Editing Hedeby (section)

===Lifestyle===
Life was short and crowded in Hedeby. The small houses were clustered tightly together in a grid, with the east–west streets leading down to jetties in the harbour.<ref name="denmark_org" />

While Hedeby primarily served as a trade emporium, archaeological evidence demonstrates that it had produced many goods locally. Discovery and analysis of excavated artifacts reveal that tools such as spindle whorls, spindle rods, loom weights, and bone needles were standardized products. The distribution of these various tools demonstrates that there was a wide range of textiles produced at Hedeby, ranging from coarse fabric for sailcloth and outer-garments, to fine worsted wool fabric for higher quality clothes.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Corsi |first=Maria R. D. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv13vdj3q |title=Urbanization in Viking Age and Medieval Denmark: From Landing Place to Town |date=2020 |publisher=Amsterdam University Press}}</ref> More than 340,000 pieces related to comb making, tools for working leather, remains of ironworking and goldsmithing, and mercury from fire gilding were also found. <ref>{{Cite book |last=Corsi |first=Maria R. D. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv13vdj3q |title=Urbanization in Viking Age and Medieval Denmark: From Landing Place to Town |date=2020 |publisher=Amsterdam University Press}}</ref> There was also evidence found for the presence of a glass furnace active in the site from the period of 850 to 900. A total of 7,700 decorative beads have been unearthed in Hedeby, although it is likely that a small percentage of those were produced in situ.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Delvaux |first=Matthew C. |date=2018 |title=Colors of the Viking Age: A Cluster Analysis of Glass Beads from Hedeby |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26678008 |journal=Journal of Glass Studies |volume=60 |pages=41–68 |issn=0075-4250}}</ref> The presence of these artifacts at the site indicate that Hedeby had a robust local economy that produced a wide variety of goods, likely for domestic use and for trade at the sites markets.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Corsi |first=Maria R. D. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv13vdj3q |title=Urbanization in Viking Age and Medieval Denmark: From Landing Place to Town |date=2020 |publisher=Amsterdam University Press}}</ref>

Analysis of some of Hedeby’s burial sites provide evidence for the existence of an aristocracy. Graves that are lavishly furnished with jewelry, commodities, weapons and armor set apart from more humble inhumation sites indicate an established degree of stratification among Hedeby’s society.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lorenzen |first=Daniel Henvig |date=2018-01-01 |title=The Vikings of Haithabu (8th -10th Century AD): Burials and Identity (Master&#39;s thesis 2018) |url=https://www.academia.edu/36892711/The_Vikings_of_Haithabu_8th_10th_Century_AD_Burials_and_Identity_Masters_thesis_2018_}}</ref>

The trade and production of beads was tied to a robust fashion within Hedeby. Beads made of varying materials such as carnelian, rock crystal, amber, jet, silver, brass, bronze, and mosaic glass have been found in the harbor excavation sites, burials, and throughout the settlement. Dating of these finds reveals that there was a change in style roughly every 10-35 years within the settlement.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Delvaux |first=Matthew C. |date=2018 |title=Colors of the Viking Age: A Cluster Analysis of Glass Beads from Hedeby |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26678008 |journal=Journal of Glass Studies |volume=60 |pages=41–68 |issn=0075-4250}}</ref>

[[Ibrahim ibn Yaqub al-Tartushi|Al-Tartushi]], a late 10th-century traveller from [[al-Andalus]], provides one of the most colourful and often quoted descriptions of life in Hedeby. Al-Tartushi was from [[Córdoba, Spain|Cordoba]] in [[Spain]], which had a significantly more wealthy and comfortable lifestyle than Hedeby. While Hedeby may have been significant by Scandinavian standards, Al-Tartushi was unimpressed:
:''"Slesvig (Hedeby) is a very large town at the extreme end of the world ocean... The inhabitants worship [[Sirius]], except for a minority of Christians who have a church of their own there.... He who slaughters a sacrificial animal puts up poles at the door to his courtyard and impales the animal on them, be it a piece of cattle, a ram, billy goat or a pig so that his neighbours will be aware that he is making a sacrifice in honour of his god. The town is poor in goods and riches. People eat mainly fish which exist in abundance. Babies are thrown into the sea for reasons of economy. The right to divorce belongs to the women.... Artificial eye make-up is another peculiarity; when they wear it their beauty never disappears, indeed it is enhanced in both men and women. Further: Never did I hear singing fouler than that of these people, it is a rumbling emanating from their throats, similar to that of a dog but even more bestial."''<ref name="denmark_org">{{cite web |author=Consulate General of Denmark in New York |title=Factsheet |url=http://www.denmark.org/about_denmark/factsheets_articles/factsheets_vikings.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060113013845/http://www.denmark.org/about_denmark/factsheets_articles/factsheets_vikings.html |archive-date=January 13, 2006 |access-date=January 14, 2006}}</ref>