Viking Pendant with Roman Beads
Discovered: Europe
 
Viking jewelry was a form of both self-expression and alliance, much like it is in many cultures today. It served the purpose of portraying the strength of the wearer, such as in the case of a Thor’s hammer pendant representing the power of thunder and lightning. 
 
Vikings is the modern name given to seafaring people primarily from Scandinavia, who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and settled throughout parts of Europe. They also voyaged as far as the Mediterranean, North Africa, the Middle East, and North America. In some of the countries they raided and settled in, this period is popularly known as the Viking Age, and the term "Viking" also commonly includes the inhabitants of the Scandinavian homelands as a collective whole. The Vikings had a profound impact on the early medieval history of Scandinavia, the British Isles, France, Estonia, and Kievan Rus'.
 
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilization from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom, Roman Republic and Roman Empire until the fall of the western empire.