1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,000 They're living and exploring in places that seem uninhabitable. 2 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:10,000 At some point though, in the 1400s, they vanished. 3 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:11,000 Yeah. 4 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:15,000 When we talk about the success of the Vikings, 5 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:17,000 this is one of the big secrets to that success. 6 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:18,000 Absolutely. 7 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:24,000 This is gonna be interesting. 8 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:28,000 Shut up! Look at that! 9 00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:30,000 If this is real, its history changes. 10 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:32,000 What is that? 11 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:34,000 It's the most viking thing you could find. 12 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:38,000 Yeah, it just bones every way. 13 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:41,000 I'll make sure I'm keeping score here. 14 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:45,000 We got rough water, unexploded bombs, and now great white sharks. 15 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:46,000 Got it! 16 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:51,000 Literally just at your feet, there's history here. 17 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:54,000 This is a god killer. This is Beth itself. 18 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:56,000 Iceberg! 19 00:00:56,000 --> 00:00:58,000 Hold your breath. 20 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:09,000 Fierce, fearless, and unstoppable, 21 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:14,000 the Vikings crossed the North Sea and raided their first town in 793. 22 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:19,000 And for the next 300 years, 23 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:23,000 no place in Europe with a coastline or a river was safe. 24 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:27,000 But today, most of what we think we know about the Vikings 25 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:33,000 comes from old German operas, cartoons, and the hunkiest Avenger, Thor. 26 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:38,000 But the fact is, the real Vikings shaped our modern world in profound ways 27 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:41,000 that many of us don't even realize. 28 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:44,000 They also left behind several enduring mysteries. 29 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:47,000 One, how did they pull it off? 30 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:52,000 What made these waterborne warriors so undeniably powerful? 31 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:56,000 Archaeologists are making major discoveries in the Viking homeland 32 00:01:56,000 --> 00:02:00,000 that may finally unlock the secrets of their success. 33 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:03,000 Two, what happened to them? 34 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:09,000 Why, after colonizing Greenland, did the entire population there seemingly vanish? 35 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:13,000 One researcher believes he may be unearthing the answer right now. 36 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:18,000 And three, we know the Vikings were masters of the sea, 37 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:21,000 but how far did they really sail? 38 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:28,000 Norse charts and sagas speak of a distant settlement across the Atlantic known as Vinland. 39 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:30,000 Many believe it's somewhere in Canada, 40 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:37,000 but a previously lost piece of evidence could reveal that they landed in what is now the United States, 41 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:40,000 500 years before any European. 42 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:45,000 If so, it's a discovery that would rewrite American history. 43 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:48,000 So grab your magic hammer, if you can lift it, 44 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:51,000 and join me on a transatlantic voyage to four nations 45 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:55,000 as I tackle the mystery's mighty Vikings. 46 00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:00,000 My name is Josh Gates. 47 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:05,000 With a degree in archaeology and a passion for exploration, 48 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:09,000 I have a tendency to end up in some very strange situations. 49 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:14,000 It's just straight down! Unbelievable! 50 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:17,000 My travels have taken me to the ends of the earth 51 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:20,000 as I investigate the greatest legends in history. 52 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:24,000 This is Expedition Unknown. 53 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:35,000 I begin my investigation of the Vikings in what was once the center of their world, Denmark. 54 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:44,000 When you think of Denmark, you probably think of cold winters, industrial design, 55 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:47,000 and a seriously depressed Shakespearean prince. 56 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:50,000 But all that melts away in the Danish capital of Copenhagen. 57 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:56,000 This started as a Viking fishing village in the 10th century, 58 00:03:56,000 --> 00:04:01,000 but today it's a laid-back city lined with canals and cobblestones. 59 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:04,000 In case you're wondering why I'm on a bicycle, that's kind of the deal here. 60 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:08,000 There's more than 250 miles of bike lanes in Copenhagen, 61 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:11,000 and considering that 50% of residents pedal to work, 62 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:16,000 at any given time, there are six times as many bicycles as there are cars on the road. 63 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:22,000 Sure, it's insanely expensive and the tax rate's about 45%, 64 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:25,000 but hey, health care, college, and grad school are free. 65 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:30,000 People work less than 40 hours a week, and they get six weeks of paid vacation a year. 66 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:36,000 It's probably why Denmark regularly ranks as one of the happiest countries in the world. 67 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:44,000 I bike past all the happy, well-insured people to the premier archive of Viking history, 68 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:46,000 the National Museum of Denmark. 69 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:54,000 Inside, the relics and treasures of the Vikings are on display from all over Scandinavia, 70 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:57,000 because the Vikings weren't a single nation. 71 00:04:57,000 --> 00:05:02,000 They were Norsemen, people of the North, from what is now Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, 72 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:07,000 who roamed and conquered in a golden age that began in the middle of the 8th century 73 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:10,000 and lasted for almost 300 years. 74 00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:14,000 Today we tend to think of the Vikings as more brawn than brains, 75 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:17,000 with their only goals to conquer and pillage. 76 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:22,000 But that popular image of the savage Viking warrior may be far too simple. 77 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:30,000 So how did this band of Northern tribes become so powerful, so feared? 78 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:39,000 To get some answers, I leave the museum and hop into a car for a trip out of town. 79 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:43,000 You know, considering how infamously successful the Vikings were, 80 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:48,000 it's kind of amazing that most people probably can't name one Viking king. 81 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:53,000 The Romans have Caesar and Nero, when we think of the Huns, we think of Attila, 82 00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:59,000 the Mongols have Genghis Khan, but you know, there is one Viking king whose name we should all know. 83 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:01,000 And in fact, perhaps we already do. 84 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:06,000 And he may be the key to figuring out what made the Vikings so powerful, 85 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:10,000 because archaeologists have just uncovered his long-missing fortress. 