Viking Trade Routes More Expansive Than Thought, Finds Swedish Archaeologist After 5000 km Expedition

A Swedish Archaeologist, Greer Jarett, pilots a small sailboat alongside the Norwegian coast to study in-depth about Viking commerce routes. He sailed it for 5000 kilometres, which led him to establish beforehand recognized harbours in direction of the Norwegian coast that Vikings explored and used round a thousand years in the past. This experimental expedition instructed concerning the maritime commerce routes and took them additional forward from land than was assumed. For a very long time, we simply knew concerning the begin and finish factors of the commerce voyage throughout the Viking Age.

Viking Routes are More Extensive & Decentralised

Greer Jarett from Lund University in Sweden sailed the Viking duplicate vessel and offered a trailblazing report on the Viking seafaring after crusing the boat often called a faering for 3 years. Jarett’s work was revealed within the Journal of Archaeological Method & Theory on May 8, 2025. The analysis means that the Viking commerce routes have been extra expansive, decentralised and offshore than was beforehand recognized.

Exploring the Viking Routes by Faering

Faering is a sort of sailboat with oars, a duplicate of what Vikings used a millennium in the past to discover the routes. Jarett travelled to Trondheim within the central a part of the Norwegian coast to the Arctic Circle and returned. He interviewed the sailors and fishers to study concerning the historic maritime routes. Jarett recognized 4 harbours on the small islands and promontories. Vikings moored and sheltered at their accessible ports.

Seafaring of the Vikings by way of Mental Maps

This analysis offers the thought of seafaring by way of massive ports like Dublin, Ribe and Denmark. Vikings did not use any compass and moved forward by way of their psychological maps with locations to fulfill and share the data, as this was essential for maritime success.

Excavation Not Done for Vikings

Jarett has not carried out any excavation on the harbours to lock their consumption by the Vikings. However, if the workforce discovered proof like jetties, momentary shelter, cooking pits and ballast stones, it will affirm the presence of Vikings by way of such routes, Jarett mentioned.