VIKING VILLAGE - And other eras.

No reason for this except that I got my hands on an Apple Pencil

This came from something Justin said that got me thinking about getting the kids more interested in historical events, anthropology, social changes etc.
In the Google Drive Folder (ask Charlie) is an interactive visit to a Viking village. At the moment you just wander around using the mouse and arrow keys but there is no reason in the near future why this can't be a VR experience.

Even as it is we could hide 'artefacts' throughout the village that when collected will reveal a fact about vikings that not many people would know. Something the kids might not have head before but will get curious about.

I didn't make this village but had it on file. I cleaned it up a bit and added some navigation.

There is no reason why we can't do this for other eras like old England, Native America or Ancient Rome or Greece, Feudal Japan and so on. Really give the kids a 'feel' for the time and what they might have seen if they had been there. Plus they'll pick up a few facts that not many people know.
And with VR helmets they will 'be there' in a way and can explore like no historians or other students have been able to before.

As I said I've made an example of a Viking village and here are some pics of that. I've also included some interesting viking facts at the end. I bet some of them will be really surprising.

VIKING FACTS!


Translated REAL Viking names:
Desirous of Beer
Squat-Wiggle
Lust-Hostage
Short Penis (I'm not making these up!)
Able to fill a bay with fish by magic
The man who mixes his drinks
The man without trousers


Vikings who died in bed rather than in battle went to a special afterlife where is was always foggy!


The name of the first human being in Norse mythology is ASK.


In the UK, Nottingham was originally called SNOTTINGHAM after a viking called SNOT!


The Louvre in Paris was built in 1190 as a defence against Viking raids.

In old Norse, kveis meant 'uneasiness after doing bad things' (debauchery)




Viking used you play a really interesting game that looked like this.



This is from a version I programmed many years ago. And maybe I'll do it again!


It was called Hnefatafl.

And they used to carve pieces from wood or stone to play with.


The name ‘Viking means ‘a pirate raid’ in the Old Norse language.

Vikings invented freeze drying food and showed the technique to the English King.

They didn't wear those helmets with the horns!



Jab (me) owns an actual piece of viking jewellery. It is a cross but it still has the symbols of the hammer and the wolf in it. This is when the vikings were slowly moving into believing in Christianity.




Vikings were excellent farmers, really good cooks and some of the best ship-builders of that time.

Most Viking men died in their 40's and the ladies in their 30's!

Their Longships usually had names, could hold 60 men and go 200km in one day! But they didn't have toilets, so there was that.

Some Vikings travelled on camels!








Vikings were quite clean (compared to most other people at the time) so they had a nice bath and smelled quite nice when they killed you and stole all your stuff.

The insulted each other quite a lot, for fun.