Tall, blonde, with merciless blue eyes. Barbarians crowned with terrifying horned helmets, indulging in pillaging and bloody rituals. Were these accurate portrayals of the people whose expansion shaped Europe’s northern reaches and beyond—or hyperbole?  

Myths and misconceptions shroud the Vikings. Legends were born after their first incursions in the British Isles in the late eighth century, and they’ve captivated our imagination ever since, inspiring operas, movies, novels, comics, even video games, which makes untangling fact from fiction a daunting task. Researchers are still at work today unearthing artifacts and probing their origins. 

Recent finds credit the Vikings as the first Europeans to set foot in the Americas, at least 400 years before