Editing Vikings (section)

====Appearance====
[[File:Vikings costumes woman man Arkeologisk museum Stavanger, Norway 2015-05-27.jpg|thumb|Reconstructed Vikings costume on display at Archaeological Museum in Stavanger, Norway]]

Scandinavian Vikings were similar in appearance to modern [[North Germanic peoples|Scandinavians]]: "their skin was fair and the hair color varied between blond, dark and reddish". Genetic studies suggest that people were mostly blond in what is now eastern Sweden, while red hair was mostly found in western Scandinavia.<ref name="Hjardar appearance">Hjardar, Kim. ''Vikings''. Rosen Publishing, 2018. pp.37–41</ref> Most Viking men had shoulder-length hair and beards, and slaves (thralls) were usually the only men with short hair.<ref name="Sherrow">Sherrow, Victoria. ''Encyclopedia of Hair: A Cultural History''. Greenwood Publishing, 2006. p.389</ref> The length varied according to personal preference and occupation. Men involved in warfare, for example, may have had slightly shorter hair and beards for practical reasons. Men in some regions bleached their hair a [[Saffron (color)|golden saffron]] colour.<ref name="Sherrow"/> Females also had long hair, with girls often wearing it loose or braided, and married women often wearing it in a bun.<ref name="Sherrow"/> The average height is estimated to have been {{cvt|5|ft|7|in|m|order=flip}} for men and {{cvt|5|ft|1|in|m|order=flip}} for women.<ref name="Hjardar appearance"/>

The three classes were easily recognisable by their appearance. Men and women of the Jarls were well groomed with neat hairstyles and expressed their wealth and status by wearing expensive clothes (often silk) and well-crafted jewellery like [[brooch]]es, belt buckles, necklaces and arm rings. Almost all of the jewellery was crafted in specific designs unique to the Norse (see [[Viking art]]). Finger rings were seldom used and earrings were not used at all, as they were seen as a [[Slavic people|Slavic]] phenomenon. Most ''karls'' expressed similar tastes and hygiene, but in a more relaxed and inexpensive way.<ref name="Roesdahl 38"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-viking-age/the-people/appearance/|title=Appearance – What did the Vikings look like?|publisher=National Museum of Denmark|access-date=20 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150502052336/http://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-viking-age/the-people/appearance/|archive-date=2 May 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>

Archaeological finds from Scandinavia and Viking settlements in the British Isles support the idea of the well-groomed and hygienic Viking. Burial with grave goods was a common practice in the Scandinavian world, through the Viking Age and well past the Christianisation of the Norse peoples.<ref>Caroline Ahlström Arcini "Eight Viking Age Burials", The Viking Age: A Time With Many Faces, Oxbow Books (2018), pp. 5.</ref> Within these burial sites and homesteads, combs, often made from antler, are a common find.<ref>C. Paterson, "The combs, ornaments, weights and coins", Cille Pheadair: A Norse Farmstead and Pictish Burial Cairn in South Uist. Mike Parker Pearson, Mark Brennand, Jacqui Mulville and Helen Smith. Oxbow Books (2018), p. 293.</ref><ref name='IA'>{{cite journal|last1=Ashby|first1=SP|last2=Tomlinson|first2=L|last3=Presslee|first3=S|last4=Hendy|first4=J|last5=Bliss|first5=A|last6=Minter|first6=F|last7=Brock|first7=D|title=The Portable Antiquities Scheme and the potential of non-metallic finds: A Viking Comb from Shotley, Suffolk|journal=Internet Archaeology|date=2023|issue=61|doi=10.11141/ia.61.11|doi-access=free|url=http://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue61/11/}}</ref> The manufacturing of such antler combs was common, as at the Viking settlement at Dublin hundreds of examples of combs from the tenth-century have survived, suggesting that grooming was a common practice. The manufacture of such combs was also widespread throughout the Viking world, as examples of similar combs have been found at Viking settlements in Ireland,<ref>Selwyn Kittredge, "Digging up Viking and Medieval Dublin", Archaeology, Vol.27, No. 2 (April 1974), pp. 134–36. Archaeological Institute of America.</ref> England,<ref>Caroline Peterson, "A Tale of two cemeteries: Viking Burials at Cumwhitton and Carlisle, Cumbria", Crossing Boundaries: Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Art, Material Culture, Language and Literature of the Early Medieval World. Edited by, Eric Cambridge and Jane Hawkes. Oxbow Books (2017).</ref> and Scotland.<ref>C. Paterson, "The combs, ornaments, weights and coins", Cille Pheadair: A Norse Farmstead and Pictish Burial Cairn in South Uist. Mike Parker Pearson, Mark Brennand, Jacqui Mulville and Helen Smith. Oxbow Books (2018).</ref> The combs share a common visual appearance as well, with the extant examples often decorated with linear, interlacing, and geometric motifs, or other forms of ornamentation depending on the comb's period and type, but stylistically similar to Viking Age art.<ref>Ibid, pp. 296.</ref> All levels of Viking age society appear to have groomed their hair, as hair combs have been found in common graves as well as in aristocratic ones.<ref name="Arcini2018">{{cite book |last1=Arcini |first1=Caroline |title=The Viking Age: A Time with Many Faces |date=2018 |publisher=Oxbow Books |isbn=978-1-78570-941-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uC1lDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA14 |access-date=11 February 2023 |archive-date=11 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230211165627/https://books.google.com/books?id=uC1lDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA14 |url-status=live }}</ref>