Archaeological sites on the Estonian island of Saaremaa reveal early Scandinavian sailing ships from before the historical beginning of the Viking Age.
History books generally state that the Viking Age began with the raid on Lindisfarne in 793CE. The Estonian site is dated between 700-750CE and contains the remains of 33 individuals and a 38-foot-long war boat. A neighboring site from the same period contains a 55-foot-long boat capable of open sea voyages.
These two sites provide the earliest evidence of sailing in the Baltic Sea by Scandinavian explorers and suggest that Viking voyages began long before the infamous attack on Lindisfarne.