Wikijunior talk:Ancient Civilizations/Norse

Article Needs Revision

 * This article needs better a better flow. Currently it is a bit choppy.
 * Pictures need to be added. There are hundreds of great pictures that would help this article. Is this not for kids? I think that pictures would help illustrate the different topics.BKalesti 16:29, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

we found that the viking "what did they believe" was copied from a bbc copyrighted website


 * Thank you. In the future, you can use template. --Derbeth talk 12:07, 4 December 2005 (UTC)

I have found that a bunch of unknown editors, are adding strange things. Things like the "Vikings were cannibals". I have deleted all such idiotic behaviour. We need real facts! Not stuff that has references to Saddam Husein. What kind of idiocy is this?? Is it possible for everything to be regulated by those who wish to actually help wikibooks??? Please help!!

To cite my sources of recent edits: |Norse Mythology

|Norse Mythology, Wikipedia

N1person 23:40, 19 December 2005 (UTC)

There are also some factual errors in this article, and some suppositions presented as fact. For example, tables as we understand them were largely unknown in Viking Scandinavia. People ate on their laps, or with a board balanced on their laps. Chairs were also so rare as to be remarkable, although stools were known but not common (this is actually supposed to be the origin of the term "chairman"; the man who had the chair, complete with arms, was the richest (and most important) person there. So not something that everyone would get to use). And while it is true that there were no actual chimneys, the article states that the only way the smoke could leave was through the door when it opened. This is false; there was in fact a small opening in the roof over the fire (that was apparently large enough for a grown man to climb through; there are references in various sagas to this method of egress being used in an emergency); a flap could be positioned over it in poor weather. However, it is true that the rooms were dark and smokey; studies of skeletons have found evidence of regular carbon monoxide poisoning.

Wattle and daub: the mud is not "smeared" on; it is caked on, usually several feet thick. It is a cheap, durable, and warm building material. "Smeared" makes it sound thin and drafty.

The reference to the women wearing an "apron" will leave readers with entirely the wrong idea about the actual garment in question. The garment can be more properly referred to as an "apron-dress" to avoid confusion, and seems to have been something like a shorter sleeveless over-dress that was held up with two straps running over the shoulders and pinned in place in front by large, usually oval, ornate brooches. Also, the way it states that a loom was "a part" of most houses makes it sound built in. I have rephrased that sentence, and gone over the rest of it and corrected the more glaring errors. I also added a link to the Viking Answer Lady's website.

Men also wore an undershirt, and knee-length underpants; both sexes could also wear coats.

The "How Do We Know This?" section is painfully sketchy. I have filled it out some more myself.

-Freydis Heimdallson (12/1/2007)