Little did the monks at the monastery on Lindisfarne Island suspect on a cold Northumbrian morning in 793 that they were to become the first victims of a new breed of raiders whose plunder would usher in a new age soon to dominate Europe.
The 1962 discovery and excavation of thousand-year-old Viking ships at the bottom of a fjord near Roskilde, Denmark changed the understanding of Viking technology and culture.
Plunder is almost synonymous with Viking raids and the Viking Age. Vikings left hoards of treasure wherever they went, from Scandanavia to Iceland which document not only what they stole and the magnificent art they made from their loot.