Throughout 2025, various social media accounts posted an image of what appeared to be a series of homes built into moss or grass. One version of the image (archived) posted by a Facebook page June 2 received nearly 70,000 reactions. The image was also posted by other Facebook accounts (archived), to Reddit (archived), to X (archived) and to Threads (archived).
The posts generally described the image as the same thing, some even using identical text: "These houses are in Norway, covered in moss, the heat never leaves, the cold only because it doesn't enter. This engineering was carried out by the ancient Viking inhabitants."
The image, however, was not of real houses built anywhere or by anyone. It was generated by artificial intelligence (AI).
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The oldest versions of the image Snopes could find through a reverse image search were in two places on
A quick scan of the archaeohistories account revealed that it has posted inauthentic content before. A May 13, 2025, post (archived) by the account included an image of a vaguely dragon-shaped rock formation with the glow of a campfire in the eye. However, a fact-check from Lead Stories in 2024 found that the glow seen in the picture later posted by the Threads account was edited into an image of a real rock formation in Egypt's Sinai Desert.
The most obvious indication the moss image was AI-generated was the appearance of the entrances to the homes. The shapes and features in the entryways were not clear, and some of the houses in the image appeared to even lack doors.
Two AI-detection websites, Sightengine and Hive, determined it was very likely the image was created using artificial intelligence. Hive said the likelihood it was AI-rated was 99.9%.
While not identical, the homes in the AI-generated image were similar to real homes built by Vikings, most commonly in Iceland but also in Norway. Most Viking homes were made of timber, but some were built of turf when wood was scarce, according to a website managed by the archaeological museum of the University of Stavanger in Norway.
Iceland Tours, a travel agency local to Iceland, explained that the Vikings turned to turf housing on the island after deforesting much of it.
"At this time, turf roofs were already common in Norway, where most of the settlers came from," Iceland Tours wrote. "They knew this building material offered better insulation from the cold than wood or stone."
Guide to Iceland, another Icelandic travel agency, also said that turf housing began after deforestation of the island.
"As the forests vanished, turf houses in Iceland evolved into complexes of smaller buildings linked by tunnels — a practical way to conserve heat and minimize the use of wood," Guide to Iceland said.
Both Iceland Tours and Guide to Iceland included photos of Icelandic turf houses on their websites. Photos of Norwegian houses with grass roofs could be found on iStock and alamy. The Norwegian houses generally did not look as built into the land and turf as the ones in the AI-generated image and some of the houses in Iceland.