The iconic Viking halls probably had stylish glass windows

Vikings still hold some surprises for us.

byMihai Andrei November 30, 2023 in Archaeology, News Reading Time: 6 mins read
A A
Edited and reviewed by Tibi Puiu

Vikings were not the barbaric, rudimentary brutes they’re often portrayed as. Granted, they were brutal. They raided and pillaged. They raided and sold slaves. But they were innovators in several fields. They filed their teeth and had female warriors, they had their own fashion, and developed important tools to help them navigate the seas better. In addition to all this, they also had some pretty cool windows.



Window Glass fragments found at Viking sites. Image credits: National Museum of Denmark.

Sophisticated Viking windows
Archaeologists kept finding glass window fragments at Viking sites. Initially, they thought it was a coincidence and the glass came from a later time. But new research suggests that Vikings were using glass panes from the year 800 down to 1100.

“Several fragments of glass windows found on important Viking Age sites in South Scandinavia, made us wonder if it was just a mere coincidence that they were there. And it wasn’t, they can be dated to the Vikings Age and most likely must have been in use in that time period as well”, says conservator Torben Sode, from the National Museum of Denmark. Sode was the one who first noticed the special material.

The Romans were the first known users of glass for windows, exploiting a technology likely first developed in Roman Egypt. But after the fall of the Roman Empire, glass windows became largely unused for centuries.

In some parts of Europe, glass was indeed used at the time of the Vikings. But in Denmark, the use of glass windowpanes wasn’t extensively documented until centuries after the age of the Vikings. This suggests that Vikings may have been ahead of their time and far more sophisticated than usually considered.

More:
https://www.zmescience.com/science/archaeology/the-iconic-viking-halls-probably-had-stylish-glass-windows/