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History 101
History 101
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Finance 101
Science 101
Living 101
Autos 101
Vacation 101
Parenting 101
Brides 101
Celebrity 101
Crimes 101
Diet 101
Entrepreneur 101
Kids 101
Marriage 101
Men 101
My House 101
Poker 101
Puppies 101
Sports 101
Women 101

26. Used fungus and human waste to start fires

In the boy and girl scouts, they are taught multiple ways to start a fire. One of them is the useful invention of a Firestarter, one scrape of the stone and voila, fire! In the 10th century, however, there wasn’t the modern convenience such as a Firestarter or even a flashlight. Instead, Vikings used a fungus called touchwood, a plate-shaped mushroom that grows along tree bark, and boiled it for several days in urine.

Swords in StoneSwords in Stone
Three enormous bronze swords stand monument to the battle of Hafrsfjord in the year 872. (Photo by: Birgit Ryningen/VW Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

That’s right — using a combination of tree fungus and human waste, the Norse would take the urine-boiled fungus and pound it until its texture resembled felt. The sodium nitrate in the urine would allow the material to smolder so Vikings could take the fire with them anywhere (porta-potty has a whole new meaning).

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