I stumbled onto this while surfing around the net, looking for information on medieval Europe, and found it really interesting. Archaeologists had excavated Birka, a medieval Viking village near Stockholm. The find provided archeologists with many insights into the layout of such settlements. Working from archaeologists' maps and drawings, model makers were able to create a model of the village. A pair of Swedish filmmakers, using careful camera work, were able to create several pieces of footage of the tiny model, giving the impression of flying just over the rooftops or walking through the village. The model is impressively detailed and the footage is very well done. The film was originally featured as part of PBS's Nova film,
The Vikings. You can view the clips with either Quicktime or Real Player.
Explore a Viking village.
