DOCSLIB.ORG

(Beads of the Viking-Age). a Study of the Social and Economic Patterns In

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
(Beads of the Viking-Age). a Study of the Social and Economic Patterns In Perler fra vikingtiden (Beads of the Viking-Age). A study of the social and economic patterns in the appearance of beads from Viking-Age sites in Britain. Megan Kathleen Hickey Master of Arts by Research University of York Archaeology September 2014 Abstract To date there has been no comprehensive, broad study of Viking-Age beads from sites in Britain. In order to fill this gap in Viking-Age literature, this study intends to present a characterisation of Viking-Age bead finds in Britain and an analysis of the social and economic processes which have influenced patterns in the appearance of this artefact type. In order to incorporate the widest dataset, this study has used finds from secondary literature on ‘Viking’ sites dating to the 9th to 12th century. This study aims to characterise the bead forms presented in the secondary literature and connect the resulting types to key ideas in academic discussions of the social and economic patterns during Viking-Age Scandinavia and Britain. To achieve this goal, this study aims to take a multi-scale approach to the study of Viking-Age bead types. Local, regional and global networks are considered in the presentation of the bead finds and the analysis of social and economic processes. Specifically, production, trade and use are highlighted as the most useful processes to analyse in this study. It is argued here that these processes have had the greatest influence on the patterns in the appearance of this artefact in the archaeological record. This study will demonstrate that patterns of bead finds shaped by production, trade and use can be used to highlight and discuss the close relationships between local and Viking World networks of communication and trade. II Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................. II List of Tables....................................................................................................................... VI List of Figures .................................................................................................................... VII List of Maps ........................................................................................................................ IX List of accompanying material .............................................................................................. X Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. XI Author’s Declaration .......................................................................................................... XII Chapter 1: Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1 Theoretical framework ....................................................................................................... 2 The Viking-Age in Britain .................................................................................................. 3 Vikings, Scandinavians and Anglo-Scandinavians ............................................................ 3 The Sources ........................................................................................................................ 4 Aims.................................................................................................................................... 7 Introduction to the material .............................................................................................. 10 The raw material ........................................................................................................... 10 The appearance of bead types in Scandinavia............................................................... 14 Summary ........................................................................................................................... 26 Chapter 2: Beads in the Viking World: Scandinavia and the West ..................................... 27 Studies of the Viking-Age beads in Scandinavia ............................................................. 27 Crafts, urbanism and trade in the Viking-Age .................................................................. 28 Burial sites: beads, society and burial rituals in Viking-Age Scandinavia ....................... 33 Beads in Britain: a literature review ................................................................................. 38 Typologies, and chronological phases of bead types the Anglo-Saxon period............. 38 Beads in Anglo-Saxon grave assemblages .................................................................... 40 The production of glass beads: Anglo-Saxon to Viking-Age England ......................... 41 The production of non-glass beads: identification of raw materials ............................. 45 Summary ........................................................................................................................... 46 Chapter 3: The Viking-Age in Britain: history and sites ..................................................... 47 Viking-Age Scotland ........................................................................................................ 47 Orkney and Shetland ..................................................................................................... 48 Caithness and Inverness ................................................................................................ 52 III The Hebrides and Argyll & Bute .................................................................................. 54 Dumfries & Galloway ................................................................................................... 56 Viking-Age Isle of Man .................................................................................................... 57 The Irish Sea system ......................................................................................................... 60 Viking-Age Wales ............................................................................................................ 61 Viking-Age England ......................................................................................................... 62 The Danelaw ................................................................................................................. 63 Summary ........................................................................................................................... 66 Chapter 4: Methodology ...................................................................................................... 68 Bead classifications .......................................................................................................... 