Vikings Had Unusual 'Permanent Body Modification' Practice That Could Have Been Part of 'Rite of Initiation

Specialists could delve into an odd practice during the Viking Age, wherein individuals practiced permanent body modification. This could have come as part of their "rite of initiation."

The Viking Age

The Viking Age lasted from around the late 8th century until the 11th century. During this period of medieval history, the Vikings, who were seafaring individuals from Scandinavia, raided, traded, and colonized vast areas across Europe and beyond.

Expeditions and sea travel to foreign terrains marked this period. Vikings sailed in fleets and ships to trade, garner revenue, and conquer territories.

Permanent Body Modification

For a long time, it was assumed that tattoos were the only permanent body modification form in Scandinavia during this era, though concrete examples of such a practice have yet to be uncovered.

However, in recent years, researchers have been able to document evidence of two other Viking Age body modification forms: artificially deformed skulls and filed teeth. Most examples, including all skulls, come from Gotland Island within the Baltic Sea.

Though both body modification forms have garnered significant attention in different cultural contexts, the practices' specific social implications within the society of the Viking Age have not undergone comprehensive study. The researchers, Matthias Toplak and Lukas Kerk wanted to look into this in their research. Findings were published in the "Body Modification on Viking Age Gotland: Filed Teeth and Artificially Modified Skulls as Embodiment of Social Identities" study.

As part of the new study, the researchers noted that permanent body modification forms are known from this era and discussed potential interpretations for them. The researchers then considered how humans could use their bodies for communication, such as affiliation to specific cultural, religious, or social groups.

Two Body Modification Forms

The researchers were able to identify two-body modification practices within these societies. The first involves filling horizontal grooves in the teeth, while the second involves artificially elongating the skulls.

The first filed teeth case across Northern Europe dates to the last decades before the Viking Age. Such a practice appears to have ceased during the late years of the Viking Age.

The researchers identified over 130 individual remains that feature this body modification form. All of the remains were male.

On the other hand, head deformation samples are pretty rare, as there are only three known cases from the Viking Age in Scandinavia. All of these date to roughly the same period: the late Viking Age.

The researchers suggest that the filed teeth could be considered a "rite of initiation" and an identification sign for a closed male social group. Toplak and Kerk postulate that the social group(s) could have been closed merchant groups similar to later guilds. Members could have been identified through filed teeth and may have reaped protection, commercial advantages, or other privileges. Such a theory implies that organized and larger merchant communities existed during the Viking Age even before formalized guilds.

The skull deformations were all seen in female remains. As noted by the researchers, they are all harder to explain. However, based on the available data, the two researchers think that the culture may not have been part of Viking Age Gotland's culture. Instead, it could have entered the region from Southeastern Europe.

They express not knowing what the body modification form initially signaled. It could have served as a token of beauty, social status, or specific groups.

Among the three individuals, at least one had atypically more jewelry in burials compared to what is seen in most local female burials. Since the third grave was destroyed during modern times, how the female inside got buried remains a mystery.

The researchers note that though the females were marked to be foreign, they were locally integrated. The researchers think their exotic appearance was taken as a reference to trading networks with far reaches, which is quite prestigious in a trading-focused society. This implies that the Viking Age Gotland's society could have been quite open and that integration of exotic influences may have been done.

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