Viking Towns

Houses in Viking towns were crowded close together along narrow streets. They were about four or five metres wide and six to ten metres in length. Skilled craftsmen would make things to sell in the towns: Jewellers made rings and brooches from: amber, silver, gold, bronze, copper and lead. Potters baked clay pots in kilns (ovens), heated by wood fires. Pots were used for cooking and storing food. Woodworkers made bowls and plates. Leatherworkers made belts and shews. A blacksmith would work with metal and make: swords, spears and axes as well as mending and repairing metal goods. Silver coins were used as currency in Viking towns and many rulers struck coins showing their own images or emblems. To make the coins, dies (stamps) were cut in in a mirror image for each side of the coin. A flat piece of silver was then placed between them and the whole assembly was struck with a hammer to form the coin.