Download - Vikings Exhibit Review
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Jenny
Prof. Kopp
History 171
10 May 2015
Field Museum Vikings Exhibit
At the Field Museum, there is currently a display that is a small collection of Viking
artifacts and history. This exhibit focuses on several different aspects of the ancient Viking
civilization and displays artifacts that give us insight into the lives of the early Germanic Norse
tribes of Scandinavia.
The exhibit is not in an open space, rather there is somewhat of a path to follow. It begins
with displays of artifacts relating to the daily lives of those living in Viking settlements. This part
of the exhibit featured household items such as pottery, cooking utensils, and even some farming
equipment. This part of the exhibit also displayed a few skulls and fragments of bone. These
were not household items, rather they were meant to show how living life as a Viking was rather
hard, even for the common person. Plenty of people were injured due to their trade and some had
disabilities that were evident in their bone structure.
Moving through the exhibit, there is more concerning the religious practices of the
Vikings. The exhibit describes some of the pagan beliefs, such as the variety of afterlifes, that the
Vikings believed in. It also goes into a bit of the slow conversion to Christianity that many
Viking tribes experienced. Among this part of the exhibit were several artifacts such as charms,
statues, and various other religious relics that the Vikings held with high regard. Charms were
often made to honor gods such as Odin and Thor, while others were more Christian. There was
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also a small display about the names of the days of the week, and how four out of the seven of
our days were named after Norse gods (e.g. Thursday = “Thor’s day”).
There was a much larger section dedicated to the Vikings’ ships and travel, and how they
used their ships to sail along their trade routes. This exhibit had much more to look at in terms of
large items and more visuals.
While the exhibit did not have a specific narrative, per se, it did lead the visitor down
something of a path rather than having no order to it. Some improvements could be more tactile
learning exhibitions, and I would be very interested to see replica clothing. The scraps of textile
on display were very underwhelming, because they give us absolutely no idea as to what the
clothing actually looked like. There were also very few illustrations to go along with the big
chunks of text on the signs. Those would be very helpful to visual learners. Overall, the exhibit
was very informative, and a good insight to the lives of the Vikings.