86 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:18,000 I arrive at a site called Bowring and meet chief archaeologist Nana Holm. 87 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:19,000 This is awesome. 88 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:22,000 Yes, welcome to the Viking fortress. 89 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:32,000 Bowring is what is known as a ring fortress. 90 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:38,000 The archaeologists who uncovered it have built a skeletal frame to show its one-time footprint. 91 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:42,000 Originally, it was constructed from the earth itself, 92 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:48,000 a perfect 470-foot diameter circle with four gates aligned with the points of the compass. 93 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:53,000 The bank was then shored up with timber beams to create a defensive shield 94 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:56,000 to protect a set of Viking longhouses inside. 95 00:06:57,000 --> 00:07:02,000 The remains of those longhouses could contain a treasure trove of Viking relics. 96 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:06,000 And how many of these fortresses have been found? 97 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:08,000 So far we have five fortresses. 98 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:10,000 They are spread out all over the country. 99 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:13,000 And so all of these fortresses were built at the same time? 100 00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:20,000 These fortresses were all built within a couple of years by the same king, our great King Harold Bluetooth. 101 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:22,000 And Bluetooth is in Bluetooth? 102 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:24,000 Yes, Bluetooth as in Bluetooth. 103 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:28,000 Bluetooth technology was invented by a Swedish company, Ericsson. 104 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:31,000 And they named it after this great king, Harold Bluetooth, 105 00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:36,000 because he's a great communicator and he's the one who connects us all. 106 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:43,000 King Harold Bluetooth united the Viking tribes of Denmark to rule for 30 years. 107 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:48,000 One of the ways he consolidated control was through massive military projects. 108 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:53,000 For example, the building of five huge ring fortresses, including this one. 109 00:07:54,000 --> 00:07:55,000 That's amazing. 110 00:07:55,000 --> 00:07:58,000 So every time we say Bluetooth, we're really talking about a Viking king. 111 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:00,000 The biggest king of Denmark, yes. 112 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:01,000 That's awesome. 113 00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:09,000 The Bluetooth name is baked right into the logo itself in the Norse runes for H and B, Harold Bluetooth. 114 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:16,000 Nanna is excavating in hope of finding the remains of the Viking longhouses, 115 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:20,000 including what may be the central headquarters of King Bluetooth himself. 116 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:25,000 So this whole central part of the fortress, none of this has been excavated? 117 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:26,000 Never been excavated. 118 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:31,000 So we're going to be the first one to see what's underneath the top soil for a thousand years. 119 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:33,000 And this is your secret weapon? 120 00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:36,000 Okay, so what do we do? 121 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:38,000 We take the helmets and we go down on the trench. 122 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:40,000 Down on the trench? Let's go, come on. 123 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:46,000 Nanna and I grab hard hats and shovels and head down into the pit, 124 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:50,000 where operator Tom begins to make methodical passes with the bucket. 125 00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:53,000 It's like doing brain surgery with an ice cream scoop. 126 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:58,000 Is there an estimate as to how much time it took to build the fortress? 127 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:01,000 It took less than a year to build it. 128 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:02,000 Wow. 129 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:05,000 So there has been a lot of people out here making this possible. 130 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:09,000 So you need a lot of people, but you also need a lot of organization, right? 131 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:13,000 Is there kind of an exactness to their design and their geometry? 132 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:19,000 Yes, they are put out in the exact same measurements. 133 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:23,000 And there is also the angles. It's so precise. 134 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:25,000 There's real engineering here. 135 00:09:25,000 --> 00:09:27,000 And it's the first time in Denmark. 136 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:30,000 I am, to say the least, impressed. 137 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:34,000 The Vikings of Bluetooth's era weren't ragtag tribes of barbarians, 138 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:38,000 but an organized, efficient society with advanced engineering skills 139 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:41,000 and leaders that inspired them to greatness. 140 00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:45,000 We excavate inward toward the fortress' center. 141 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:50,000 After Tom gives the ground a close shave, Nana spots something in the mud. 142 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:52,000 You have to come over here, Jess. 143 00:09:55,000 --> 00:09:56,000 Find something. 144 00:09:56,000 --> 00:09:58,000 Actually, here we have a post hole. 145 00:09:58,000 --> 00:09:59,000 That's a post hole. 146 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:00,000 That's a post hole. 147 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:05,000 Post holes in the middle of the fortress are evidence of interior construction. 148 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:10,000 We may, right now, be directly on top of an ancient longhouse. 149 00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:11,000 That's incredible. 150 00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:12,000 That's amazing. 151 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:13,000 Nice job. 152 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:16,000 I've only been at the site for a few hours, 153 00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:19,000 and they're already making significant finds. 154 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:23,000 Further evidence of Viking engineering would come in the form of roads, 155 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:26,000 which Nana believes would have been built leading to the fortress. 156 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:29,000 She brings the excavator outside of the fortress' gates 157 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:32,000 to look for evidence of an ancient causeway. 158 00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:36,000 What is this? 159 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:39,000 Here we're going to see what is outside the fortress. 160 00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:40,000 Got it. 161 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:42,000 Does that mean we have to get down inside this? 162 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:43,000 We're going to get down. 163 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:44,000 We're going to get dirty. 164 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:45,000 Perfect. 165 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:50,000 Nana's potential treasure trove of Viking relics 166 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:54,000 is due in the great impersonation of a huge pit full of freezing mud. 167 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:56,000 Nevertheless, she persists. 168 00:10:56,000 --> 00:10:57,000 We're going in. 169 00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:07,000 Once Tom digs us to the layer of earth that we believe is from Bluetooth's era, 170 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:09,000 Nana and I start sifting through the muck. 171 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:18,000 Somebody said that archaeology was glamorous. 172 00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:23,000 Just when I thought we couldn't possibly have any more fun in the mud, 173 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:26,000 Nana detects something large below the surface. 174 00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:28,000 I think I got something here. 175 00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:29,000 You got something? 176 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:30,000 I think I got something. 