What did a Viking house look like?

Viking houses have been discovered in almost all parts of Denmark. Only a small fraction of the Vikings lived in cities. Most of them were farmers, living in small villages consisting of 6-7 farms. For them, the farm, pets and agriculture were at the center of their daily routine. The day began when the rooster crowed at dawn.

The Viking Farm

Most Vikings lived on a farm, often an enclosed one. The homestead centered around a dwelling house – the longhouse – which was the main building. In addition to the residential house, the farm often consisted of various commercial premises and other buildings, including outbuildings, barns, stables and workshops.

In villages, farms were usually grouped around an open space or common road.

The Viking Farm Longhouse

Viking houses were built of wood. Longhouses had walls arched in plan, forming a boat-like silhouette. The walls were lined with clay or made of wooden planks set vertically into the ground, which supported the roof, as well as two rows of internal posts. Outside, the house was often supported on sloping posts. The roofs were sloping and could be thatched or wooden.

In the center of the house was an oblong hearth, the long hearth. This is where the food was prepared. Along the walls were plank beds on which the Vikings could sit or sleep. At one end of the house the animals were housed in stables, if there were no barns on the farm.

The Vikings were constantly repairing their houses. Moisture was the great enemy because it led to rot. However, they also knew how to protect the wood by burning the posts of their houses.

smoky viking houses

Viking houses had no chimneys or windows. Instead, there was a hole in the roof, through which smoke from the fire escaped. Due to lack of ventilation, there was a lot of smoke in a Viking house. This situation is comparable to that of open-hearth houses, which are still found today in parts of Africa and India. The women and young children, in particular, who live in these houses suffer from lung disease and the level of smoking is well above the recommendations of the World Health Organization.

Viking banquets

Hospitality and banquets played an important role in the Viking Age. Hospitality was offered to traveling foreigners, who could go to the nearest farm to find food and lodging. Banquets were also held, to which friends and neighbors were invited for celebrations related to the festivities of the year, weddings and funerals.

Feasting plays an important role in the Viking societies described in the Eddic sagas and poems. There are tips and rules about how you should behave as a guest, and especially how a host should behave towards a guest.

A well-known reception scene is depicted on a Gotland picture stone. A door is shown. In front of the door there is a woman, with a drinking horn in her hand, ready to receive guests. The scene is often interpreted as the dead warriors arriving in Valhalla, and the woman as a Valkyrie receiving them. However, the scene can also show what an ordinary banquet was like.

Buried near the colony

Vikings buried their dead a short distance from the village, usually between 300 and 600 meters. Many farms and burial sites were separated by a stream. This has been identified at important Danish sites, such as Gammel Lejre and Tissø in Zealand and Mammen near Viborg in Jutland.

The explanation for this phenomenon can be found in Norse mythology, in which the Gjöll stream divided the land of the living from that of the dead. Comparisons can be drawn to the River Styx of Greek mythology, on which the ferryman Charon received a fee to provide transportation to the land of the dead known as Hades.

Maybe such places for burial places can be taken as evidence of the Viking religion? However, that interpretation is not appropriate for all Viking burial sites. A significant number of burial sites are located more than a kilometer from a stream. In this case, other explanations are likely at play.

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