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5 min readViking Origins: The Nordic Iron Age
The Viking Age didn't begin with a sudden raid on Lindisfarne in 793 CE. As Dr. Marianne Hem Eriksen, research professor of Viking Studies at the National Museum of Denmark, explains, "the traditional narrative of, you know, the whatever June 793 with the attack of Lindisfarne is probably not accurate." The societies that would produce the Vikings were already developing over roughly 1,500 years of the Nordic Iron Age—a long continuum stretching from 500 BCE to about 1050 CE, encompassing Norway, Sweden, and Denmark.
The Pre-Roman Iron Age: A Quiet Egalitarian Turn
The Nordic Iron Age begins with the collapse of Bronze Age trade networks. Bronze required copper and tin from far-flung sources, and the elites who controlled that import lost prominence when those networks fell apart. Iron could be extracted locally, which Hem Eriksen describes as "potentially a kind of great equalizer because it was more self-sufficient."
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What you'll learn
- 1 (04:13) **Defining the 'First Vikings'** - Marianne Hem Eriksen problematises the term "Viking" and the traditional start date of the Viking Age (793 CE), arguing it was likely earlier.
- 2 (06:00) **The Long Nordic Iron Age: A 1500-Year Continuum** - Marianne defines the scope of the Nordic Iron Age (500 BCE to 1050 CE), explaining its inclusion of the Viking Age and its status as the final prehistoric period in Scandinavia.
- 3 (07:59) **The Bronze Age Collapse & The "Great Equalizer"** - The transition from the Bronze Age is described, focusing on the collapse of long-distance trade networks and the introduction of local iron as a potential "great equalizer."
- 4 (08:42) **The Pre-Roman Iron Age: A "Quiet" Period of Collective Identity** - The archaeology of the earliest Iron Age (500 BCE - 0 CE) is detailed, showing a shift away from individual monumentality toward more egalitarian, collective expressions.
- 5 (14:05) **Power Structures: Chiefdoms vs. Anarchic Communities** - The nature of power in the early Iron Age is debated, weighing the evidence for chieftains against recent archaeological theories of anarchic, communal societies.
- 6 (16:35) **A Shared Scandinavian Cultural Sphere** - Marianne argues that despite regional differences, Iron Age Scandinavia shared a common "cultural package" of burial practices, architecture, dress, and language.
- 7 (18:09) **Settlements: From Small Rectangular Houses to Elite Longhouses** - The evolution of domestic architecture is traced from small, one-generation houses in the early Iron Age to the massive longhouses and elite drinking halls of the later period.
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Show Notes
Two thousand years ago, centuries before the Vikings, there was another Scandinavia. An Iron Age world.
Tristan Hughes is joined by Dr Marianne Hem Eriksen to uncover the deep roots of the seafaring North, journeying through a forgotten world of elite halls, Roman encounters, and ancient burial rites.
MORE
Iron Age Britain
Iron Age Ireland
Presented by Tristan Hughes. Produced and edited by Aidan Lonergan. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.
All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds
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