10 facts you might not know about Vikings 

Vikings were not just violent brutes with horned helmets. They were explorers, farmers, traders, and colonists with a rich culture and structured society.

Besides their raids and slave trading, Vikings also built successful cities, left significant ruins, and wrote captivating stories.

Viking funeral boats were usually buried on land, not sent burning into open water. Their funeral often included grave goods for use in the afterlife.

Viking explorers reached Newfoundland and established a village at L'Anse aux Meadows, over 470 years before Columbus. However, they only stayed for about three to 13 years.

 Viking sailors probably met Native Americans, possibly during conflicts with Inuits in Greenland. Some Icelanders today have Native American ancestors. The Maine Penny, a Norse coin found in Maine, suggests Vikings might have traded or traveled to North America around the late 1000s.

Vikings valued their dogs, believing they could go to Valhalla if they died before their masters. Some dogs were sacrificed and buried with them for this belief.

Vikings probably didn't wear horned helmets in battle. The idea became popular from 19th-century opera costumes designed by Carl Emil Doepler for Richard Wagner's Norse-themed operas.

Vikings settled disputes through flyting, poetic insults aimed at showcasing verbal skill. This tradition spread to Viking courts in England and Scotland.

 Vikings raided and traded across vast networks to places like North America and the Middle East. They sold narwhal tusks as unicorn horns, highly valued in medieval Europe for their mythical allure.

Vikings were culturally diverse, not just blond and blue-eyed. Some brown-haired Vikings used lye soap to bleach their hair and beards blond, a practice that also helped kill lice.