Virtual reality brings ninth century Viking invaders’ camp to life – The Guardian

Vikings raid the English coastline in the 900s. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

The Viking armies that invaded Britain in the ninth century were far larger than had previously been realised, according to academic research that forms the basis for a groundbreaking virtual reality project.

A major exhibition at the Yorkshire Museum, staged in partnership with the British Museum, draws on new research by the universities of York and Sheffield. According to Professor Dawn Hadley, one of the co-directors of the universities project at the site of a Viking winter camp, archeologists and historians had thought that the invading Viking armies numbered in the low hundreds. But archeological work at the camp on the river Trent at Torksey, Lincolnshire, suggested otherwise.

Our work at Torksey has revealed a camp 55 hectares in area, the size of some 75 football pitches, Hadley said. This reflects an army which, along with women, children, and crafts workers and traders, must have been several thousand strong, larger than most towns of the period.

The VR project at the Yorkshire exhibition presents those findings in an immersive reproduction of the camps life. Armed with virtual reality helmets, visitors will be transported back to the camp where Vikings camped out in their thousands during the winter of AD 872-3 while they prepared for conquest. They are seen melting down stolen loot, repairing ships and playing a favourite strategic board game.

Professor Julian Richards, Hadleys co-director on a project focusing on the camp, told the Guardian that the project was the first to present the Viking world via immersive virtual reality.

Torksey was much more than just a handful of hardy warriors, he said. This was a huge base From the finds we know, for example, that they were repairing their boats here and melting down looted gold and silver to make ingots or bars of metal they used to trade. Metal detectorists have also found more than 300 lead game-pieces, suggesting the Vikings were spending a lot of time playing games waiting for spring and the start of their next offensive.

The virtual reality scenes are based on actual objects found by archaeologists and metal detectorists at Torksey, recreating a camp where boats and weaponry were being patched up and replaced, objects like jewellery were being made for trading and clothes were being repaired.

The exhibition also reflects events of the year 865 AD, when a large Viking force landed in East Anglia. It is described in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the main contemporary documentary source, as the Great Army because it was much larger than previous raiding parties.

Torksey was a perfect defensive and strategic position. Hadley said: Here Anglo-Saxon scribes tell us that the army overwintered but, working with metal detectorists, we have now been able to identify the actual site and nature of the camp.

Over 1,500 objects have been found, and the visitor will take part in a number of vignettes which show their use. For example, in Games Night, they will see a group of Vikings sitting round a board game, using some of the 300 lead playing pieces found on the site, to play an old Norse strategy game hnefatafl.

In another scene, some warriors are busy repairing one of their ships, drawn up on the river bank, as reflected in the iron rivets we have found.

Richards said: These extraordinary images offer a fascinating snapshot of life at a time of great upheaval in Britain. The Vikings had previously often raided exposed coastal monasteries and returned to Scandinavia in winter but in the later ninth century they came in larger numbers and decided to stay. This sent a very clear message that they now planned not only to loot and raid, but to control and conquer.

The virtual reality exhibition will feature alongside prized exhibits from the British Museum and Yorkshire Museums collections. The exhibition, entitled Viking: Rediscover the Legend, opens at the Yorkshire Museum on Friday.

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Virtual reality brings ninth century Viking invaders' camp to life - The Guardian