1000-Year-Old Viking Ship Toy Discovered in Norway

Summer 2016 witnessed an exciting discovery of the 1000-year-old Viking ship toy in the farmland in Norway. It was a wooden toy that took the shape of the Viking ship. 

The site that archaeologists found the toy was in Ørland outside of Trondheim, Norway. The ship toy resembled the Viking vessels with an uplift prow and a hole in the center which the archaeologists believed to hold the sail. The toy was found deep inside a well that was filled with the soil. The scholars presumed that the well was out of water or dried up so the ancient people decided to fill it up with soil for security purpose. 

Viking ship toy

The curator Ellen Randerz and the field leader Ulf Fransson from the NTNU University Museum were studying the Viking ship toy

This Viking ship toy helped a lot to understand about the people who lived there. The children who lived here could play and their childhood wasn't always surrounded by working on the farm. The children were allowed to do something other than just learning how to work on the farm. 

Viking archaeological site 

According to the scholars, the children of that time thought the ship was an awesome thing and they must have played with its ship a lot. Because in those times, the Viking ships were the symbol of honor for all of the Vikings for it carried not only brave men but also the wealth and the reputation. Just like children in this day and age, they play with the car or plane toys. Because they are the awesome things these days. 

Another thing that was found inside the well was the leather shoes dating back 1025 AD. The shoes look very thin and slippery to the eyes. The Vikings must have stuffed them with grass in order to keep their feet warm. Of course, they also had to wear socks to protect their feet. 

Viking leather shoe artifact looks slippery and cold