 --> 00:43:35,560
Unlike Christianity, Viking belief

600
00:43:35,560 --> 00:43:38,240
wasn't so much
about an immortal soul

601
00:43:38,240 --> 00:43:40,480
but an immortal reputation.

602
00:43:42,480 --> 00:43:45,600
They didn't really care
about the afterlife,

603
00:43:45,600 --> 00:43:49,440
they wanted glory
and honour in this life.

604
00:43:49,440 --> 00:43:54,320
And then it says here in
the sayings of Odin...

605
00:43:54,320 --> 00:43:55,920
READS FROM BOOK IN OLD NORSE

606
00:43:59,400 --> 00:44:02,600
"Your castle will die,
your friends will die, you'll die."

607
00:44:02,600 --> 00:44:07,080
READS FROM BOOK IN OLD NORSE

608
00:44:07,080 --> 00:44:10,120
"Your reputation will never die
if you get a good one."

609
00:44:11,040 --> 00:44:14,800
That's why they weren't afraid
of dying in battle,

610
00:44:14,800 --> 00:44:16,640
with courage and honour.

611
00:44:16,640 --> 00:44:19,280
The worst thing
that could happen to a Viking

612
00:44:19,280 --> 00:44:22,200
was to be said a coward.

613
00:44:26,840 --> 00:44:29,320
The end of the Roman Empire
early in the 5th century

614
00:44:29,320 --> 00:44:33,760
saw Scandinavia standing
on the brink of the Viking Age.

615
00:44:36,760 --> 00:44:38,760
A final piece of the jigsaw

616
00:44:38,760 --> 00:44:42,120
was the emergence
of bigger regional leaders.

617
00:44:45,800 --> 00:44:50,080
Heading back to Sweden,
40 miles North of Stockholm,

618
00:44:50,080 --> 00:44:53,000
there's evidence
of a consolidation of power

619
00:44:53,000 --> 00:44:55,160
across ever greater areas of land.

620
00:45:03,240 --> 00:45:07,280
Stretching away ahead of me are
the burial mounds of Gamla Uppsala.

621
00:45:09,480 --> 00:45:15,840
They were built sometime
between around 550AD and 700AD,

622
00:45:15,840 --> 00:45:20,480
that's a time after the Romans but
before the coming of the Vikings.

623
00:45:25,240 --> 00:45:27,200
These mounds seem truly vast,

624
00:45:27,200 --> 00:45:31,680
even compared to those of Bronze Age
Denmark, 2,000 years earlier.

625
00:45:33,360 --> 00:45:34,720
And, crucially,

626
00:45:34,720 --> 00:45:37,680
these were only built
for a very select few.

627
00:45:39,720 --> 00:45:43,200
We'll never know exactly
who was buried here.

628
00:45:43,200 --> 00:45:46,840
The pyres, the funeral bonfires
that raged here

629
00:45:46,840 --> 00:45:50,000
and that these mounds were
built on top of burned so intensely

630
00:45:50,000 --> 00:45:52,120
that nothing survived to be buried

631
00:45:52,120 --> 00:45:56,040
except some charred human bone
and some melted grave goods.

632
00:45:56,040 --> 00:45:57,080
But whoever they were,

633
00:45:57,080 --> 00:45:59,480
the people who could command
this kind of burial

634
00:45:59,480 --> 00:46:04,000
were certainly amongst
the wealthiest and the most powerful
in all of Scandinavia

635
00:46:04,000 --> 00:46:06,560
and they wielded power
all across the land.

636
00:46:21,520 --> 00:46:24,200
The mounds were built
one after the other

637
00:46:24,200 --> 00:46:28,480
during a period
lasting 100 years, maybe more,

638
00:46:28,480 --> 00:46:33,600
so it's tempting to think about
a dynasty, a royal lineage,

639
00:46:33,600 --> 00:46:37,400
one family maintaining control
generation after generation

640
00:46:37,400 --> 00:46:42,520
so the people buried
in these mounds might be
the very first Kings and Queens.

641
00:46:48,280 --> 00:46:50,000
In the shadow of these mounds

642
00:46:50,000 --> 00:46:53,320
evidence has been even found
of an ancient royal palace.

643
00:46:58,920 --> 00:47:03,600
Archaeologist John Ljungkvist
has found some remarkable remains

644
00:47:03,600 --> 00:47:06,240
that reveal just how lavish a palace
it once was.

645
00:47:13,760 --> 00:47:17,920
Here we've got two of the spirals
that we find

646
00:47:17,920 --> 00:47:22,720
on the doors of the hall.

647
00:47:22,720 --> 00:47:26,200
Look at that! Fantastic.

648
00:47:26,200 --> 00:47:30,640
There would have been a longer bit
as well, extending...

