For a long time, people thought that Viking societies in Norway and Denmark were equally violent.
However, new research shows that this isn’t true.
A team of researchers, including sociologist David Jacobson from the University of South Florida, discovered that Norway was much more violent than Denmark during the Viking Age.
The study, published in the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, reveals that interpersonal violence—violence between individuals that wasn’t related to official punishments—was much more common in Norway.
This conclusion is based on the analysis of skeletons and the presence of weapons in graves. The researchers found that Norwegian skeletons had higher rates of trauma from injuries, and there were far more weapons, especially swords, found in Norway compared to Denmark.
Jacobson worked with an interdisciplinary team of experts from Norway and Germany.
Together, they combined archaeology, sociology, and the study of ancient skeletons and runestones (stones with inscriptions) to uncover important differences between how violence and social structures shaped Viking societies in Norway and Denmark.
Norway: A society shaped by violence
The research showed that about 33% of the skeletons from Viking Age Norway had healed injuries, suggesting that violent encounters were common.
Even more striking, 37% of the skeletons showed signs of lethal trauma, indicating that many people in Norway died from violent encounters, often involving weapons.
Weapons, particularly swords, were a significant part of Norwegian Viking identity. The study found over 3,000 swords from the Late Iron Age and Viking periods in Norway, while Denmark had only a few dozen.
The presence of these weapons in graves suggests that they were closely tied to social status and identity in Norway, emphasizing a culture deeply connected to violence.
Denmark: Controlled violence and strong social hierarchies
In contrast, Denmark showed a different pattern. Danish society was more centralized, with clearer social hierarchies and stronger authority.
Violence was more controlled and often carried out as official punishments, like executions. Skeletal evidence showed that around 6% of Viking Danes died violently, with most of these deaths resulting from executions such as decapitations.
Denmark’s more organized society also had fewer graves with weapons compared to Norway. Instead of relying on personal weapons, Denmark maintained social order through political control, reflected in the construction of large fortifications during the reign of King Harald Bluetooth in the 10th century.
The study suggests that Denmark’s rigid social structure helped reduce overall violence by centralizing the use of force through official channels. On the other hand, Norway’s more decentralized society saw more peer-to-peer violence, as indicated by the higher levels of trauma found in skeletons.
These findings challenge the idea that Viking Scandinavia was a single, unified culture. Instead, Norway and Denmark had distinct social structures that influenced their levels of violence differently.
Jacobson hopes this research will lead to a better understanding of how social structures influence violence, especially in societies where written records are scarce or nonexistent.
