Combining clues to learn about local history

Holly: Welcome to 900AD. York has been under Viking control for around 35 years. Oh, look, here's one now!

Viking: Arrrrrrr! Sæl!

Holly: Uh, hello to you too. We're really lucky to live in a country full of exciting history and I'm here to solve a local mystery.

How do we know that the Vikings lived in York?

So, we know that the Vikings settled in York over a thousand years ago because we have so much evidence, such as Old Norse place, names like Coney Street, which is old Norse for King Street, or Goodramgate, which is named after the Viking leader Guthrum.

There's also clues in records and charterers, which have Scandinavian names in them and show us where they settled.

Now, you probably think of Vikings from video games or TV shows as people who were angry and always up for a fight, and probably a bit smelly too.

But how do you think real Vikings lived here in York in 900AD?

As you know, we historians love to gather as much evidence as possible in order to piece together the whole picture, and that means trying to find as much information as we can.

A Viking museum like here at the JORVIK Viking Centre in York, well, that's a brilliant place to start our search when we're looking at the evidence.

We want to keep a few questions in mind. History clue crew. What type of evidence is it? When was it made? Who made it, and who was it made for?

We can see from artifacts dug up and found all around York that there was a Viking settlement here around a thousand years ago.

Luckily, this museum is packed full of all kinds of different sources. But how do these sources challenge long held assumptions about the Vikings?

This is Copper Gate, a real Viking age neighbourhood with homes and markets that was uncovered accidentally in the 1970s when a new shopping centre was going to be built on the site.

Copper Gate was like opening a treasure chest of clues. So, we could see how the Vikings really lived every day.

Were they really, the wild rampaging warriors, we imagine?

So, the artifacts recovered from the mud at the dig show us something amazing.The Vikings were really artistic and brilliant at crafting. They clearly had a real flare for style. I mean, look at this Persian silk hood.

Pieces of silk like this were found throughout Jórvík, which is strange because I've never pictured Vikings wearing beautiful silks.

This is a cowry shell that occurs naturally in the Red Sea between Africa and Asia. How on earth did it get to Old Jórvík?

The silk from the hood and the cowry shell are clues that tell us that the Vikings traded with people all around the world.

We also have Amber from the Baltics, which are all the way in North-eastern Europe. Combs made from bone antlers, which kind of smashes the image of wild unwashed Vikings, doesn't it?

The word Viking actually means ‘to raid’ but if you are already starting to question how true that was, then this next bit of evidence must have knocked the archaeologists socks off when they found it.

Historians believe Vikings used ice skates to navigate frozen rivers, but also to have fun.

After the Vikings settled in the UK, people called them Norseman because maybe they came to see, like we are, that there was more to them than people had initially thought.

So, we have evidence that Vikings were more than Warriors and Raiders, but there is a fair bit of evidence that they were that too.

We have archaeological clues such as weapons in Viking burials, accounts of the people who they attacked and runic inscriptions from the Vikings themselves describing their raids.

Turning out to be quite a complicated bunch, aren't they?

So, we know that York is chock full of Viking remains, but what's your local town chock full of?

Is there a local museum or a library that you can go and visit? It's up to you. History Clue Crew!

Viking: Heyrumst!

Holly: Okay, well, I hope you have a nice, uh, raid and or crafting session. Goodbye.