Few helmets, dated to the Vendel period are known from Scandinavia and even fewer are known from the Viking age. Paradoxically, picture stones and sagas frequently tell about these objects as if they were very common, something that is contradicted by the archaeological material. The purpose of this thesis is to examine different literary sources and compare these to the archaeological materials and by doing so, gets a clearer picture about the emergence, use, function and of the late Iron Age helmets in Scandinavia.