177 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:31,000 Where? 178 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:32,000 Feel it down here. 179 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:33,000 Oh, yeah. 180 00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:34,000 What is that? 181 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:37,000 It feels like a big piece of wood. 182 00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:40,000 Just move away some of this all. 183 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:41,000 Yeah. 184 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:44,000 Pull it up. 185 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:45,000 You got it? 186 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:46,000 Yes. 187 00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:47,000 Are you ready? 188 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:48,000 Yeah. 189 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:49,000 One, two, three. 190 00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:50,000 What is that? 191 00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:02,000 I'm in Denmark at an excavation of a recently discovered fortress 192 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:06,000 built by the most important Viking king, Harold Bluetooth. 193 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:08,000 Yeah, that Bluetooth. 194 00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:12,000 We're using a massive excavator, and it's already made a discovery. 195 00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:15,000 Joss, I think I got something here. 196 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:16,000 You got something? 197 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:17,000 I think I got something. 198 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:18,000 Where? 199 00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:19,000 Feel it down here. 200 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:20,000 Oh, yeah. 201 00:12:20,000 --> 00:12:21,000 Pull it up. 202 00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:22,000 You got it? 203 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:23,000 Yes. 204 00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:24,000 Are you ready? 205 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:25,000 Yeah. 206 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:26,000 One, two, three. 207 00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:27,000 What is that? 208 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:28,000 Wow. 209 00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:29,000 What is that? 210 00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:30,000 That's just a part of a wheel. 211 00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:31,000 Are you kidding me? 212 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:32,000 That's a wheel. 213 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:33,000 That's a wheel. 214 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:34,000 You got it right there. 215 00:12:34,000 --> 00:12:37,000 So these would be spokes, and the wheel would be out here. 216 00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:38,000 The wheel would be out here. 217 00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:39,000 Shut up. 218 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:41,000 Look at that. 219 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:42,000 Look at that. 220 00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:46,000 This wheel would have been part of a Viking-era wagon. 221 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:48,000 It's over a millennium old. 222 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:50,000 It is a rare and important find. 223 00:12:50,000 --> 00:12:53,000 It also means Nanna might have just found her Viking road. 224 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:58,000 So a thousand years ago, this piece of a Viking wagon 225 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:00,000 ends up buried here. 226 00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:02,000 We're the next two people to touch it. 227 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:03,000 Exactly. 228 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:04,000 That's amazing. 229 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:06,000 Nice job. 230 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:08,000 To excavate the entire fortress, 231 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:11,000 we'll take Nanna and her team at least another year. 232 00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:15,000 Though it's already clear this was not the home of indiscriminate pillagers, 233 00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:19,000 but rather an organized hierarchical civilization 234 00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:22,000 capable of advanced engineering and military precision. 235 00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:27,000 This organization was clearly a part of the Vikings' great success. 236 00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:30,000 To learn about another aspect of their power, 237 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:35,000 I drive west to one of Bluetooth's other fortresses known as Treleborg. 238 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:44,000 Unlike Nanna's cutting-edge find, 239 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:47,000 the Treleborg ring was excavated in the 1940s, 240 00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:50,000 but there's still a lot here for me to learn. 241 00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:54,000 At first glance, the grounds look empty, 242 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:56,000 but as I approach the site, 243 00:13:56,000 --> 00:13:59,000 Treleborg is anything but abandoned. 244 00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:09,000 Every year here in Treleborg, something really amazing happens. 245 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:13,000 For nine days, more than a thousand people descend on these fields 246 00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:15,000 to live like Vikings. 247 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:18,000 Now, let me be clear. This isn't a game. This isn't cosplay. 248 00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:20,000 These people are here to honor their heritage, 249 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:21,000 to teach their children, 250 00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:25,000 and to turn back time to experience life in the Viking Age. 251 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:30,000 The people here are teaching their children an ancient way of life 252 00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:34,000 and giving them the rare ability to live without technology. 253 00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:37,000 Laugh if you want, but during the zombie apocalypse, 254 00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:39,000 these are the folks who'll make it. 255 00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:49,000 There's also a tasty bit of culture 256 00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:52,000 that the Treleborg Vikings have dragged into the modern age, 257 00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:54,000 a honey wine called mead. 258 00:14:54,000 --> 00:14:57,000 Hello. Is this mead? 259 00:14:57,000 --> 00:14:59,000 Yeah, we've got 14 different types. 260 00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:00,000 14 different types? 261 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:01,000 Yeah. 262 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:03,000 Well, I had better try all of them. 263 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:05,000 Famous last words. 264 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:08,000 The bar is well stocked with enough flavors 265 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:10,000 to give Baskin Robbins a run for their money. 266 00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:12,000 This one here is black currant. 267 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:13,000 Black currant mead. 268 00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:14,000 This one is chestnut. 269 00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:16,000 Then we're going to mix up a little bit of cherry. 270 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:17,000 Cherry mead. 271 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:18,000 Cherry mead. 272 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:19,000 What is this one? 273 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:21,000 Well, take a guess. 274 00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:22,000 Chili flavored. 275 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:23,000 Yeah. 276 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:26,000 Yeah, it's subtle, but you can feel it coming through. 277 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:27,000 Here it comes. 278 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:28,000 I wet my whistle. 279 00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:29,000 Cheers. 280 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:32,000 Then I drown it. 281 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:36,000 Boy, it's going to be a long day. 282 00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:41,000 Then, for some reason, I decide to take a break. 