What Did Viking Town Houses Look Like? And Where Did They Poop?

Old Norse people, be they farmers, fishermen, or viking raiders, lived in a wide variety of houses, made from all sorts of materials. They lived in longhouses, turfhouses, pithouses, and even in what we today would recognise as townhouses! They did have towns and cities, after all, even if most of them were living in isolated farmsteads. The viking city was a very interesting beast, and thanks to some huge archaeological digs in the 1970s and 1980s, we know what the viking cities of Dublin and York looked like!

We have literally hundreds of viking houses that were revealed in these huge digs, along with thousands of artefacts left by their occupants. And poo. There's poo.

LOTS of reading, graphs, data and so on from the Coppergate excavation:

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[SAOS]

Imagine the only archaeological evidence of your life being the largest human coprolite ever found.

[Katherine_The_Okay]

When I was in college, the archaeology club had t-shirts printed "Coprolitic analysis: it's a shitty job but someone has to do it" ... The Dean was not amused, but the professors loved them, and so did our fellow students when they asked what the shirts meant and we told them. You can learn so much from a person's poo.

[Bildgesmythe]

Turf houses are surprisingly comfortable. Keeps the temperature steady. Who doesn't like flowers on your roof?

[kathyjohnson]

Turf houses in the US plains were called sod houses. I love how people throughout the world came to the same solutions for shortages and availability fmin their environment.

[weerwolfproductions]

I've been to Dublinia. The amazing thing is that it's completely underground. I was told by a tour guide that it was a trade off for allowing the ugliest building in Dublin to be build, since that was planned and during the excavation for the foundation they found such a wealth of archeological finds about Viking-age Dublin.
The Viking Longhouse floorplan is mirrored in the Saxon farms that are still in existance in the Netherlands - long structures where the roof is supported by beams, and the walls used to be wattle-and-daub or planks but in medieval times it switched to timberframe with bricks. Some of the Saxon farmbuildings have the original beams and have been dated to the 13th century. These farms can be mostly found in the province of Drenthe. The front room was living space around an open hearth build against the brick wall that seperated the living area from the stable area. What many people don't realise is that the walls don't hold up the structure - they're just to keep the weather out. They're basically post-and-beam constructions.

[keephurn]

I remain astounded how much stuff remains, but also at the boundary setting that persisted through the centuries. Someone lays out the property boundaries, builds a house and living space, and gets on with life. Over time, people continue to build new buildings on top of what was there, but still "color within the lines" architecturally. "Yeah, this is an adequate amount of space to live and craft in. No need to adjust. Thanks people who came before me for setting the template!" Maybe people wanted to change it up, so they purchased the lots around them and expanded, but still kept to the predefined boundaries. People are fascinating.

[lenabreijer]

Turf houses were built by the first Ukrainians in the Canadian prairies in the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th. I have visited them at the living museum near Edmonton. There was a hole dug and the turfs were kept to make the roof. They were remarkably cozy.
I wonder if the long viking hearth was used for heat retention. All those stones when they got hot would continue to radiate heat for hours.

[tjbren]

You have such a relaxing, comfortable sounding voice. Your story-telling history lessons are excellent! Thank you for being you!

[karladenton]

Here in Kansas, many of the settlers started with "dugout" houses, partially (usually three sides) cut into the side of a hill and then turfed over with a sod roof. They are a very practical sort of house where there is a lack of large structural timber. The low profile is also wonderful in a land plagued by tornadoes. Unfortunately, most family groups replaced the 'soddies' with a frame built house as soon as financially possible. On my grandparent's farm, the original dugout was still there, converted to livestock housing, but it was still so nice to go in and cool off in the summer.

[johannageisel]

In Schleswig-Holstein they also found a Viking age settlement last year. It's from the 9th to 10th century and consists of at least 8 pit houses.

And this year they found an entire settlement from the late Roman imperial period and the migration period (3rd to 5th century). This one has 7 long houses, which is exciting, because until now they only knew pit houses from the migration period in this region. They also found gravesites.

Schleswig-Holstein is digging up a lot of stuff at the moment. Honestly, I cannot even keep track of where everything is. Lots from the Roman age and migration period.
In Lübeck they even dug up settlements from the stone age, iron age and Roman imperial age all stacked on top of each other.

So, in terms of what the old Germans did, there is a lot going on up there to keep your eyes peeled for.

