I really enjoy listening to Ben. Just a comment re C.J.'s (only semi-serious, I suspect) reference to someone inventing a keel and heading off to sack a monastery in Britain... the Nydam pre-Viking (Iron Age) boat dated c. 310-320 had a keel and to my knowledge is currently the oldest preserved clinker-built deep-sea rowing boat. So the ship-building technology was in progress long before the first recorded raids on Portland and Lindisfarne (or even on Salme circa 700-750.
Violence and the Viking Warrior Ideal
I really enjoy listening to Ben. Just a comment re C.J.'s (only semi-serious, I suspect) reference to someone inventing a keel and heading off to sack a monastery in Britain... the Nydam pre-Viking (Iron Age) boat dated c. 310-320 had a keel and to my knowledge is currently the oldest preserved clinker-built deep-sea rowing boat. So the ship-building technology was in progress long before the first recorded raids on Portland and Lindisfarne (or even on Salme circa 700-750.