283 00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:51,000 After a wake up call and a strong cup of Viking coffee, 284 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:53,000 I remember why I've come to Trelloborg 285 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:55,000 to meet a unique kind of warrior, 286 00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:57,000 modern day Viking soldiers 287 00:15:57,000 --> 00:16:00,000 who use authentic Viking techniques. 288 00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:02,000 I know one big reason for the Viking's success 289 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:03,000 is how they fought. 290 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:05,000 Now, Clinton Dale and his teammates 291 00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:07,000 are going to let me in on the secret. 292 00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:09,000 Clinton. 293 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:10,000 Josh. 294 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:11,000 Hi. 295 00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:12,000 Nice to meet you, man. 296 00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:13,000 How are you? 297 00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:14,000 Nice to meet you, Josh. 298 00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:15,000 How long have you been coming to this? 299 00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:16,000 I've been coming to Trelloborg 300 00:16:16,000 --> 00:16:17,000 and making Viking fighting 301 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:19,000 and joining Viking fighting for seven years now. 302 00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:20,000 Seven years. 303 00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:21,000 Yes. 304 00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:22,000 Now, you don't sound like you're from Trelloborg. 305 00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:24,000 No, I'm from Texas. 306 00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:25,000 Actually, Texas. 307 00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:26,000 Austin, Texas. 308 00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:27,000 And you guys are fighting today? 309 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:28,000 Yeah. 310 00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:29,000 I mean, if you'd like, 311 00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:31,000 you're looking like the type of person 312 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:33,000 I think would do very well in this. 313 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:34,000 You have big stature. 314 00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:36,000 You could hold a shield with no problem. 315 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:38,000 If you would like to learn how to fight like a Viking, 316 00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:41,000 I think Paul Thurick and Rosmus and I 317 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:42,000 can teach you this. 318 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:45,000 And when you fight, is it like plastic weapons? 319 00:16:45,000 --> 00:16:46,000 Absolutely not. 320 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:48,000 We fight with steel weapons. 321 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:49,000 And do people ever get hurt? 322 00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:50,000 That's part of it. 323 00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:52,000 You can't go swinging metal weapons 324 00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:53,000 that other folks do not expect 325 00:16:53,000 --> 00:16:55,000 to occasionally get a lump or two. 326 00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:56,000 Right, which is why most people 327 00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:58,000 don't swing metal weapons at each other. 328 00:16:58,000 --> 00:16:59,000 Yeah. 329 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:00,000 Okay, so what do we do? 330 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:02,000 If you want to fight like a Viking, 331 00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:04,000 you have to dress like a Viking. 332 00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:05,000 Okay. 333 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:08,000 I don yet another embarrassing period 334 00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:11,000 accurate costume and get ready to rumble. 335 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:15,000 Oh, there he is. 336 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:17,000 Now you're looking like a Viking. 337 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:18,000 Huh? 338 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:19,000 All right, I got the clothes. 339 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:21,000 So now you have to have the training. 340 00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:22,000 Yeah, I need the skills. 341 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:23,000 And we're going to teach you 342 00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:24,000 the basics of Viking fighting. 343 00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:25,000 Okay, let's go. 344 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:26,000 Come on. 345 00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:29,000 But before I learn how to fight, 346 00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:32,000 I ask these experts about why their Viking forebearers 347 00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:35,000 were so skilled in these brutal arts. 348 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:38,000 When you look at how far the Vikings traveled 349 00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:40,000 and how successful they were 350 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:43,000 at raiding and pillaging and warfare in general, 351 00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:45,000 why do you think they were so successful? 352 00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:47,000 What gave them an edge as fighters? 353 00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:48,000 It's a war culture. 354 00:17:51,000 --> 00:17:53,000 They were brought up as fighters 355 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:55,000 from when they were small. 356 00:17:56,000 --> 00:17:59,000 They have a culture where it's your deed 357 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:01,000 that gives you value. 358 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:03,000 We have a poem that said, 359 00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:06,000 friends die, foe die, one day you will die. 360 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:10,000 But the memories of a good man will never die. 361 00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:13,000 They went into the battle already accepting 362 00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:15,000 that they could die just then. 363 00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:18,000 And this was an okay result. 364 00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:22,000 They wanted, like, this is a good afterlife for them in Valhalla. 365 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:27,000 Valhalla was the mythical afterlife for Viking warriors, 366 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:29,000 a divine hall where the honored dead 367 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:32,000 would receive their reward to drink, sing, 368 00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:35,000 and celebrate for all eternity. 369 00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:36,000 Time was a promotion. 370 00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:37,000 Yes, absolutely. 371 00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:38,000 You got to go to Valhalla. 372 00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:41,000 And then you get to fight and drink perpetually. 373 00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:42,000 Right. 374 00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:43,000 Right. 375 00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:44,000 Boy, I love these guys. 376 00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:46,000 All right, so we're going to move on now 377 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:47,000 and we're going to do some basic training. 378 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:48,000 Okay. 379 00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:53,000 This is the weapon that won the battles in the Viking Age, 380 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:54,000 the long spear. 381 00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:55,000 Uh-huh. 382 00:18:55,000 --> 00:18:56,000 You could use this from a distance 383 00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:59,000 and you could make devastating damage to your enemy, 384 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:00,000 even when they're wearing the chain mail. 385 00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:01,000 Got it. 386 00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:03,000 Far from the berserkers of myth, 387 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:07,000 the Viking fighting style actually favored distance weapons, 388 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:10,000 like spears and long axes, over clumsier swords. 389 00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:13,000 Even the shield was used as an offensive weapon. 