[MR] At last - an interesting discussion on Vikings!

[Marianna Molin di Salerno]

Wow, what an exciting discussion!
  This discussion makes the point much better than I ever could - there is much conflicting information in circulation about Vikings.  It is easy to see why I get confused!
  My limited understanding is that vikings were farmers who went on . . . find and fetch missions.  The farms were small, nuclear family kind of farms, rather than big extended family compounds/plantation farms. The quote about the sword throwing ceremony (where the father says, "Here, I give you this sword to make your way, and nothing else . . .)   seems to support this notion.  Life on farms in marginal areas (short growning seasons for what ever reason) must be adaptable.  Slaves can be seen as an adaptation..  However, slaves in marginal areas are a paradox - they provide needed labor but at a  cost, they must be fed, clothed, and housed, even when they cannot contribute to the farmstead (winter time is down time on a farm, and the Norse areas had long, long winters).  Our own country has had both kinds of farms - small nuclear family farms (The Laura Ingalls Wilder type Farm), and the large family compound/plantation, complete with slaves (Gone with the Wind).  It
 seems to me that many people seem to put vikings in one role or the other - As the Little Long House on the Prairie, or as Tara of the Norse.  What I need, is Gil Grisome, or some other excellent CSI, who can read what evidence, and reconstruct exactly what happened, free of cultural influences.
  If the Little Long House on the Prairie is a better model - clothing that can shift from maternity to post-partum, back to maternity is needed.  If Tara of the Norse is a better model (complete with wet nurses, and hot and cold running slaves), then specialized clothing becomes a status symbol.
  If examing extant evidence about how slaves dressed, we have only to look at the photographs of our own society, of the not too distant past. Or look at the paintings of Egypt.  In both it seems that slaves clothing, was a version of comtemportary clothing, not something that was vastly different. 
  In any case, a society is as successful as the number of children it manages to raise, not just produce.  Rather than speculate on when viking females became fertile, I am curious about the mortality rate of viking children.  Anyone have any info on this?  It does have a bearing on the discussion, plus I am just wondering . . .
  Again please forgive me if I have given offense, I am just intensly curious
  With Deepest Respect,
   Bera the Blessed
  . 


Bene agendo nunquam defessus.
(Never grow tired of doing good.)
       
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