The "table" is only 18" high, which means it can be used as a table or a bench. The Vikings normally did not have designated tables and chairs like we think of today but general purpose furniture that needed to fit into small work areas. The axe, horn and fire striker are placed there to give scale to the item.The two stools are crude "milking stools" which again filled the general need of "something to sit on, but the design of having a flat side is very particular to using it for milking cows. Though you see people on television placing the milk pail on the floor to milk, that only works with goats. Cows are too quick and if you don't have your pail gripped firmly between your legs, she will put her foot right into any bucket left on the floor. Believe me, they'll do that and look at you with a twinkle in their eye. Milker's need to grip the bucket as close to the crotch as possible and a stool with a round seat will not permit the pail to be gripped behind the knees but rather just between them. After about two minutes of milking the pail WILL slip right out and onto the floor. And she will look back with a twinkle in her eye.
Farmers today use the same stool for milking (If they do it by hand.) So if anyone tells you, "Well, we don't really know if it was used for milking..." here is what I know. WE used the same stool on the farm in my memory back to the 1950's, my father used the same stool back to the 1920's and his father used the same stool back to the 1890's. And so did our neighbor farmers. Yes, this is my version of the "Lund stool". The Viking milking stool.
Here I turned it upside down to let you see underneath. As a farmers son, I also saw the bottoms of stools, after being kicked out of the stall for no reason what-so-ever! Buckets flying and milk splashing over everything!
And she turns to you and looks with a twinkle in her eye....
The table and stool's tops are all made of scrap poplar and the legs on the three legged stools are elm. The milking stools are about 13" high.
Here is a website that talks about making the Lund stool: