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Violence in the Viking World: New Bioarchaeological Evidence

Author

Listed:
  • Joerg Baten

    (University of Tübingen)

  • Giacomo Benati

    (University of Tübingen)

  • Anna Kjellström

    (University of Stockholm)

Abstract
Vikings – the Scandinavian seafaring populations that dominated the North Seas between the eighth and eleventh centuries CE – are usually described as pirates and warriors living in a highly aggressive society. But was this really the case? How violent were the Vikings among themselves? In this study, we compare the share of cranial trauma and weapon wounds that we can observe for several skeletal samples of Scandinavian societies with other European medieval populations (excluding military and warrior populations). This is the first time that Viking violence can be empirically compared with a standardised European sample of 2,379 skeletons. We find that Scandinavian rural and urban communities were characterised by remarkably low levels of interpersonal violence, relative to other Europeans. Given the lack of strong centralisation of states, police deterrence mechanisms and low literacy, the best possible explanation for this pattern may be found in the relatively high gender equality that characterised Viking rural communities – as attested by significant health levels of female skeletal remains, relative to males. Low population density, specialisation in cattle farming and extensive grazing entailed a more significant role for women in household economies. This, in turn, may have had an ameliorative effect reducing the motivation for violence in general. This discovery adds empirical evidence to recent literature in criminology and gender economics, indicating a nexus between gender inequality and homicide rates. We provide new explanations on how societies have solved the problem of violence and open new avenues of research on the use of archaeological proxies for addressing important topics in societies today.

Suggested Citation

  • Joerg Baten & Giacomo Benati & Anna Kjellström, 2021. "Violence in the Viking World: New Bioarchaeological Evidence," Working Papers 0206, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    • Handle: RePEc:hes:wpaper:0206
    as

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    File URL: https://www.ehes.org/wp/EHES_206.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Benati, Giacomo & Guerriero, Carmine, 2022. "The origins of the state: technology, cooperation and institutions," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 18(1), pages 29-43, February.
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    5. North,Douglass C. & Wallis,John Joseph & Weingast,Barry R., 2013. "Violence and Social Orders," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107646995, January.
    6. Baten,Joerg (ed.), 2016. "A History of the Global Economy," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107507180, November.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    violence; early medieval; state formation; gender equality; vikings; Scandinavia;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N00 - Economic History - - General - - - General
    • N13 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • N33 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Europe: Pre-1913

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