Their image is pervasive. The Vikings are the object of much discussion and portrayal, of myth and pop culture. While surviving evidence is widespread, there is still much lost about their culture. Coming onto the scene violently in the sixth-century and leaving with the death of Harald Hardråda in 1066, their winding, widespread history reaches many nations and civilizations, for better or worse. Despite what many Americans today believe, the Vikings were more than a renegade band of northern pirates who ravaged the innocent for fun; this is apparent in the development of their language and the arts, their lucrative and sophisticated trade routes, and their assimilation into the coastal communities they came in contact with. “Long after plundering