649
00:47:30,640 --> 00:47:33,240
Yeah, would have had
a tang like this,

650
00:47:33,240 --> 00:47:36,240
but unfortunately
it's broken on this one.

651
00:47:36,240 --> 00:47:39,000
Take it away. Take it from me.

652
00:47:40,320 --> 00:47:41,320
And what else?

653
00:47:42,600 --> 00:47:49,880
Oh, so that would have been all as
one, all one. Yeah. That's amazing.

654
00:47:49,880 --> 00:47:54,120
You get the sense that
it's not just a functional building,

655
00:47:54,120 --> 00:47:57,600
it's been decorated to be stunning.

656
00:47:57,600 --> 00:48:00,320
It's when you see
these beautifully crafted,

657
00:48:00,320 --> 00:48:02,320
beautifully wrought
finishing touches,

658
00:48:02,320 --> 00:48:05,160
that you realise
it wasn't just a big hall,

659
00:48:05,160 --> 00:48:09,240
it was the best hall
finished to the highest standards.

660
00:48:09,240 --> 00:48:13,880
Absolutely, it is a fantastic house,
I've never seen anything similar.

661
00:48:15,720 --> 00:48:20,000
The fine ironwork adorned
huge timber doors to an interior

662
00:48:20,000 --> 00:48:23,440
that would have both impressed
and intimidated visitors.

663
00:48:25,400 --> 00:48:27,480
The inside would be huge,

664
00:48:27,480 --> 00:48:30,560
it's like a living room
200 square metres big.

665
00:48:30,560 --> 00:48:34,560
And the walls had been whitewashed.

666
00:48:34,560 --> 00:48:38,760
So it's not like a smoky,
really Dark Age,

667
00:48:38,760 --> 00:48:42,960
really a very nice palace
with white, shiny, nice walls.

668
00:48:42,960 --> 00:48:46,640
I wonder how they maintained it,
cos there would have been
big fires inside as well,

669
00:48:46,640 --> 00:48:49,320
so they'd have to be constantly...

670
00:48:49,320 --> 00:48:51,880
Yeah! ..whitewashing the inside.
Yeah, absolutely!

671
00:48:53,360 --> 00:48:56,360
This was the royal person's,

672
00:48:56,360 --> 00:49:01,640
the Prince's reception rooms
and the reception area.

673
00:49:01,640 --> 00:49:04,240
And it's the lofty position
that it has in the landscape,

674
00:49:04,240 --> 00:49:09,560
down to those fields,
it's way below us.

675
00:49:09,560 --> 00:49:13,200
So the working people
are literally beneath us

676
00:49:13,200 --> 00:49:15,720
and we are above everybody else.

677
00:49:15,720 --> 00:49:19,120
And just over there, of course,
they've got the presence

678
00:49:19,120 --> 00:49:22,600
of their ancestors buried
in these mounds,

679
00:49:22,600 --> 00:49:27,400
they've got people
so that they can say this is ours
and I can prove that,

680
00:49:27,400 --> 00:49:31,280
because my father was here
and his father was here. Yeah.

681
00:49:35,800 --> 00:49:40,560
Gamla Uppsala is one of
the most important pre-Viking sites
in all of Scandinavia.

682
00:49:43,760 --> 00:49:47,520
It reveals a new centralisation
of power in the east,

683
00:49:47,520 --> 00:49:49,800
the first people
who were not just chiefs,

684
00:49:49,800 --> 00:49:52,320
but regional kings and queens.

685
00:49:55,080 --> 00:49:57,520
But it's important
for another reason too,

686
00:49:57,520 --> 00:50:01,560
because this place was also
a centre of a very violent religion.

687
00:50:03,560 --> 00:50:05,880
A reminder that this world
was very different

688
00:50:05,880 --> 00:50:09,440
to the emerging
Christian kingdoms beyond
the borders of the Viking world.

689
00:50:13,360 --> 00:50:17,200
There are disturbing reports
of ritual sacrifice,

690
00:50:17,200 --> 00:50:21,360
of nine males
of every living creature,

691
00:50:21,360 --> 00:50:26,560
dogs, horses, even men,
being taken to a nearby grove

692
00:50:26,560 --> 00:50:29,600
and their dead bodies
hung up on the branches

693
00:50:29,600 --> 00:50:32,000
where they were left
to rot together.

694
00:50:36,880 --> 00:50:41,200
Archaeologists working hereabouts
are tempted to think

695
00:50:41,200 --> 00:50:44,440
that this might be the location
where it all went on.

696
00:50:44,440 --> 00:50:49,400
Now, all over the trees here,
there are little runes,

697
00:50:49,400 --> 00:50:53,080
little offerings
of bits of jewellery and ribbons,

698
00:50:53,080 --> 00:50:58,680
here someone
has even made and brought in
a plaster cast of Thor's hammer,

699
00:50:58,680 --> 00:51:06,360
so even after all this time,
this place matters on some level
to all sorts of people.