390 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:14,000 Okay. 391 00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:15,000 It's looking really good. 392 00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:22,000 Suddenly, a horn sounds, 393 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:25,000 and I realize what these guys have spent all year training for. 394 00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:28,000 Today, two armies of over 150 warriors 395 00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:30,000 are facing off on the battlefield, 396 00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:34,000 using only the 10th century's finest weapons and tactics. 397 00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:37,000 The combatants, who I'm amazed to find include me, 398 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:40,000 cross over a moat to the arena. 399 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:43,000 The rules are simple. 400 00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:46,000 Fight to the death, or at least the simulation of it. 401 00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:56,000 The armies face off on the pitch. 402 00:19:56,000 --> 00:19:59,000 They're wielding real axes, real spears, 403 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:03,000 and there's a real chance of serious injury. 404 00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:06,000 Despite the crowd of spectators, 405 00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:08,000 you can hear a pin drop. 406 00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:13,000 And then, it's war. 407 00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:32,000 I'm in the middle of... 408 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:34,000 Well, hang on, I've kind of got my hands full here. 409 00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:38,000 Ah! 410 00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:46,000 Well, holla, here I come. 411 00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:47,000 I'm ready. 412 00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:49,000 I'm so ready. 413 00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:51,000 Sorry about that. 414 00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:55,000 My performance at the Treloborg Viking Festival's battle 415 00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:58,000 wasn't exactly the Game of Thrones fantasy I had envisioned. 416 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:03,000 Fighting continues for a solid hour. 417 00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:06,000 This winner-take-all melee is a nail-biter, 418 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:08,000 and ends with a festival first. 419 00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:17,000 Last Man Standing isn't a man at all. 420 00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:23,000 Unprecedented for the festival, perhaps, 421 00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:25,000 but not to Norse history, 422 00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:27,000 where women were known to fight in battle. 423 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:30,000 Recently, archaeologists in Sweden 424 00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:33,000 found that a decorated grave from the 10th century 425 00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:36,000 belonged to a female Viking warrior. 426 00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:39,000 It's time for a Viking celebration, 427 00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:41,000 which will involve a metric ton of mead 428 00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:43,000 and hopefully some designated driving. 429 00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:53,000 Having seen the Vikings' organization 430 00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:55,000 and engineering skills at Boring, 431 00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:57,000 and now their fighting prowess, 432 00:21:57,000 --> 00:22:00,000 I drive to learn the next secret of the Viking's success. 433 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:10,000 Well, it's clear the Vikings were fierce fighters, 434 00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:14,000 but just strength alone does not make for a successful empire. 435 00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:16,000 You have to be able to mobilize that strength 436 00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:18,000 and take it abroad. 437 00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:20,000 And when it comes to navigating the high seas, 438 00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:22,000 the Vikings were maritime masters. 439 00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:29,000 To find out more about the mysterious secrets 440 00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:32,000 that gave the Vikings such an edge on water, 441 00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:34,000 I'm meeting Master Shipbuilder Martin Dehiel 442 00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:37,000 at the Viking Ship Museum just outside of Copenhagen. 443 00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:40,000 These are actual Viking ships. 444 00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:42,000 These are the actual Viking ships 445 00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:44,000 a thousand years old that you see around us. 446 00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:46,000 And let's talk about these boats. Where do they go? 447 00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:49,000 Because of these boats, 448 00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:52,000 the reach of the Vikings were extraordinary. 449 00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:54,000 And what is it generally about the design of these boats 450 00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:56,000 that makes them so good? 451 00:22:56,000 --> 00:22:58,000 It was really well engineered. 452 00:22:58,000 --> 00:23:01,000 It was quick and it was well, you know, it sailed really well. 453 00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:04,000 They were really capable of traveling long distance 454 00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:07,000 and taking hard seas in the North Sea. 455 00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:10,000 And you can say that it was like the F-16 of the Viking Age. 456 00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:12,000 Right. 457 00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:16,000 This advanced technology allowed for an astonishing expansion 458 00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:18,000 of the Vikings' ambition. 459 00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:22,000 They were able to extend west to Britain, Ireland and France, 460 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:24,000 south to Spain and the Mediterranean, 461 00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:27,000 and as far east as Finland, Russia, 462 00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:30,000 and even down to the Black and Caspian Seas. 463 00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:36,000 The big question for me then is, how the hell do they build them? 464 00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:37,000 I'll show you. 465 00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:38,000 You can show me? 466 00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:39,000 Yeah, I can show you. Yeah. 467 00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:44,000 We go behind the museum and the ships from the Viking past 468 00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:46,000 leap into the present. 469 00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:48,000 This workshop is where Martin and his team 470 00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:51,000 are building fully functional Viking vessels, 471 00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:55,000 the Viking Way, using only the materials and tools available 472 00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:58,000 to a 10th century Norse ship builder. 473 00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:00,000 Wow. 474 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:02,000 This is the actual shipyard right here. 475 00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:04,000 Look at this place. This is crazy. 476 00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:07,000 Outside the workshop, I see something incredible. 477 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:10,000 A brand new Viking ship taking shape. 478 00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:12,000 And how long will it take you to build this whole ship? 479 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:14,000 Pretty much two years is the plan. 480 00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:15,000 Wow. 481 00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:17,000 So it's 11,000, 12,000 man hours. 482 00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:19,000 12,000 man hours to build this. 483 00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:24,000 And one of the really labor-chance things is to cleave out these oak logs. 484 00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:28,000 Okay, this is what I need to understand. 485 00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:33,000 How do we go from trees to, you know, a Viking ship? 486 00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:34,000 How does that happen? 