In some cases, the slaves were buried alongside their masters, suggesting they may have ended up as human sacrifices, and included with grave goods to accompany powerful Vikings into the afterlife. There are also indications that Vikings practiced polygamy, which in their highly stratified society would have meant that poorer unmarried men might have had limited access to women, and would have targeted female slaves as concubines (or even wives). Evidence suggests Vikings often targeted women and girls in their raids, suggesting the existence of sexual slavery, as well as intermarriage. Slaves-who could also be traded at international markets-may have represented another type of resource for the Vikings, too. “We wonder whether you would need a new labor force to produce the materials you need to do that.” “Fleets of hundreds of ships sailing out of Scandinavia in the 9th century,” he says. Raffield and his colleagues see the desire to take slaves as a possible motivating factor behind the Viking expansion. The answer might have been a need for foreign slave labor to help build their enormous fleets of ships and produce the textiles for their sails.

Scholars have long wondered why the Vikings suddenly emerged as a formidable raiding force in the late eighth century, starting with their attack on the Christian monastery of Lindisfarne, located on the northeast coast of England, in A.D. How Willie Velásquez Organized for Latino Voting Rights A need for women?

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