Vikings Wore Horned Helmets

Your mental image of the Viking Age probably includes many, if not all, of them wearing cartoonish helmets with horns. Some films and television programs take it a step further and swap the horns for wings. The horns don't seem to have any apparent real-world function, so we can only conclude that it must have looked hip to the era's fashion tastes.

However, no such helmet has ever been discovered, thus we have no archaeological evidence that even implies they may have used them. Vikings didn't truly wear metallic helmets, horned or not, but rather leather skull caps, according to all the trustworthy historical accounts from the time. Horned helmets do appear in some of that period's legendary art, although they are only depicted on Gods and other godlike figures, such as ancient warriors.