700
00:51:11,080 --> 00:51:13,840
Evidence of exactly
what went on here has been lost...

701
00:51:16,320 --> 00:51:20,120
..but one extremely rare pagan find
has been unearthed nearby.

702
00:51:25,640 --> 00:51:30,440
The object is a clue
as to why the people of Scandinavia

703
00:51:30,440 --> 00:51:34,480
were so different from those
living in the rest of Europe.

704
00:51:36,000 --> 00:51:37,880
It's a bronze pendant,

705
00:51:37,880 --> 00:51:41,960
once upon a time it would have been
worn around the neck of a woman

706
00:51:41,960 --> 00:51:45,360
who lived sometime
towards the end of the 7th century.

707
00:51:46,480 --> 00:51:48,720
It's quite obviously a horse,

708
00:51:48,720 --> 00:51:50,480
but this is no ordinary horse.

709
00:51:51,800 --> 00:51:54,280
This is the mount of Odin himself,

710
00:51:54,280 --> 00:51:59,160
one of the most important
and powerful of the old pagan Gods.

711
00:51:59,160 --> 00:52:01,280
This is Old Norse,

712
00:52:01,280 --> 00:52:05,040
the woman who wore this
didn't believe in one God,

713
00:52:05,040 --> 00:52:06,680
she believed in many.

714
00:52:17,000 --> 00:52:22,040
After a journey that's taken me
all over Scandinavia,
I've come back to Oslo.

715
00:52:27,000 --> 00:52:31,040
And to the Oseberg ship that also
played its part in Viking belief.

716
00:52:36,520 --> 00:52:38,360
Because this vessel wasn't only
to be used to ferry the living.

717
00:52:42,040 --> 00:52:43,040
But also the dead.

718
00:52:44,200 --> 00:52:47,720
Viking funerals,
at least for the high and mighty,

719
00:52:47,720 --> 00:52:53,960
were massive, elaborate affairs with
rituals lasting weeks at a time.

720
00:52:55,640 --> 00:52:58,880
Of course, the dead
had to be placed aboard

721
00:52:58,880 --> 00:53:01,200
because it was them
who were making the journey

722
00:53:01,200 --> 00:53:03,560
and then around them would be heaped

723
00:53:03,560 --> 00:53:07,320
all of the things they might need
and want in the next life,

724
00:53:07,320 --> 00:53:10,560
so sumptuous clothes,
jewellery for display,

725
00:53:10,560 --> 00:53:12,720
food and drink,

726
00:53:12,720 --> 00:53:17,920
and also, and importantly, there was
usually an element of sacrifice,

727
00:53:17,920 --> 00:53:22,640
And so dogs, maybe hunting dogs
and also lap dogs and pets,

728
00:53:22,640 --> 00:53:27,320
would be killed
and put beside their owners,.

729
00:53:27,320 --> 00:53:32,000
In this instance, as many
as 15 horses were slaughtered

730
00:53:32,000 --> 00:53:34,840
and laid out
for use in the next world.

731
00:53:34,840 --> 00:53:39,280
And you have to imagine
the impact that would have had

732
00:53:39,280 --> 00:53:41,920
on the people who were watching.

733
00:53:41,920 --> 00:53:45,720
For one thing, it was a display
of wealth beyond their reach,

734
00:53:45,720 --> 00:53:48,040
this only happened to the few,

735
00:53:48,040 --> 00:53:51,080
and they would see
all the valuables going in,

736
00:53:51,080 --> 00:53:55,560
then the animals being killed
and put alongside.

737
00:53:55,560 --> 00:53:59,680
It would have stayed with
those spectators for a lifetime,

738
00:53:59,680 --> 00:54:04,280
and they in turn would have passed
stories about what they had seen

739
00:54:04,280 --> 00:54:06,520
down through the generations

740
00:54:06,520 --> 00:54:09,760
so whoever went into the next life
aboard this ship

741
00:54:09,760 --> 00:54:11,640
would never be forgotten.

742
00:54:20,640 --> 00:54:24,000
When I look out
into the Atlantic from here,

743
00:54:24,000 --> 00:54:25,520
I feel a great deal of respect,

744
00:54:25,520 --> 00:54:27,840
if not downright admiration,

745
00:54:27,840 --> 00:54:31,680
for the people
who embarked on their journeys.

746
00:54:31,680 --> 00:54:35,840
I don't think they were driven
by greed, far less bloodlust,

747
00:54:35,840 --> 00:54:40,320
instead I think the motivations
were ambition and opportunity.

748
00:54:40,320 --> 00:54:44,120
They were living at a time
when populations were expanding,

749
00:54:44,120 --> 00:54:48,280
but here in Norway, beautiful
though it is, space is finite.

