Anybody who knows anything about Scandinaviaan history knows that there was a fair amount of traffic between the Viking world and the east. The city of Kiev was founded by the norse, and the Byzantine emperor's personal guards, the Varangians, were all Vikings who relocated to Constantinople. And then there was Ibn Fadlan, an Arab who wrote about his travels among the Northmen.

You know, I know, but anthropologists tend to forget.

Granted that 400 predates the Viking era, but the Roman trade routes were still open then and the ancient world was far more connnected than many people now realize (scholars included).

I agree completely. We're stuck in the idea of progress and forget that things never change, at the base level.