68 Bead characterisation ........................................................................................................ 70 Raw Material ................................................................................................................. 71 Shape ............................................................................................................................. 72 Colour ............................................................................................................................ 75 Decoration ..................................................................................................................... 77 The production and trade of beads ................................................................................... 81 Beads in burial contexts .................................................................................................... 82 Summary ........................................................................................................................... 83 Chapter 5: Results ................................................................................................................ 84 The character of the assemblage ....................................................................................... 84 The raw material ........................................................................................................... 85 The glass types .............................................................................................................. 87 Production and trade ......................................................................................................... 96 Local resources and local production ............................................................................ 96 Locally produced vs. imported amber beads............................................................... 100 Evidence for importation............................................................................................. 103 Imported decorated glass bead types........................................................................... 104 Distribution ..................................................................................................................... 106 The distribution of amber beads .................................................................................. 107 The distribution of beads of jet and jet-like materials................................................. 109 Beads in the context of burial sites ................................................................................. 111 The use of beads as display goods .............................................................................. 111 IV The determination
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Safap October2016 Minutes Final
    Minutes of the meeting of THE SCOTTISH ARCHAEOLOGICAL FINDS ALLOCATION PANEL 10:45am, Thursday 27th October 2016 Present: Dr Evelyn Silber (Chair), Neil Curtis, Dr Murray Cook (via Skype), Jilly Burns (NMS), Paul MacDonald, Richard Welander (HES), Mary McLeod Rivett In attendance: Stuart Campbell (TTU), Dr Natasha Ferguson (TTU), Andrew Brown (QLTR Solicitor). Dr Natasha Ferguson took the minutes 1. Apologies Apologies from Jacob O’Sullivan (MGS). 2. Chair Remarks The Chair informed the panel that the QLTR had received a response from SG to a letter highlighting issues relating to increasing numbers of disclaimed cases. It was agreed the points would be discussed further at the Annual Review Meeting on 14th November. The panel agreed to form a sub-committee (of NC, JB, RW & AB) to deal with revisions of the Code of Practice in relation to multiple applications. The next date of the panel meeting confirmed as Thursday 23rd March 2017. Further dates in 2017 to be proposed. It is proposed that the number of meetings is reduced to three by combining the Annual Review meeting with a panel meeting. This will be discussed at the next Annual Review meeting on 14th November 2016. 3. Discussion of Galloway Hoard, valuations and timescales JB (NMS) was absent from this discussion. The panel were updated on the current status of the Galloway Hoard, including projected timescales for allocation. The panel also discussed the criteria for assessing the valuations. The 31st January 2017 was agreed as a proposed date to hold an extraordinary SAFAP meeting in relation to allocating the Galloway Hoard.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 the Effect of Scandinavian Raiders on the English and Irish Churches: a Preliminary Reassessment
    Cambridge University Press 052157319X - Britain and Ireland, 900–1300: Insular Responses to Medieval European Change Edited by Brendan Smith Excerpt More information 1 The effect of Scandinavian raiders on the English and Irish churches: a preliminary reassessment Alfred P. Smyth Assessments of the effects of Scandinavian raiders in the ninth and tenth centuries have focused for over three decades on an agenda set by revisionist historians ± an agenda which has obscured and sometimes trivialized many of the complex issues involved in an analysis of annal- istic and other records. An over-zealous approach, driven by a desire to show that Scandinavian raiders were not numerous and that they were no more destructive to church property and personnel than were the native Christian opposition, has too often led to conclusions which ¯y in the face of historical evidence and common sense. Revisionists must also take responsibility for polarizing historical arguments in relation to the destructive power of the Northmen. In their zeal to promote an image of Scandinavian raiders as yet one more political, cultural and religious grouping in Western Europe ± little different fromtheir Christian neighbours in most respects ± they either minimized evidence which did not ®t their preconceptions or else they distracted historians' attention away fromthose negative effects which Vikings wrought on Western society, to concentrate on the economic and material bene®ts which later Scandinavian colonists supposedly brought to a conquered people. At best, the books in `Viking' studies fail to balance: at worst they are intellectually cooked. The self-congratulatory mood of post-revisionists in medieval Irish studies gives cause for concern, not least because of serious shortcom- ings in the intellectual debate.1 There is little disagreement over the fact that in all parts of the Christian West, indigenous violent elements existed long before Northmen arrived in the ninth century, and I have long ago shown how several aspects of Norse kingship and warrior cults 1 See P.
