Viking Age sacrifice, brutality or a choice?#RethinkingSacrifice #VikingRituals #NorseHistory

We often examine Viking sacrifice through modern eyes—assuming it was violent, imposed, and tragic. But what if that view is incomplete?
Inspired by the work of archaeologist Dr Marianne Moen, this video explores how ritual killing, especially in burial contexts, might reflect cultural values very different from our own. Moen challenges us to rethink assumptions about agency, identity,
and belief in the past—particularly when it comes to sacrifice.
Take the famous account from Ahmad Ibn Fadlan, where a slave girl volunteers to die alongside her chieftain master. Modern readers often interpret this as coercion. But Moen and others raise a different possibility: what if this was a conscious choice,
offering a path to honour, status, and an afterlife she could never have reached in life?
In a world where death was deeply ritualised, and the afterlife mattered as much—or more—than the present, we cannot interpret these acts through modern ideas of freedom or suffering alone.
I’m Megan Formanek, author of Viking Age historical fiction and public historian. I explore the lived experiences, worldviews, and rituals of Norse culture.
📚 Books and more: https://meganformanek.com/books

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🔗 Further reading and acknowledgments:
Nordic Mythology Ep 232- What is Human Sacrifice? With Marianne Moen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyEJ18UDFuU
Marianne Moen's work:
https://www.khm.uio.no/english/about/organisation/archaeology-department/staff/mamoen/

Видео Viking Age sacrifice, brutality or a choice?#RethinkingSacrifice #VikingRituals #NorseHistory канала Megan Formanek