Follow our social media pages for daily content on how to use archaeology in your teaching

10.VIKINGS

In this series of sessions, pupils explore the Viking world through archaeology, moving beyond the familiar image of raiders to discover a complex society of traders, settlers, travellers and skilled craftspeople. Through the sessions pupils investigate how archaeological discoveries reveal the Vikings as part of vast networks connecting Britain, Europe and lands stretching from the North Atlantic to the Mediterranean. The programme concludes with a hands-on workshop on Viking ship technology, where pupils explore the engineering behind longships before building their own model boats, discovering how craft knowledge and maritime technology made Viking mobility and exploration possible.

KEY

Session 1.1 Carefully designed sessions led by academics experienced in bringing the latest research into the classroom. Available in person or online.

Workshop 1.1 Hands-on workshops that engage pupils in experimental archaeology, designed to help them test hypotheses, explore processes, and evaluate evidence. Available only in person.

10.1 - Vikings: Beyond the Raid

This session reframes the Vikings through archaeology, moving past the stereotype of “raiders in helmets” to the evidence for families, craftworkers, traders and settlers. Pupils explore what archaeologists can read from burials, settlements, hoards, ships and everyday objects—from combs and loom weights to scales and weights—building a picture of identity, belief and status as something made visible through material culture. We also introduce how new scientific approaches are changing Viking studies: ancient DNA and isotopes are revealing mobility, mixed ancestry and diverse life-histories in Viking-age communities, challenging older assumptions about who counted as “Viking” and what Viking society looked like on the ground.

Duration: 1 hour
Price: £50
Level: KS2
Delivery: This session can be delivered either in school or online.

10.2 - Vikings in Britain

Pupils investigate the Viking presence in Britain through excavated evidence for winter camps, urban life and settlement, asking what “invasion” looks like archaeologically. Using case studies such as Torksey (a Great Army winter camp) and other new identifications of Viking activity, pupils examine how archaeologists track armies not just through battles, but through craft debris, coins, hacked silver, metalworking, diet evidence and dense scatters of everyday objects. The session then follows the longer story of settlement and integration: how Scandinavian newcomers and local communities lived alongside one another, how towns changed, and how “Viking Britain” was built through trade, intermarriage and daily routines, not only conflict. Pupils learn to connect artefacts to big historical questions—mobility, identity and power—using archaeology as the main line of evidence.

Duration: 1 hour
Price: £50
Level: KS2
Delivery: This session can be delivered either in school or online.

10.3 - Vikings in the World

This session maps Viking connectivity at a global scale, using archaeology to trace movement across seas and rivers: west to the North Atlantic, and east and south through river routes into Eurasia. Pupils explore how long-distance travel is reconstructed from ships, imported objects, silver flows, coinage, craft styles and settlement traces, and how “Viking expansion” often meant building networks rather than conquering territory. A headline case study is L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland, where scientific dating has pinpointed Norse activity to AD 1021, showing transatlantic journeys were not just saga stories but archaeologically demonstrable events.

Duration: 1 hour
Price: £50
Level: KS2
Delivery: This session can be delivered either in school or online.

This AI generate image is for illustration purposes to reflect the nature of the workhsop offered.

10.4 - Viking Technology

In this hands-on workshop, pupils explore the technology behind Viking ships, one of the most remarkable engineering achievements of the early medieval world. Drawing on archaeological discoveries from ship burials and excavated shipyards, pupils learn how Viking ships were carefully designed technological systems that combined specialised woodworking skills, iron fittings, flexible hull construction and knowledge of wind and sea navigation. Through the study of archaeological evidence, they discover how shipbuilding required coordinated labour, skilled craftspeople and deep knowledge of materials. After examining how Viking ships were constructed and used, pupils build their own small Viking longship models using cardboard and simple craft materials. Each pupil designs the hull, mast, sail and shields, learning how shape, balance and construction affect how a boat moves through water. Through this activity, pupils discover that Viking technology was not just about individual tools, but about shared knowledge, craft traditions and the organisation of communities capable of building and maintaining the ships that connected the Viking world.

Duration: 1.5 hours
Price: £120
Level: KS2
Delivery: This session can be delivered in school.

Prices

Prices include all equipment, teaching and workshop materials and FREE preparatory and follow up activities for your classroom.

Discounts are applied when three or more sessions/workshops are booked together.

Travel costs may apply for schools located more than 20 miles from Newcastle upon Tyne (UK).

Number of pupils: Each in person session is designed for one classroom, typically around 30 pupils. Online sessions can be extended to larger groups.

Info and Booking

To contact us for more info and for booking please check our Contact Us page or write us at archaeotrek@gmail.com

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse