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The use of human skulls as drinking vessels is also unhistorical. The rise of this myth can be traced back to a mis-translation of an icelandic kenning: In the Latin translation of the Krakumal by Mágnus Ólafsson (in Ole Worm's Runer seu Danica literatura antiquissima of 1636), warriors drinking ór bjúgviðum hausa [from the curved branches of skulls, i.e. from horns] were rendered as drinking ex craniis eorum quos ceciderunt [from the skulls of those whom they had slain]. Scandinavian skalle, skal means simply "shell" or "bowl".
The image of wild-haired, dirty savages sometimes associated with the Vikings in popular culture has hardly any base in reality. The Vikings used a variety of tools for personal grooming such as combs, tweezers, razors or specialised "ear spoons". In particular, combs are among the most frequent artefacts from Viking Age graves, and one can conclude that a comb was the personal equipment of every man and woman. The Vikings also used soap long before it was re-introduced to Europe after the fall of the Byzantine Empire. The Vikings in England even had a particular reputation of excessive cleanliness, due to their custom of bathing once a week (as opposed to the local Anglo-Saxons). As for the Rus', Ibn Rustah explicitly notes their cleanliness, while Ibn Fadlan is disgusted by their sharing the same vessel as the men wash their faces in the morning. Ibn Fadlan's disgust is thus probably motivated by ideas of personal hygiene particular to the Arab world, while the very example intended to convey the disgusting customs of the Rus' at the same time records that they do in fact wash every morning.
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