    [Show full text]
  • A Survey of Leach's Petrels on Shetland in 2011
    Contents Scottish Birds 32:1 (2012) 2 President’s Foreword K. Shaw PAPERS 3 The status and distribution of the Lesser Whitethroat in Dumfries & Galloway R. Mearns & B. Mearns 13 The selection of tree species by nesting Magpies in Edinburgh H.E.M. Dott 22 A survey of Leach’s Petrels on Shetland in 2011 W.T.S. Miles, R.M. Tallack, P.V. Harvey, P.M. Ellis, R. Riddington, G. Tyler, S.C. Gear, J.D. Okill, J.G Brown & N. Harper SHORT NOTES 30 Guillemot with yellow bare parts on Bass Rock J.F. Lloyd & N. Wiggin 31 Reduced breeding of Gannets on Bass Rock in 2011 J. Hunt & J.B. Nelson 32 Attempted predation of Pink-footed Geese by a Peregrine D. Hawker 32 Sparrowhawk nest predation by Carrion Crow - unique footage recorded from a nest camera M. Thornton, H. & L. Coventry 35 Black-headed Gulls eating Hawthorn berries J. Busby OBITUARIES 36 Dr Raymond Hewson D. Jenkins & A. Watson 37 Jean Murray (Jan) Donnan B. Smith ARTICLES, NEWS & VIEWS 38 Scottish seabirds - past, present and future S. Wanless & M.P. Harris 46 NEWS AND NOTICES 48 SOC SPOTLIGHT: the Fife Branch K. Dick, I.G. Cumming, P. Taylor & R. Armstrong 51 FIELD NOTE: Long-tailed Tits J. Maxwell 52 International Wader Study Group conference at Strathpeffer, September 2011 B. Kalejta Summers 54 Siskin and Skylark for company D. Watson 56 NOTES AND COMMENT 57 BOOK REVIEWS 60 RINGERS’ ROUNDUP R. Duncan 66 Twelve Mediterranean Gulls at Buckhaven, Fife on 7 September 2011 - a new Scottish record count J.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Reconsidering Hair Combs in Early-Historic and Viking-Age Atlantic Scotland
    This is a repository copy of Combs, Contact and Chronology : Reconsidering Hair Combs in Early-Historic and Viking-Age Atlantic Scotland. White Rose Research Online URL for this paper: https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/10247/ Article: Ashby, S.P. orcid.org/0000-0003-1420-2108 (2009) Combs, Contact and Chronology : Reconsidering Hair Combs in Early-Historic and Viking-Age Atlantic Scotland. Medieval Archaeology. pp. 1-33. ISSN 0076-6097 https://doi.org/10.1179/007660909X12457506806081 Reuse Items deposited in White Rose Research Online are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved unless indicated otherwise. They may be downloaded and/or printed for private study, or other acts as permitted by national copyright laws. The publisher or other rights holders may allow further reproduction and re-use of the full text version. This is indicated by the licence information on the White Rose Research Online record for the item. Takedown If you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing [email protected] including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. [email protected] https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ Medieval Archaeology, 53, 2009 Combs, Contact and Chronology: Reconsidering Hair Combs in Early-Historic and Viking-Age Atlantic Scotland By STEVEN P ASHBY1 ANALYSIS OF AN important collection of bone/antler hair combs from Atlantic Scotland has illuminated the chronology of early-medieval Scandinavian settlement in the region. Application of a new typology, identification of variations in manufacturing practice and analysis of spatial patterning throw light on the development of combs traditionally seen as characteristic of early-historic Atlantic Scotland.
