Two years ago I attended a friend's wedding near Uppsala, Sweden and had the chance to speak with a retired man who was now volunteering time on Viking archaeol

Two years ago I attended a friend's wedding near Uppsala, Sweden and had the chance to speak with a retired man who was now volunteering time on Viking archaeology digs in the country and a little in some other Baltic nations. He said much the same as you: that Vikings did a lot of exchange with Arab traders, which was surprising. That there were Vikings traveling at least as far as Ukraine is really interesting!