Dan Carlin said in hardcore history 'blueprint for armageddon' that, when told by a friend who wished he could see what napoleon's curassiers would've actually looked like, Dan had replied that all he had to do was observe photos of many of the french cavalry in 1914. Dan explains that they had changed hardly at all in that period, still wearing the same plate armor, helmets and wielding (similar, probably not identical) swords.
I'm wondering if the sami people, at least up to a certain period in (relatively) recent history, were much in a similar vein to the ancient/early medieval norse. It may be impossible to know for sure, but the sami people that were unadjusted to modern civilization would've (I figure) had a primitive way of life.
I'm wondering how similar that primitive living could've been to the norse in terms of language, survival methods, general difficulties of living, and if there's archeological evidence to fuel any of this speculation of mine, or other citations?
Also, would the sami look like many of the ancient norse peoples? Or was scandinavia already too diverse in the early middle ages? When did the sami emerge as an identifiable ethnic grouping?
(To preface what I know is mostly restricted to Sami and Norse people in Norway)
Although certain cultural aspects could have been similar, it's important to note that the Sami peple and the Norse were two different cultures and ethnic peoples. Sami culture is more similar to arctic nomadic peoples whereas Norse culture was more comparable to Germanic culture of mainland Europe.
In terms of language the Sami language belongs to the Finno-Ugric language group while Norse belongs to the Germanic language group. We have primary sources of Norse language in the form of runes, and to hear an approximation of what Norse language may have sounded like you need only go to Iceland where they speak a language with more similarities to Old Norse than modern Scandinavian languages.
In terms of survival methods, general difficulties of living and so on the Sami were traditionally a semi-nomadic people who relied on reindeer for many of their needs. The Sami people followed their reindeer that mostly stuck to the northern reaches of modern-day Norway, Sweden and Finland. The Norse generally lived further south along the shore where agriculture was more viable.
What remains of traditional Sami culture today would most likely be more similar to the Sami culture around the time of the medieval Norse than the Medieval Norse would be similar to the Sami of the same period.
I could expand on this when I come home if nobody more qualified has gotten to this by then.