487 00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:35,000 Yeah, I'll show you. 488 00:24:35,000 --> 00:24:36,000 Okay. 489 00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:39,000 In the 10th century, getting lumber wasn't as easy as running to Home Depot. 490 00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:42,000 The Vikings had to make planks out of these. 491 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:44,000 And not only didn't they have chainsaws, 492 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:47,000 they didn't have anything that could mill an oak log. 493 00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:50,000 The only thing they had was this. 494 00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:52,000 Yeah, I'll start it up. 495 00:24:53,000 --> 00:24:55,000 To split an oak tree the Viking way, 496 00:24:55,000 --> 00:25:00,000 Martin drives a series of wedges that get progressively larger into the wood. 497 00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:02,000 The physics are simple. 498 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:04,000 In practice, it's brutal. 499 00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:11,000 Got one. 500 00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:22,000 At the Viking Ship Museum outside of Copenhagen, Denmark, 501 00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:28,000 master shipbuilder Martin Dehiel is teaching me how the Vikings established dominance over the seas 502 00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:32,000 and helped define three full centuries as the Viking era. 503 00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:41,000 This oak log is destined to become wood planks for a new Viking ship that Martin is building, 504 00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:43,000 if we can manage to split it in two. 505 00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:45,000 She's got one. 506 00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:49,000 Yeah! 507 00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:51,000 Well done. 508 00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:53,000 Nice job. 509 00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:58,000 Now we need to turn our unfinished board into a smooth, perfect plank. 510 00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:01,000 And the bandsaw won't be invented for 800 years or so. 511 00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:03,000 So what's the technique here? 512 00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:05,000 The technique is that you have to be not too, too tense. 513 00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:07,000 It's a little bit like skiing. 514 00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:08,000 This is nothing like skiing. 515 00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:09,000 Alright, alright. 516 00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:14,000 I give the wood a pass with the razor sharp axe. 517 00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:18,000 To my surprise, it goes through the plank like a knife through butter. 518 00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:21,000 Just like that, yeah. 519 00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:25,000 Okay, so once we get this down to the right thickness, then what happens? 520 00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:26,000 Yeah, then we need to fire. 521 00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:27,000 We need to fire. 522 00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:28,000 Okay. 523 00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:34,000 To make the plank more flexible and strong, we heat it over the coals. 524 00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:41,000 This activates a polymer in the wood called lignin, which allows the wood fibers to bend and then set. 525 00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:43,000 Wow, look at that. 526 00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:44,000 It's pretty good. 527 00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:45,000 It's like elastic now. 528 00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:46,000 Yeah, yeah. 529 00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:47,000 And that's just from heating it up. 530 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:48,000 That's it. 531 00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:53,000 Once it's nice and flexible, we have only five minutes to get the plank into place on the boat's frame. 532 00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:56,000 Before it becomes as stiff as a... a board. 533 00:26:57,000 --> 00:26:58,000 Okay, in here? 534 00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:00,000 Yeah, up a little higher. 535 00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:07,000 Okay, giant Viking clothespin. 536 00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:08,000 Check. 537 00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:09,000 Yeah. 538 00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:11,000 Look at that. 539 00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:13,000 I mean, it's almost 90 degrees. 540 00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:14,000 That is. 541 00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:16,000 And that's forming the bottom of the keel of the boat. 542 00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:17,000 That's it, yeah. 543 00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:18,000 Wow. 544 00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:21,000 The technology, once you see it, feels so basic. 545 00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:22,000 It's elemental. 546 00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:23,000 That's true, yeah. 547 00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:24,000 But the skills required... 548 00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:26,000 You just have to know how. 549 00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:31,000 When we talk about the success of the Vikings, this is one of the big secrets to that success, right? 550 00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:32,000 Absolutely. 551 00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:35,000 The skill of building boats, but also the skill of sailing boats. 552 00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:36,000 Right. 553 00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:38,000 So that combination, absolutely. 554 00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:45,000 Thus far, I've seen the Vikings' ability to organize and build and got a firsthand taste of their battlefield skills. 555 00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:52,000 Now, I see how they developed the most advanced technology of the day to dominate the waters of Europe and beyond. 556 00:27:52,000 --> 00:28:08,000 I leave Martin behind and take to the road for an archaeological site that may show us how the Vikings use their sea power for more than we ever imagined. 557 00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:15,000 I'm driving now to the town of Riba, which is one of the most important Viking sites in the world. 558 00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:20,000 And I've arranged to meet with an archaeologist named Soren Sinbeck, who is a man of the word, 559 00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:31,000 an archaeologist named Soren Sinbeck, who is making extraordinary discoveries that could totally reshape our understanding of the true nature of Viking power. 560 00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:36,000 Arriving in Riba, I find a dig site that's taking up valuable real estate in the city center. 561 00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:39,000 I duck behind the barriers to meet Soren. 562 00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:40,000 This is amazing. 563 00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:41,000 Do you like it? 564 00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:44,000 You've got a site going, like, literally in the middle of town. 565 00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:49,000 Yeah. Riba is a pretty little town today, but in the Viking Age, it was a really amazing place. 566 00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:54,000 It's the first place we can call a town in Scandinavia, the first town of the Vikings. 567 00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:57,000 And so what's going on in this Viking town? What specifically is right here? 568 00:28:57,000 --> 00:29:03,000 What we're looking at here was really the marketplace, where the craftsmen and the merchants had their shops. 569 00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:05,000 This is the Viking Mall. 570 00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:06,000 This is the Viking Mall. 571 00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:08,000 And what's being sold at the Viking Mall? 572 00:29:08,000 --> 00:29:16,000 Well, everything you want, if you're a Viking, you can get jewelry, you can get glass beads, you can get a good sword, you can get a treasure chest. 573 00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:18,000 You could buy a padlock for your treasure chest. 574 00:29:18,000 --> 00:29:25,000 It's funny. It's just the image of Vikings strolling around in a market and trading for things and buying things. 575 00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:26,000 It makes perfect sense. 576 00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:30,000 It just sort of cuts against that stereotype of them as these marauders, you know? 577 00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:33,000 This is a much more civilized look at the culture. 