ILLUSTRATIONS

 

 

The Gokstad longship (wood), Viking, 9th century/Viking Ship Museum, Oslo, Norway.
Bridgeman Art Library

Fragment of a painted stone showing Odin on his eight-legged horse Sleipnir. Gotlandic, 8th/9th century.
Photo: akg-images, London

Carriage from the Oseberg grave (burial mound with stones shaped like a ship), Norway, ninth century AD.
Photo: akg-images, London

Oseberg ship, oak ship from a grave mound (9th century), which included the grave found in Oseberg, Norway.
Photo: akg-images, London

Wooden post with carved animal head. From the Oseberg grave. Norway, ninth century AD.
Photo: akg-images, London

Trelleborg Fortress.
C M Dixon/Ancient Art & Architecture Collection Ltd

Reconstruction of the Viking barracks at the fortress of Trelleborg. It is considered to have been built by Harald Bluetooth. Slagelse, Denmark, AD 980–981.
Werner Forman Archive

Interior reconstruction of the Viking barracks at Trelleborg, built following the pattern of the original foundation post holes. Trelleborg, Denmark, AD 910–1020.
Werner Forman Archive

St Olaf, patron saint of Norway (Olaf Haraldsson), Norway, 13th century, found in Gotland.
Werner Forman Archive/Statens Historiska Museet, Stockholm

Smith’s mould for casting both Christian crosses and Thor’s hammers.
Werner Forman Archive/National Museum, Copenhagen

L’Anse aux Meadows National Historic Park (Newfoundland, Canada), Viking settlement, c.AD 1000: (oldest known European settlement in North America).
Photo: akg-images, London/Jürgen Sorges

A berserker, chewing on his shield, amid the piece of the Lewis chess set.
C M Dixon/Ancient Art & Architecture Collection Ltd

The Lindisfarne stone, depicting a raiding party of Vikings.
C M Dixon/Ancient Art & Architecture Collection Ltd