[chrisball]

For anyone who hasn't been to Jorvik Viking Centre, it's really good, especially for kids. You get to see the original archaeological dig, then ride on a little ghost train thing around a reconstruction of what it might have been like, complete with the sounds and smells (yes really). When you get off there's a museum full of stuff they found there. It's really well presented and the staff are really knowledgeable and enthusiastic. If you were a British child during the 80's or 90's, there's a good chance you went on a school trip there, or at least saw it on Blue Peter.

[CapriUni]

In my Alternate-Universe daydreams (if I had the opportunity to take a different path at a different fork in the proverbial road), my dream home would be pit house: protected from hurricanes, a constant temperature of ~13 C/55 F year-round, before adding any additional heating, And as a wheelchair user, I could have a spiral ramp going around the outside walls, that could be a lot of fun. ...Also, I could play a TARDIS-like trick on folks ;-)

[dianeshelton]

When you were describing dirt houses, they sound exactly like a Devon cobb longhouse.
Made entirely of mud and horse hair. They have rounded corners to the houses and this makes for a very soft appearance to the house but makes it difficult for furniture placement. These days they are often painted, and for, preference with lime wash as it allows the house to breathe where as you sometimes get sweaty interior walls if the outside is painted in a waterproof paint. If limewash is applied the whole house will be dry inside and out. The chimney is often stuck on the outside of the house. One for each room often. They look like round bumps on the outside of the house. Called longhouses as they are often one room front to back with a back connecting corridor. There are indeed second floors and a thatched roof though many are now tiled. Have lived in a couple in my life time.
They are indeed very cozy with the walls being 3 to 4 foot think warm in winter and cool in summer. . Not wonderful for mobile reception, and you often have to stand in the window for any reception at all. Originally the had mud floors but now have all sorts, wood, tiles, carpets. .
The one thing you learn very quickly is if there is anything like wall paper or tile stuck on the inside wall, never under any circumstances try to take them off just add to them tiling over or papering over.
If you try to take a tile off you will often make huge holes in the interior walls, sometimes all the way through to the exterior. As I found out to my horror when I didn’t like the tiles over the bathroom sink and decided to remove them . A massive hole appeared all the way to the, outside and once the builder arrived, he tutted and said no never do that. The rooms just get smaller and walls thicker in cobb houses. 😀

Basically if you want to live in a Viking house, try a Devon cobb longhouse 😀

[cathyrogers]

Hello Jimmy! In Canada turf houses were built when people were "settling" the prairie provinces. They were called soddies because they were built from the sod.

[thatcactusboi]

Architecture is always interesting to me because you can get such a good understanding of how daily life might have been by having a look at how they're built, where the cooking fire was settled, the materials, etc. Super hype about this vid!

[elisabethm]

Textile tools and equipment are highly portable. Even a full sized vertical loom is pretty easily moved about, even when dressed. Yes, it would probably take two or three people to lug it out into a yard or light exterior sheltered space. The basic activities of fibre prep, combing, spinning and even the use of a vertical loom could have been accomplished either outside or near a door because decent lighting is really important. However, it’s only natural to always find the items in the remains in an interior location, because that’s where it was probably stored when not in use. As a spinner, I much prefer to work with the best lighting I can get, but when I’m not working, everything is tucked away. My loom is by a window. Of course in the winter months, I work indoors, but decent lighting is always a premium part of textile work, because you really need to see what you’re doing.

[melissamybubbles]

My brother and I were talking about how Viking characters are often dressed as modern bikers in movies. He said that he wanted to open a shop called the Biking Viking.

[karlahovde]

14:10 I got a bit of a shiver when you talked about the crafting materials left behind. Just makes the people come alive as real individuals. There was a real person who could have said, "Yeah, one of my neighbors carves amber and the lady two doors down does plant dyeing." I just love those personal details that remain in the archaeology.

[goblincavecrafting]

If you’re in the south of England and want to experience an Anglo-Saxon house (and all its glorious smokiness) - check out the two they built at Butser ancient farm where I volunteer. They’re built on the post holes and plan of ones excavated nearby. Lovely video as always - thanks for sharing your passion and knowledge with us!

[feathersflight]

Thank you for sharing your lovely surroundings as well as the history! I'd never thought of them having proper cities, with row houses and everything -- that's fascinating! I do wonder how they turned poop into sturdy, lasting building material. That's impressive and ingenious, honestly.