'It gives us a glimpse of a different kind of Viking life': Archaeologist Neil Price on the sea-kings, sorcerers and Sámi who lived during the Viking Age

In the early medieval period, the Vikings were just one part of a vast tapestry of Scandinavians who ruled, sailed, traded and fought around the world, from North America to Asia. In his new book, " The Sea-King and the Sorceress: Life and Death in the Viking Age " (Basic Books, 2026), author Neil Price , professor and chair of archaeology at Uppsala University in Sweden, reveals the true diversity and complexity of people who lived during the Viking Age (often dating from A.D. 793 to 1066).

Price investigates more than 20 burials from the Viking Age, lingering on details that can tell us about these individuals and their world. He also shines a light on frequently overlooked groups, including the enslaved people known as thralls that the Norse ruled over and even sacrificed in some of their burials. Price also delves into the realms of powerful women, including a "shield-maiden" buried with war-grade weapons in Sweden , a "sorceress" in Denmark, and an elderly matriarch whose children carved out a local empire in Sweden.

In an interview with Live Science, Price talks about his new book, and the evidence we have for the familiar yet foreign lives they lived centuries ago.

Read an excerpt: 'The back of her head had been removed by a single blow from a sharp blade': Archaeological clues are revealing the horrific lives and deaths of the people enslaved by Vikings

Laura Geggel : The Vikings are popularly known for being brutish and bloodthirsty pillagers , but the individuals in your book show the rich diversity of people from this time. Why did you decide to write this book and feature their stories?

Neil Price : I think quite simply because of the cliche that you've just mentioned, the idea that the Vikings are all barbarian raiders who go about burning down churches and frightening the English and things. Those raiders were certainly real, but they were only ever a tiny minority of the Scandinavian population, and I wanted to bring out all the different kinds of Viking lives, and that's why this book really came together.

It's divided into chapters, each one of which looks at a different kind of person, you know, a farmer, or an ambassador, or someone who uses magic, or a hunter. And I'm quite pleased that the Viking — the sort of raiding and pillaging Viking — it takes a while to get to him.

LG: How would you define the epitome of a Viking from that age?