What did the Vikings make, like actually make besides the longship?

Question

I have a project to do in language arts. It's Step-by-Step directions on how to make something the Vikings made. I know they made those longships, but I can't find anything about them or the longships. So do you know anything about what they actually made? Anything? I need some help. It's due on the 30th.

Answer 1

I dont know about what they made but maybe if you went in a different direction with your project. I have always liked the fact that the first written science fiction poem was the story of Beowolf and Grendal. It was a viking that wrote it. A story about a warrior and a troll. Maybe you could do a report on the developement of written language that previously was unknown. All the facts would be easily accessed at a library or even online. You could also do something on the vikings rise and fall or their search for a new home when they started exploring and discovered Greenland. You also might consider checking into the kinds of food they ate and the tools they used for cooking, info is just a google away. I guess my point is you dont want to do the same thing everyone else is. Everyone knows about longboats but what about how they navigated them. They were master wood crafters that used tools. again available on google. Hope you find what you need.

Answer 2

First of all, if its for Language Arts, you should know (and point out in your paper) that "Viking" is a misnomer. We commonly call people of the culture from Scandanavia, Iceland and the settlements in northern Britian & Ireland in the 9th-11th centuries "Vikings", but that is wrong. "Viking" was something they *did*; a description of action, like the word "piracy". The people were called the "Norse", and not all of them went out viking.

Second, the Norse were great craftsmen. They have left a wealth of carving and metalwork. There are at least six distinct art styles: Oseberg, Borre, Jelling, Mammen, Ringerike, and Urnes. I find the Urnes style (named for the carvings on the Urnes Stave Kirk) to be quite beautiful and I'm currently embroidering a design in this style on the corner of a throw blanket for my couch.

Try googling "Norse Art"; it should help you find a lot of good info.

So, some ideas (use Google to find more info on all these; I've also included some links and the some good books in the source section):

- Clothing
- Hats
- Shoes (there were a lot of Viking age Norse shoes found in the Coppergate dig at Jorvik - modern day York, England)
- Warp-weight weaving (to make cloth)
- "Turtle" brooches (bossed oval brooches worn by Norse women)
- Swords
- Axes (there is a very famous Norse axe that has decorative silver wire inlaid in the blade)
- Naalbinding (this is a form of "knitting" using one one needle. The Norse used it to make hats, mittens, socks, etc.)
- Sprang (a form of loose weaving to make satchels, hairnets, etc.)
- Tablet weaving (also called Card weaving. Used to make belts, trim for clothing, straps for carrying cases, etc.)
- Pewter casting
- Bronze casting
- Blacksmithing (the Norse were great smiths; a large number of thier iron tools survive)
- Wood carving (find info on the Oseberg ship burial. A lot of carved wood items - a sled, a bed, a chair, a wagon, etc - were found on it)
- Runestone carving (look up the Jelling Stone for a good example of this)
- Soapstone carving (used to make oil lamps, cooking pots etc., especially in Iceland)
- Stave Kirk construction (an ingenious method of building large structures with wood in a way that wood would not rot)
- Glass bead making

Answer 3

Don't just limit yourself to ships. The Viking culture isn't know for what they invented but how violent they were. You may know them for the ships but they also made helmets with horns, armor, weapons, shields, and were pretty good at making furs.

I included a link to a viking ship below. Check it out if you would like.

Best of luck.

Answer 4

How about step-by-step directions on how the vikings made Mead. Its a beverage.