Gold Berserkers beads

Berserkers (or berserks) were champion Norse warriors who are primarily reported in Icelandic literature to have fought in a trance-like fury, a characteristic which later gave rise to the English word berserk.These champions would often go into battle without mail-coats. Berserkers are attested to in numerous Old Norse sources, as were the Ulfhednar (wolf-coats). It is proposed by some authors that the berserkers drew their power from the bear and were devoted to the bear cult, which was once widespread across the northern hemisphere.