Vikings

I thought the Nova program captured the origins of the vikings very well. When the movie started, I thought how in schools we really don't learn about the vikings. We touch on them right before you move into learning about the British emipire, but its primarily they were great conquerors who were content with their integration into the societies they took over. So they never left!

I thought the video did a great job linking the story and recreations with the real-life research and expert accounts. That really helped validate what the experts were saying. Additionally, using the archaeological findings to recreate a model of the prominent trading city was mind blow.

In all, I am very impressed with the engineering ability of the vikings. I think they are often portrayed as the dumb savage conquerors who fell off the planet. In actuality they are incredibly smart and sophisticated conquerors who never left where they conquerored effectively adding their culture forever!