Vikings Were Here: Love Notes, Lost Games, and the Hidden Lives Beneath the Helmets
The Not Old - Better Show
Paul Vogelzang
5 • 1.8K Ratings
🗓️ 8 July 2025
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
🔍 When most of us think “Viking,” we picture raiders, longboats, and epic battles. But what if the true story was quieter—yet even more powerful?
Historian and BBC broadcaster Dr. Eleanor Barraclough joins us for an unforgettable Smithsonian Associates episode of The Not Old Better Show to talk about her new book, Embers of the Hands: Hidden Histories of the Viking Age. Dr. Barraclough will be appearing at Smithsonian Associates coming up and the title of her presentation is Hidden Histories of the Viking Age. Check out our website for more details at
https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/programs/viking-age
In our conversation, we go far beyond helmets and heroics. Dr. Barraclough shares how artifacts like carved antler combs, rune-covered graffiti, and tiny gaming pieces reveal the daily lives of Viking women, children, farmers, artisans, and travelers. It’s not just about who fought and conquered—but who cooked, cursed, loved, and played.
She also talks about why we need to rethink our historical framework—not as fixed timelines and famous names, but as rivers of human experience, emotion, and connection.
If you're over 50—or simply curious about the past—this conversation offers a reminder that history is less about textbooks and more about touchstones.
🎧 Listen here: https://apple.co/3FAbebT
#NotOldBetter #SmithsonianAssociates #VikingAge #HistoricalResearch #PublicHistory #EmbersOfTheHands #HumanHistory #LifelongLearning
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Not Old Better Show, |
| 0:09.4 | Smithsonian Associates Interview Series on radio and podcast. |
| 0:14.0 | The show covering all things health, wellness, culture, and more. |
| 0:17.8 | The show for all of us who aren't old, were better. |
| 0:20.7 | Each week we'll interview |
| 0:22.1 | superstars, experts, and ordinary people doing extraordinary things, all related to this wonderful |
| 0:28.3 | experience of getting better, not older. Now here's your host, the award-winning Paul Vogelzang. |
| 0:36.4 | Welcome to the Not Old Better Show, Smithsonian Associates, Art of Living |
| 0:40.8 | Interview Series. I'm Paul Volkelsang, and so glad to be with you again. And if the word |
| 0:47.5 | Viking brings to mind a snarling warrior in a horned helmet charging through the monastery? |
| 0:56.0 | Well, you're not entirely wrong. |
| 0:58.0 | But what if I told you that Vikings left behind more than bloodshed? |
| 1:02.0 | What if tucked between the longboats and the legends were love notes, doodles, haircombs, |
| 1:09.0 | and drunken messages scratched onto bark by angry spouses. |
| 1:15.5 | Well, again, welcome to the Not Old Better Show, Smithsonian Associates interview series. |
| 1:19.7 | Today's guest is someone who's done something quite radical and original with history. |
| 1:25.0 | She's made the Vikings human again. |
| 1:27.6 | Dr. Eleanor Baraklff, Smithsonian Associate, Historian, Author, |
| 1:31.9 | broadcaster, and the writer of this wonderful book, compelling in every way, |
| 1:38.9 | titled Embers of the Hands, Hidden Histories of the Viking Age, |
| 1:43.0 | joins us with stories not of kings and raiders, |
| 1:46.4 | but of children, artisans, enslaved women, and travelers. Dr. Baraklop fans the ashes of Viking |
... |
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