Being aViking warlordis a tough fishgig , so to fend off burnout it ’s important to maintain a healthy work - lifespan balance . fortuitously , the Norse conglomerate was well equipped with drinking halls where headman could take their minds off murdering and pillage with a few tankards of ale .
One such Viking alky has just been excavated in the Orkney Islands , off the northeast seashore of Scotland , and experts consider it may have been a favorite stamping ground of a legendary 12th - century loss leader named Sigurd .
Researchers from the University of the Highlands and Islands have spent the retiring few years examining asite named Skaill in Westness , on the island of Rousay . apply that Skaill is the old Norse Word of God for ‘ hall ’ , archaeologists have long suspected that it must have once housed a drinking hall used by high - position somebody .
A historical narrative of the archipelago , telephone theOrkneyinga Saga , specifically refer Westness as the home of Sigurd back in the 12th 100 , fire surmise that Skaill may have serve as his local pub .
“ The exciting news this time of year is that we have now determine the vestibule at Skaill , as the place name advise , " Dan Lee , co - director of the excavation project , say in astatement . " You never have it off , but perhapsEarl Sigurdhimself sat on one of the stone benches inside the antechamber and drank a flagon of ale ! ”
The edifice , which was found beneath a modern - day farmstead , is roughly 13 meters ( 43 feet ) long , and contains 1 - measure ( 3 feet ) thick endocarp walls , 5.5 meters ( 6 foot ) aside .
investigator believe the hall dates back to between the 10th and 12th centuries , cooccur with Sigurd ’s rule .
object retrieved from the site admit clayware and a combing made of bone , although the investigator are particularly concerned in studying waste wasteyard call in middens , in search of clues regarding Viking nutrition .
labor co - director Ingrid Mainland explained that she and her team “ have find a millennia of kitchen midden which will allow us an unparalleled opportunity to look at modify dietetical tradition , agriculture and fishing practices from the Norse period up until the nineteenth century . "
The Orkney Islands were brought into the Norse kingdom in the eighth one C , and remained part of Scandinavia for around 700 year , before being hand over toScotlandby the king of Denmark .
