Evidence bias by area

The aim of this compendium is to primarily provide evidence for Viking Age artefacts that may have been seen in the British Isles. To help prevent common existing misconceptions artefacts exclusive to North Western Europe have also been included and are commonly referred to as ‘Viking’.

Group A – British Isles

England; Scotland; Isle of Man; Wales

Group B – Near Neighbours

Ireland; Norway; Iceland; Greenland; Denmark – including Hedeby; Scania – the counties of Halland and Skane in Sweden; Frisia – Belgium and Holland

Group C

Sweden – except for Halland, Skane and Gotland; France; Germany – Not including Hedeby; Switzerland;

Ethnicities

Some artefacts appear to have been only used by people from certain parts of Europe. To help keep this simple this compendium uses a number of ethnic categories. An item that is restricted in use to one of these ethnicities is denoted with an E, V or W in square brackets after the items name.

English [E]

An item that appears to have been both made and worn only by people for England, Wales or Scotland.

Viking [V]

An item that appears to have been made and worn only by people from Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Hiberno-Norse areas of Scotland and Ireland and Sweden.
Items only worn by western Vikings, i.e. Norway, Iceland and the Hiberno-Norse areas of Scotland and Ireland are labeled [Vw]. Items only worn by eastern Vikings, i.e. Sweden, Poland and Russia are labeled [Ve]

Western European [W]

An item that appears to have been made and worn only by people from France, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and Italy.