History- How has our understanding of the Vikings changed?

This week we looked at how the last forty to fifty years have changed our understanding of hew the Vikings lived and behaved.

We already know from our study of the Anglo- Saxons that Vikings evolved from invaders into settlers over time and were given the Danelaw to the north/ north-east. We discussed how our understanding of the past is always changing with new evidence and discoveries. With this in mind, the children were given a list of statements to support with evidence that has come to light in recent times and which had been scattered up and down the corridor. The statements included references to the Vikings settling as farmers; being skilled craftspeople; trading and paying fairly for goods and having a written language (although little original evidence of it survives). The children were able to think logically and critically to identify which evidence applied to each statement and whether it supported more than one. To finish, we took a closer look at some reproduction Viking brooches, expertly modelled below!