Ravagers, Pirates, pagans: These words sums up the Vikings for the people who lived in europe during medieval times. Although the Vikings are seen as barbaric fighters, they brought many important technological inventions and had many achievements that made a great impact on european culture. The Vikings had great achievements in technology on a wide range of things, one of which is their weapon crafting skills. They were able to craft swords, spears, javelins, battle-axes, knives, bows, arrows, shields, and body armor with intricate designs (Lamoureux). The Vikings were very skilled craftsman who are capable of creating a variety of high quality materials and goods. When it comes to clothing, many viking archaeological sites show that they were very skilled in leather-work, textile dyeing and weaving, and sewing. Some Viking artifacts include wooden spindles, a …show more content…
The Viking longboats are sleek wooden vessels with shallow hulls and rows of oars along the side. They were faster, lighter, more flexible and more easily maneuverable than other ships (Goodrich). Their exploring skill also had to do with their skill as navigators. The Vikings relied on tools such as the sun compass, which uses calcite crystals known as “sunstones” to determine the position of the sun even after sunset, a sophisticated piece of technology. These new innovations gave the Vikings a great advantage when traveling long distances to foreign lands. At their peak, the Vikings were active on four continents simultaneously, making them the first true global citizens. In fact, Half a millennium before Columbus “discovered” America, a Viking named Leif Eriksson sailed to North America and set foot on present day Newfoundland (Ackermann). Unfortunately Eriksson returned to Scandinavia due to violent encounters with the indigenous