    [Show full text]
  • LCSH Section K
    K., Rupert (Fictitious character) Motion of K stars in line of sight Ka-đai language USE Rupert (Fictitious character : Laporte) Radial velocity of K stars USE Kadai languages K-4 PRR 1361 (Steam locomotive) — Orbits Ka’do Herdé language USE 1361 K4 (Steam locomotive) UF Galactic orbits of K stars USE Herdé language K-9 (Fictitious character) (Not Subd Geog) K stars—Galactic orbits Ka’do Pévé language UF K-Nine (Fictitious character) BT Orbits USE Pévé language K9 (Fictitious character) — Radial velocity Ka Dwo (Asian people) K 37 (Military aircraft) USE K stars—Motion in line of sight USE Kadu (Asian people) USE Junkers K 37 (Military aircraft) — Spectra Ka-Ga-Nga script (May Subd Geog) K 98 k (Rifle) K Street (Sacramento, Calif.) UF Script, Ka-Ga-Nga USE Mauser K98k rifle This heading is not valid for use as a geographic BT Inscriptions, Malayan K.A.L. Flight 007 Incident, 1983 subdivision. Ka-houk (Wash.) USE Korean Air Lines Incident, 1983 BT Streets—California USE Ozette Lake (Wash.) K.A. Lind Honorary Award K-T boundary Ka Iwi National Scenic Shoreline (Hawaii) USE Moderna museets vänners skulpturpris USE Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary UF Ka Iwi Scenic Shoreline Park (Hawaii) K.A. Linds hederspris K-T Extinction Ka Iwi Shoreline (Hawaii) USE Moderna museets vänners skulpturpris USE Cretaceous-Paleogene Extinction BT National parks and reserves—Hawaii K-ABC (Intelligence test) K-T Mass Extinction Ka Iwi Scenic Shoreline Park (Hawaii) USE Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children USE Cretaceous-Paleogene Extinction USE Ka Iwi National Scenic Shoreline (Hawaii) K-B Bridge (Palau) K-TEA (Achievement test) Ka Iwi Shoreline (Hawaii) USE Koro-Babeldaod Bridge (Palau) USE Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement USE Ka Iwi National Scenic Shoreline (Hawaii) K-BIT (Intelligence test) K-theory Ka-ju-ken-bo USE Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test [QA612.33] USE Kajukenbo K.
    [Show full text]
  • Camping Pocket Guide
    CONTENTS Get Ready for Camping 04 Add To Your Experience 07 Enjoy Family Picnics 08 Scenic Scotland 10 Visit National Parks 14 Amazing Wildlife 16 GET READY FOR CAMPING - Stargazing - Experience the freedom of a touring trip, where you can Sleeping under the stars is the perfect opportunity to wake up in a different part of the country every day. Or get familiar with the wonders of the sky at night. Plan enjoy a bit of luxury at a holiday park and spend a restful a camping trip to the Glentrool Camping and Caravan week in the comfy surrounds of a state-of-the-art static Site in the Galloway Forest Park, the UK’s first Dark Sky caravan, or pack in some fun activities with the kids. Park, or sail to Scotland’s first Dark Sky island. There’s There’s a camping and caravanning holiday in Scotland minimum light pollution on the Isle of Coll, where the to suit every preference and budget. nearest lamppost is 20 miles away! Start planning a break today and find your perfect Experience more stargazing opportunities and discover camping or caravanning destination. Scotland’s inky black skies on our website. - Stunning views - - Campsites near castles - Summer is the time to be spontaneous – pack the tent Why not combine your camping or caravanning trip into the car, head out onto the open road, and pitch up in with a bit of history and book a pitch in the grounds of a some beautiful locations. You’ll find campsites set below castle? You’ll find such camping grounds in many parts breathtaking mountain ranges, overlooking pristine of the country, from the impressive 18th century Culzean beaches, or in the middle of lush, open countryside.
