How did the body type or physical strength of the old Norsemen or Vikings look like?

[♥ Lily ♥]

thanks for reply

i agree with that too, it's just it mustv been very interesting to see or know how they must looked and not how they are potrayed in pop culture with huge bodybuilding muscles

but i did come across some mummy photos of people very well perserved before the vikings even existed

this guy died over 2000 years ago, in denmark
[IMG]Tollundmanden - Tollund Man by jorgen.bjerring, on Flickr[/IMG]

This reminds me of the Lindow Bog Man in the British Museum; a corpse of an ancient man found preserved in a peat bog in England. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcWEdLUIX5U And the remains of a 9000 year old man was found in Cheddar, Somerset, south-west England a big skeleton found in a cave. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzRgxmZV1ww

I think that I read somewhere that two ancient corpses were discovered in Denmark, and not just one. This corpse is in amazing condition considering the length of time the man has been dead. Obviously his skin wouldn't have been that shade when he was alive.

There was a mass grave of beheaded Vikings discovered by archeologists in Weymouth in the county I stem from in Dorset which may give you some indication of their bone sizes. They were identified as being of Scandinavian origin due to mineral deposits found in their teeth, showing they grew up in Scandinavia.

They were most likely executed in an act of self-defence by the local West Saxons and the men of King Alfred of Wessex who kept the Danelaw out of south-west England, and out of Cornwall and Wales too, when England was divided in two with the Danes ruling over the north-east of England, and King Alfred ruling over the south-west.

The British lived in fear of Viking raids, because they never knew when the next raid and attack would happen, and when the Vikings landed in quiet areas of our shores, they would then find people, charge at them, and take them by surprise.

The Vikings didn't wear horned helmets according to historians, but we like to portray them with horned helmets in popular culture.

[♥ Lily ♥]

The Vikings were fascinating and intriguing people. This 5-part series made in Britain by historians, archeologists, linguists, which includes genetic surveys, investigation of ancient writings, drawings, and descriptions of the Vikings written in old texts in the British Isles and in Ireland, is excellent. Lots of bones of dead Vikings are shown in graves too and laid out for examination. It may help to give you more idea of how they looked.

They were described by a priest as being 'very tall' on the holy island of Lindisfarne where the Pagan Vikings did their first ever raid and scattered the blood of priests around the church and desecrated holy sites in their wrath and fury for judeo-christianity after christians waged a war on Pagan Denmark. The Vikings needed to fund their defences against the holy attacks on their lands, so the first ever Viking raid happened at Lindisfarne (the holy island.) It was described as 'Terror from the North' at the time. The Viking men were very strong.

The top secrets of Europes most advanced sword - The Viking Sword.

[Heart of Oak]

They would also row long distances in their longboats. Imagine the weather conditions and rowing those boats all the way to the shores of northern America, and Canada and Greenland! That requires a lot of physical strength.

I think they probably had a good diet of fish and were very attuned to nature, the moon and the sea tides, and they knew how to navigate and make their long and treacherous journeys to other places without maps, etc.

All that rowing required a lot of arm-strength and mental strength to endure the weather in the northern seas.

I think they carried the wrath of Thor with them which also helped to fuel their warrior-spirit and determination.

Agreed, just like the training of our more senior services.....

[Graham]

They were normal people, perhaps the fury in battle make them bigger.

It was the berserkers. They were on narcotics of some kind & on the front line.

The Norse vikings would have been strong armed, look at rowers as an example.

[SwampThing26]

I imagine their athleticism or build depended a lot on what they did for a living or work or however you would put it. I'm sure that no matter what they did, none of them sat as much as we do today, so that coupled with not eating crap would lean them out quite a bit unless they deliberately ate a high amount of calories. If they ate a lot of calories from protein/fat sources and had a physical job then I bet they could get pretty jacked. Maybe not tall and jacked, but still pretty muscular as long as they were able to maintain the diet.

They obviously aren't going to be bodybuilder status, because they wouldn't be doing isolation work for specific muscle groups unless they find evidence of a bench press somewhere.

[Graham]

Steve Redgrave. English 5 times Olympic gold medalist.

[SwampThing26]

I think the funniest part to me is when you watch any of these movies or shows (like Vikings on history channel) some of these guys are able to take out like 20 soldiers just on their own. I mean, how bad are the guys they are fighting that no one is able to even get close enough to stab them in the back while they are fighting someone else?

[thedocoz123]

Nothing like modern media portrays them. They were most likely 8cm smaller then modern Scandinavians/descendents and were somewhat muscular.

[♥ Lily ♥]

How did the Vikings know of the lands they rowed to? And how did they know the directions of where to row at sea without having any compasses and maps to guide them?

[SwampThing26]

How did the Vikings know of the lands they rowed to? And how did they know the directions of where to row at sea without having any compasses and maps to guide them?

Haven't you seen the show "Vikings"? He had a Sunstone. Not the one from Pokemon either.