578 00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:34,000 It's all about trade. 579 00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:41,000 It's all about exotic commodities being exchanged here because of the ability to sail. 580 00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:43,000 Can you show me what you're finding? 581 00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:44,000 Yes, sure. 582 00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:45,000 Join me. 583 00:29:45,000 --> 00:29:46,000 Please, yeah. 584 00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:52,000 We go into a pit that Soren's team is currently excavating. 585 00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:54,000 Relics are literally sticking out of the walls. 586 00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:57,000 This isn't digging, it's pointing. 587 00:29:57,000 --> 00:29:58,000 Look here. 588 00:29:58,000 --> 00:29:59,000 Can you see something reddish here? 589 00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:00,000 Yeah, absolutely. 590 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:01,000 Yeah. 591 00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:04,000 This is a Viking crucible. 592 00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:10,000 Crucibles like this are containers that were put into a fire to melt precious metals like gold and silver. 593 00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:14,000 It was an essential tool for casting jewelry and other fine objects. 594 00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:15,000 That's incredible. 595 00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:19,000 It's a great find, but the pit has more to offer. 596 00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:22,000 Hang on, do you know what this is? 597 00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:27,000 It's what we call loom weight, which is used when you weave material, textile. 598 00:30:27,000 --> 00:30:33,000 Indications of a loom mean there were skilled artisans here making sophisticated crafts. 599 00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:38,000 If you never imagined a Viking knitting a sweater, you could start now. 600 00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:42,000 After finding evidence of a jeweler and a textile maker in this Viking mall, 601 00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:45,000 I'm half expecting to find a food court with a Sabaro pizza. 602 00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:48,000 But what we find next is nearly as exciting. 603 00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:49,000 Hang on. 604 00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:50,000 Is this a phone? 605 00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:51,000 No, I think it's... 606 00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:52,000 What is that? 607 00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:53,000 Okay, I think it's... 608 00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:54,000 So, so... 609 00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:56,000 No, hang on, do you know what this is? 610 00:30:56,000 --> 00:30:59,000 Oh, this is a mold. 611 00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:00,000 It's a casting mold. 612 00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:02,000 You can hear the metal? 613 00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:03,000 Yeah, yeah, this is for... 614 00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:05,000 Oh, look at that. 615 00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:07,000 You'd pour metal into that to make... 616 00:31:07,000 --> 00:31:08,000 metal ingots. 617 00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:11,000 The mold we found was a simple way to make ingots. 618 00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:16,000 Blocks of metal which could be melted, traded or processed into goods. 619 00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:17,000 I think we need to wash this. 620 00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:18,000 Yeah, okay, let's go. 621 00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:19,000 It's fantastic. 622 00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:20,000 Let's wash it out. 623 00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:26,000 We take our find outside to a washing station, along with another wheelbarrow full of archeological potential. 624 00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:31,000 Hello. 625 00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:32,000 Oh, hello. 626 00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:33,000 Hi, how are you? 627 00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:34,000 I'm Josh. 628 00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:35,000 Hi, Maneta. 629 00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:36,000 Hi, this is the washing station. 630 00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:37,000 It is. 631 00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:42,000 Soren washes a thousand years of dirt from our casting mold. 632 00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:47,000 Under the flow of the water, it turns out to hold even more significance than we thought. 633 00:31:47,000 --> 00:31:48,000 Hang on, that's over here. 634 00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:49,000 Oh, what's that? 635 00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:50,000 What is that? 636 00:31:57,000 --> 00:32:05,000 I'm at a dig site in Riba, Denmark, where archeologists are excavating what may be one of the first marketplaces in Scandinavia. 637 00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:10,000 One of the artifacts we've discovered may help us understand how the Vikings became so dominant. 638 00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:11,000 Hang on, that's over here. 639 00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:12,000 Oh, what's that? 640 00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:13,000 What is that? 641 00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:14,000 It's an axe. 642 00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:15,000 It's an axe. 643 00:32:15,000 --> 00:32:16,000 It's a little amulet. 644 00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:18,000 They reused the back of that for an amulet. 645 00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:19,000 The backside of it? 646 00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:20,000 Yeah. 647 00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:24,000 So you could cast your ingots here on the front side and then on the back side. 648 00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:25,000 Do you see that? 649 00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:26,000 How Viking can you get? 650 00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:27,000 That's incredible. 651 00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:29,000 It's the most Viking thing you could find. 652 00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:30,000 I mean, right? 653 00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:32,000 Does anything get more Viking than that? 654 00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:33,000 That is awesome. 655 00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:38,000 The marketplace at Riba makes it clear. 656 00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:47,000 The Vikings weren't just raiders, but traders who molded ingots for currency and artists who created stunning jewelry and crafts. 657 00:32:47,000 --> 00:32:59,000 Their organized society put their skills to use, building huge military fortresses, while their desire to trade and create pushed them to relentlessly expand. 658 00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:10,000 Their warriors fought with cutting-edge tactics and weapons, and their shipbuilding capabilities allowed them to explore all over the known world and beyond. 659 00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:20,000 It's there that I'm going next, to the place the Vikings expanded west and where the final secret of their success awaits. 660 00:33:20,000 --> 00:33:28,000 Iceland. 661 00:33:28,000 --> 00:33:33,000 Right at the top of my shortlist of the world's coolest capitals is the city of Reykjavik. 662 00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:40,000 It's got all the design sense of Scandinavia, but with this funky flair that is unmistakably Icelandic. 663 00:33:40,000 --> 00:33:47,000 It's kind of bohemian and backpackery, and yet at the same time it's lined with high-end shops and a killer food scene. 664 00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:54,000 In short, there's really no place else like it, which is perhaps not surprising considering it's an isolated island of modern-day Vikings. 665 00:33:55,000 --> 00:34:02,000 Iceland's capitals sits just below the Arctic Circle, and at the base of a massive volcano that's anything but dormant. 666 00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:08,000 The unique geography also contributes to a feeling that in the summer months can drive a person a little crazy. 667 00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:12,000 It is, and I f*** you not, 11.30 at night. 668 00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:19,000 It's like the sun is broken. Nothing works. Why? How does anybody sleep here? It doesn't make any sense. 