Viking civilization has mesmerized our collective memory for centuries. How they lived, their ruthless ways, their religious belief, and how they dressed are some of the subjects that have caught our historic curiosity and have inspired endless stories in all artistic fields imaginable. Naturally, cinema and television are one where the subject has been highly consumed and this year, we got a new movie to ease that thirst for all things Viking.
Robert Eggers’ The Northman, is based on the legend of Amleth… yes, the very one that inspired Shakespeare’s iconic Hamlet. So, as you can guess, it tells the story of a young Viking prince who wants to avenge the death of his father and rescue his mother from his evil uncle. So, although the story is based on a legend, history buffs and medieval fans have been questioning and discussing the historical accuracy of the film, being one particular detail on one of the characters has seemed to spark the controversy the most.
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Generally speaking, the film has received praises both for its story and its great accuracy in depicting the Viking era, but the fact that Valkyrie appears to be wearing something that resembles modern braces has been a matter of endless controversy on social media and internet forums. But is it a movie’s mistake? If not, what exactly are those dental things that look like some sort of ancient braces?
Vikings and dental modifications
Turns out that the answer is no; the character isn’t wearing braces just as Vikings didn’t really use proto-braces. However, it isn’t a mistake either, and the marks on Valkyrie’s teeth are historically accurate. So what are they?
One thing to bear in mind regarding Vikings is that the classic image of the barbaric filthy Vikings with horned helmets and two braids hanging from behind their ears is an invention by 19th-century Romantic artists and poets. As a matter of fact, Vikings were quite obsessed with their appearance to the point that they would have perfectly combed manes and freshly iron attires. With that in mind, it’s not odd to think that they engaged in another type of beauty technique or body modification.
Since the 1980s, archaeologists have found hundreds of skulls with modified dentures all over Northern Europe in countries like Sweden, Denmark, and England. An important number of the skulls examined from graves in these places show the same dental modifications, some straight horizontal lines filed across the teeth. Although the majority of the cases have straight grooves, some specimens also showed crescent-shaped marks. These dentures belong to Vikings from the 10th and 11th centuries, which indicates it became a trend among Norsemen of the time.
These modifications were mainly made by filing the teeth, something that might’ve been an extremely painful procedure, and thus, something well planned. Not only that, the grooves are perfectly elaborated meaning there was a very skillful technique involved in the process.
Although it’s still unknown the exact purpose of these dental modifications, it’s believed that they likely had a decorative aim. Some historians believe that they might’ve been signs of status among nobility or even just another prop used by warriors to intimidate their raid victims. However, though the theory is actually quite probable and fits other traits of the Vikings, other specialists think it might not be a social distinction.
Caroline Arcini, from the Swedish National Heritage Board, found out that the specimens studied as well as their graves don’t point out individuals of higher status or activities. On the contrary, the individuals with these dental modifications her department studied belonged ranged in age, type of burial, and even gender. To make it even more strange, in some of the specimens, the modifications were made postmortem.
Now, another detail discovered about these dental grooves that indicate it was a decorative trend, is the fact that they were often colored with enamel or other sorts of pigments mixed with wax, which would make these stripes look like modern braces as we see with Valkyrie. These pigments would naturally vanish while eating or a couple of hours after application, which means they would be constantly coloring their teeth. This fits, once again, with the more recent depiction of vain Vikings.
These Viking dental modifications are the first registered in Europe though not the first in the world. Being a civilization of travelers, it’s quite likely they adopted this fashion from the many places they visited, most likely from West Africa and the Americas.
