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Old Man Viking had a farm
By BY
Punkinsmom notes that something seems weird about this report of a fantastic archaeological find -- the funeral pyre of a Viking farmer, buried with a fancy set of weapons, some horse teeth, and a bell:
Okay. Stop. Viking farmer? Doesn't this go against everything we've ever learned about raping, pillaging Vikings? And if he was a farmer why isn't he buried with a plow and reaper? Nope this guy was determined to take his sword, spear and shield to Valhalla. Yeah, a real agricultural-type, I'm sure.
One of Punkinsmom's readers notes that Vikings get a bad rap and did in fact spend a lot of time farming -- "Because the land in Norway was so rocky and difficult to till, why do you think they attacked other countries and took small bits of land at a time?" He's right, actually. The BBC did a wonderfully extensive job of cataloguing what these Northern farm folk might have eaten (that humble meal pictured above is a Viking lunch). But we'd also like to defer to the expert on this one. Adrienne?