669 00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:29,000 Don't let the metropolitan veneer of Reykjavik fool you. Iceland is wild. 670 00:34:29,000 --> 00:34:39,000 Just a few miles out of town is a brutal land, exactly like the one the Vikings first saw when they arrived here from Scandinavia 1200 years ago. 671 00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:48,000 By the time they got to Iceland, the Vikings were already a military powerhouse, but they weren't yet the cultural force that would resonate through history. 672 00:34:49,000 --> 00:35:00,000 To find out how Iceland helped the Vikings' empire and legend endure, I travel to the ancient village of Reykjavik, where I meet archaeologist Kevin Smith and his colleague Gudmundur Olofsson. 673 00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:07,000 So let's talk a little bit about how the Vikings came to be here. So in what year do the Vikings make it to Iceland roughly? 674 00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:09,000 Roughly around 870. 675 00:35:09,000 --> 00:35:16,000 Around 870. Why? Why come here? It seems like a very remote place. It's a hard winter. It's kind of an imposing landscape, really. 676 00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:23,000 One of the reasons is it was there and it was unoccupied. So if you think about it coming from Scandinavia, here's a huge island. Nobody there. 677 00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:25,000 This is a great place to set up shop. 678 00:35:25,000 --> 00:35:31,000 Right. And that is kind of the Viking way, right? They just keep sort of pushing out and out and finding new places. 679 00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:41,000 Vikings in Iceland farmed volcanic soil here and perfected new skills they hadn't mastered in Scandinavia, like writing. 680 00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:51,000 Reykjavik is culturally vital to Iceland and the Vikings because it is the hometown of a writer whose work makes Shakespeare look like a flash in the pan. 681 00:35:51,000 --> 00:36:02,000 This is the former home of Snorri Sturdlissen. And I would say that many people, by many people I mean me, don't really know who that is, but this is a name that we should know, right? 682 00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:03,000 Absolutely. 683 00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:09,000 Exactly. He's the guy who gives us the background to the Norse mythology. 684 00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:18,000 Sturdlissen was a local chieftain who wrote down the oral traditions of the Norsemen's mythology into a work known as the prose edda. 685 00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:22,000 The book features gods and legends we're still telling stories about today. 686 00:36:24,000 --> 00:36:34,000 Odin, the Allfather. Thor, the Thunder God with his mighty hammer. And Freya, the goddess of love, fertility, and war. 687 00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:50,000 As the Viking myths encouraged warriors to join their fallen brethren in Valhalla, so too did their gods prepare for Ragnarok, a world-ending cataclysm when the gods would perish in the flame of the fire demon Surtur. 688 00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:55,000 I'm sure the Thor Ragnarok movie will be totally faithful to all of this. 689 00:36:55,000 --> 00:36:56,000 Absolutely. 690 00:36:56,000 --> 00:37:06,000 What is amazing is how much of literary and pop culture has been influenced by Viking mythology, by Norse mythology. 691 00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:12,000 I mean, look at Game of Thrones right now, that same sense of the battle in the north, of the frost giants and such coming. 692 00:37:12,000 --> 00:37:19,000 See us, Lewis. J.K. Rowling, Lord of the Rings, Tolkien was a scholar of Old Norse and Old English. 693 00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:29,000 Even going to the westerns, the frontier sense of this lone person against the others and either defending law or being an outlaw. 694 00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:33,000 The word outlaw that we have is a word from Old Norse. 695 00:37:34,000 --> 00:37:41,000 Outlaw isn't the only English word we get from the Old Norse. Husband, haggle, and hell are just a few. 696 00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:47,000 And that's only from the ages. All told, there are hundreds that we use every day, literally. 697 00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:52,000 You may not realize it, but the names of several days of the week are taken directly from Old Norse. 698 00:37:53,000 --> 00:38:01,000 Wednesday, that's Odin's, a.k.a. Odin's day. Thursday, that's Thor's day. Friday, Freya's day. 699 00:38:01,000 --> 00:38:10,000 So the gods are right there. The three top gods, the three top gods that you always hear in Snorri's descriptions were Odin, Thor, and Freya. 700 00:38:10,000 --> 00:38:12,000 And they're three days of the week, side by side. 701 00:38:12,000 --> 00:38:16,000 The big question is, how did this mythology add to their success? 702 00:38:16,000 --> 00:38:25,000 In Iceland, we're just beginning to come into focus about that. And today we'd like to take you up into the mountains here, up under the glaciers. 703 00:38:25,000 --> 00:38:31,000 Certainly is a place where mythology and archaeology all come together in a really kind of spectacular place. 704 00:38:31,000 --> 00:38:33,000 And I'm hoping you'll come with us to take a look at it. 705 00:38:33,000 --> 00:38:34,000 I would love to see it. 706 00:38:34,000 --> 00:38:35,000 Fantastic. Let's go. 707 00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:52,000 Deep in the wilds of Iceland, Kevin knows a place where the Norse myths weren't just stories, where monsters and demons dwelled, and only the Vikings dared to tread. 708 00:38:53,000 --> 00:39:00,000 So now we're heading to one of the most rugged frontiers on Earth to uncover the last secret of the Vikings' greatness. 709 00:39:01,000 --> 00:39:20,000 In order to learn how the Vikings' mythology helped make them a world player, archaeologists Kevin Smith and Gudmundur Olofsson are bringing me to a site where myth and history violently collide. 710 00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:25,000 To get there, we drive onto a road unlike any on Earth. 711 00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:26,000 Wait, what is all that? 712 00:39:26,000 --> 00:39:27,000 That is the lava field. 713 00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:28,000 That's lava. 714 00:39:28,000 --> 00:39:29,000 That's lava. 715 00:39:29,000 --> 00:39:31,000 And it's enormous. 716 00:39:32,000 --> 00:39:35,000 Eventually, we run out of what little road we have. 717 00:39:39,000 --> 00:39:40,000 Yai, yai, yai, yai, yai. 718 00:39:41,000 --> 00:39:43,000 It's like driving on the moon. 719 00:39:43,000 --> 00:39:54,000 I would like to congratulate you. 720 00:39:54,000 --> 00:40:00,000 I think in ten years of driving on some of the worst roads in the world, you found the worst one. 721 00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:01,000 Perfect. 722 00:40:01,000 --> 00:40:03,000 Yeah, this is award-winning here. 723 00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:07,000 There's a reason that Iceland is one big pothole. 724 00:40:08,000 --> 00:40:15,000 The island has over 30 volcanoes, and the ground on which we're driving was once a raging sea of molten rock. 725 00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:21,000 Though this was once one of the hottest places on the planet, it now looks like we should be less concerned with fire. 726 00:40:22,000 --> 00:40:24,000 Okay, the river's high. 727 00:40:25,000 --> 00:40:27,000 And more with water. 728 00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:29,000 The road is gone. 729 00:40:30,000 --> 00:40:32,000 Gudmundur, do you think we can get through that? 730 00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:34,000 I think we can make it in this car. 731 00:40:34,000 --> 00:40:36,000 It should be only a water-to-feed. 732 00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:38,000 Should be. 733 00:40:38,000 --> 00:40:39,000 Should be. 734 00:40:39,000 --> 00:40:40,000 Should be only one or two feet deep. 735 00:40:40,000 --> 00:40:41,000 Alright. 736 00:40:43,000 --> 00:40:44,000 Okay, here we go. 737 00:40:44,000 --> 00:40:45,000 Window closed. 738 00:40:46,000 --> 00:40:48,000 I mean, if it's that deep, we're screwing. 739 00:40:48,000 --> 00:40:49,000 Alright, fair enough. 740 00:40:53,000 --> 00:40:55,000 Okay, boys, hold your breath. 741 00:40:55,000 --> 00:40:56,000 Okay. 742 00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:02,000 It's deeper than two feet over here. 743 00:41:04,000 --> 00:41:06,000 It's real deep. It's dragging it. 744 00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:09,000 Ah! 745 00:41:12,000 --> 00:41:13,000 Come under, come under. 746 00:41:16,000 --> 00:41:18,000 There's more expedition to come. 747 00:41:19,000 --> 00:41:24,000 My investigation of the Vikings takes me to the edge of the apocalypse. 748 00:41:24,000 --> 00:41:26,000 This is a god-killer. This is death itself. 749 00:41:27,000 --> 00:41:32,000 And then, I'm headed to one of the most dangerous environments on Earth. 750 00:41:32,000 --> 00:41:34,000 Ice man, turn! 751 00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:35,000 Turn! 752 00:41:35,000 --> 00:41:38,000 To discover why the Vikings vanished. 753 00:41:38,000 --> 00:41:40,000 So life is getting harder here? 754 00:41:40,000 --> 00:41:41,000 Yeah, exactly. 755 00:41:41,000 --> 00:41:46,000 And finally, I'm tackling the biggest mystery of all. 756 00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:48,000 This is gonna be interesting. 757 00:41:48,000 --> 00:41:51,000 Did the Vikings discover what is now the United States? 758 00:41:51,000 --> 00:41:53,000 If this is real, it's history-changing. 759 00:41:57,000 --> 00:42:00,000 Next time on Expedition Unknown.