750
00:54:48,280 --> 00:54:53,440
There's a limit
to how much good land
there is available to expand into,

751
00:54:53,440 --> 00:54:57,280
so who could blame some of them
when they knew that out there

752
00:54:57,280 --> 00:55:02,240
was plenty of land as well as gold
and silver that might be acquired.

753
00:55:09,440 --> 00:55:12,360
I've seen how,
over thousands of years,

754
00:55:12,360 --> 00:55:15,920
a strange and unique
Scandinavian culture

755
00:55:15,920 --> 00:55:18,440
gave rise to the Viking Age.

756
00:55:20,640 --> 00:55:24,720
But when the magnificent
Oseberg ship burial was unearthed

757
00:55:24,720 --> 00:55:27,760
it contained an unexpected twist
in the tale.

758
00:55:35,080 --> 00:55:37,120
As an archaeologist,

759
00:55:37,120 --> 00:55:41,240
I tend to spend a lot of my time
talking about powerful men,

760
00:55:41,240 --> 00:55:44,520
but when the Oseberg ship
was excavated

761
00:55:44,520 --> 00:55:50,000
the big surprise
was that it contained two women.

762
00:55:50,000 --> 00:55:55,680
And these are the remains of one of
them, in fact the older of the two.

763
00:55:59,440 --> 00:56:03,120
We can tell that this venerable lady

764
00:56:03,120 --> 00:56:08,000
was perhaps as much as
80 years old when she died

765
00:56:08,000 --> 00:56:13,640
and it was cancer of some sort
that finally claimed her.

766
00:56:13,640 --> 00:56:16,720
But beyond those two certainties,

767
00:56:16,720 --> 00:56:20,160
we know very little about this woman

768
00:56:20,160 --> 00:56:24,040
or about the other woman
she was buried alongside.

769
00:56:25,440 --> 00:56:29,560
The remains of a high-status woman
is another reminder

770
00:56:29,560 --> 00:56:31,960
that the Vikings
weren't all about warrior men.

771
00:56:33,520 --> 00:56:38,280
And analysis of the second woman
makes things even more complicated.

772
00:56:39,880 --> 00:56:42,800
While there's every reason
to believe the older woman

773
00:56:42,800 --> 00:56:46,040
was Scandinavian born and bred,

774
00:56:46,040 --> 00:56:48,800
analysis of DNA taken
from the younger woman's skeleton

775
00:56:48,800 --> 00:56:52,520
at least allows for the possibility

776
00:56:52,520 --> 00:56:55,320
that she was from as far away
as the Middle East.

777
00:56:55,320 --> 00:56:58,120
So that by as early
as the end of the 8th century

778
00:56:58,120 --> 00:56:59,800
the Vikings were doing much more

779
00:56:59,800 --> 00:57:02,080
than just cause trouble
for their neighbours,

780
00:57:02,080 --> 00:57:05,480
like the people
in the British Isles.

781
00:57:05,480 --> 00:57:09,720
They had contacts into the East,
into Eastern Europe.

782
00:57:14,640 --> 00:57:19,280
I started out on the Atlantic coast
wanting to discover
how the Vikings came to be.

783
00:57:22,320 --> 00:57:23,960
But even the possibility

784
00:57:23,960 --> 00:57:27,000
that that younger Oseberg woman
came from so far away

785
00:57:27,000 --> 00:57:30,040
is the beginning
of a whole new story.

786
00:57:32,600 --> 00:57:35,360
After thousands of years,

787
00:57:35,360 --> 00:57:38,560
of the Age of Vikings had begun.

788
00:57:38,560 --> 00:57:41,240
No borders or boundaries
could contain them,

789
00:57:41,240 --> 00:57:45,280
and the oceans and rivers
gave them unlimited access

790
00:57:45,280 --> 00:57:48,320
throughout the known world
and beyond.

791
00:57:51,240 --> 00:57:53,400
Next time, the Vikings go East...

792
00:57:55,240 --> 00:57:58,960
..building a vast trade network
of luxuries.

793
00:58:00,720 --> 00:58:06,200
Silk was so valuable, it made
the perilous river journeys
to get here more than worthwhile.

794
00:58:06,200 --> 00:58:09,240
And slaves.

795
00:58:09,240 --> 00:58:11,560
These are slave collars.

796
00:58:11,560 --> 00:58:16,640
And you can imagine the humiliation
of having something like this
placed around your neck.

797
00:58:19,240 --> 00:58:24,320
And beginning a process
of colonisation that was
the beginning of a Viking Empire.

798
00:58:24,320 --> 00:58:28,800
By marrying the locals,
their blood mixed with our blood.

799
00:58:28,800 --> 00:58:31,600
And they're still
here with us today.

800
00:58:45,200 --> 00:58:46,800
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