<P> Both archaeological finds and written sources testify to the fact that the Vikings set aside time for social and festive gatherings . </P> <P> Board games and dice games were played as a popular pastime at all levels of society . Preserved gaming pieces and boards show game boards made of easily available materials like wood, with game pieces manufactured from stone, wood or bone, while other finds include elaborately carved boards and game pieces of glass, amber, antler or walrus tusk, together with materials of foreign origin, such as ivory . The Vikings played several types of tafl games; hnefatafl, nitavl (Nine Men's Morris) and the less common kvatrutafl . Chess also appeared at the end of the Viking Age . Hnefatafl is a war game, in which the object is to capture the king piece--a large hostile army threatens and the king's men have to protect the king . It was played on a board with squares using black and white pieces, with moves made according to dice rolls . The Ockelbo Runestone shows two men engaged in Hnefatafl, and the sagas suggest that money or valuables could have been involved in some dice games . </P> <P> On festive occasions storytelling, skaldic poetry, music and alcoholic drinks, like beer and mead, contributed to the atmosphere . Music was considered an art form and music proficiency as fitting for a cultivated man . The Vikings are known to have played instruments including harps, fiddles, lyres and lutes . </P> <P> Experimental archaeology of the Viking Age is a flourishing branch and several places have been dedicated to this technique, such as Jorvik Viking Centre in the United Kingdom, Sagnlandet Lejre and Ribe Viking Center (da) in Denmark, Foteviken Museum in Sweden or Lofotr Viking Museum in Norway . Viking - age reenactors have undertaken experimental activities such as iron smelting and forging using Norse techniques at Norstead in Newfoundland for example . </P>

Who were the northmen and why were they called berserkrs