While writing these articles about Norse history, culture, and society, we've taken some pains to get our facts straight.
Experts can study the same physical evidence and draw very different conclusions.
In the area of armor, there exists only one Norse helmet, one Norse shield, and one Norse mail shirt. Much of the period literature was written down generations after the events occurred. And in some cases, the writer was inimical to the religion and practices being described. In other cases, the writer may have been glorifying a golden age of the past. Additionally, the writings may have been further distorted by copying and recopying the manuscripts, and by editing and combining and abridging.