Archeology Students Brave Winter Freeze, Viking Style
Five University of Tartu archeology students moved into a self-constructed Viking-era building on January 30 to experience first hand what living conditions were like over 1,000 years ago.
During the week-long experiment, the main challenge of the participants will be to keep warm as nighttime temperatures are expected to drop below -20 degrees Celsius. The group is dressed in authentic garments of the era and will be consuming the same foods as their distant ancestors.
Participants are also keeping diaries that will later help determine what impact enduring this ancient way of life might have on a denizen of the digital age.
The students began building their traditional Viking-era house near the Rõuge stronghold hill in Võru County in 2010. Using authentic tools and methods, they erected the structure on the clay foundations of an ancient house that was unearthed during an archeological expedition in 1955.
Ingrid Teesalu