    [Show full text]
  • Archaeological Excavations at Castle Sween, Knapdale, Argyll & Bute, 1989-90
    Proc Soc Antiq Scot, (1996)6 12 , 517-557 Archaeological excavation t Castlsa e Sween, Knapdale, Argyll & Bute, 1989-90 Gordon Ewart Triscottn Jo *& t with contributions by N M McQ Holmes, D Caldwell, H Stewart, F McCormick, T Holden & C Mills ABSTRACT Excavations Castleat Sween, Argyllin Bute,& have thrown castle of the history use lightthe on and from construction,s it presente 7200c th o t , day. forge A kilnsd evidencee an ar of industrial activity prior 1650.to Evidence rangesfor of buildings within courtyardthe amplifies previous descriptions castle. ofthe excavations The were funded Historicby Scotland (formerly SDD-HBM) alsowho supplied granta towards publicationthe costs. INTRODUCTION Castle Sween, a ruin in the care of Historic Scotland, stands on a low hill overlooking an inlet, Loch Sween, on the west side of Knapdale (NGR: NR 712 788, illus 1-3). Its history and architectural development have recently been reviewed thoroughl RCAHMe th y b y S (1992, 245-59) castle Th . e s theri e demonstrate havo dt e five major building phases datin c 1200 o earle gt th , y 13th century, c 1300 15te th ,h century 16th-17te th d an , h centur core y (illueTh . wor 120c 3) s f ko 0 consista f so small quadrilateral enclosure castle. A rectangular wing was added to its west face in the early 13th century. This win s rebuilgwa t abou t circulaa 1300 d an , r tower with latrinee grounth n o sd floor north-ease th o buils t n wa o t t enclosurcornee th 15te f o rth hn i ecentury l thesAl .
    [Show full text]
  • How Uniform Was the Old Norse Religion?
    II. Old Norse Myth and Society HOW UNIFORM WAS THE OLD NORSE RELIGION? Stefan Brink ne often gets the impression from handbooks on Old Norse culture and religion that the pagan religion that was supposed to have been in Oexistence all over pre-Christian Scandinavia and Iceland was rather homogeneous. Due to the lack of written sources, it becomes difficult to say whether the ‘religion’ — or rather mythology, eschatology, and cult practice, which medieval sources refer to as forn siðr (‘ancient custom’) — changed over time. For obvious reasons, it is very difficult to identify a ‘pure’ Old Norse religion, uncorroded by Christianity since Scandinavia did not exist in a cultural vacuum.1 What we read in the handbooks is based almost entirely on Snorri Sturluson’s representation and interpretation in his Edda of the pre-Christian religion of Iceland, together with the ambiguous mythical and eschatological world we find represented in the Poetic Edda and in the filtered form Saxo Grammaticus presents in his Gesta Danorum. This stance is more or less presented without reflection in early scholarship, but the bias of the foundation is more readily acknowledged in more recent works.2 In the textual sources we find a considerable pantheon of gods and goddesses — Þórr, Óðinn, Freyr, Baldr, Loki, Njo3rðr, Týr, Heimdallr, Ullr, Bragi, Freyja, Frigg, Gefjon, Iðunn, et cetera — and euhemerized stories of how the gods acted and were characterized as individuals and as a collective. Since the sources are Old Icelandic (Saxo’s work appears to have been built on the same sources) one might assume that this religious world was purely Old 1 See the discussion in Gro Steinsland, Norrøn religion: Myter, riter, samfunn (Oslo: Pax, 2005).
    [Show full text]
  • University of London Deviant Burials in Viking-Age
    UNIVERSITY OF LONDON DEVIANT BURIALS IN VIKING-AGE SCANDINAVIA Ruth Lydia Taylor M. Phil, Institute of Archaeology, University College London UMI Number: U602472 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U602472 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 ABSTRACT DEVIANT BURIALS IN VIKING-AGE SCANDINAVIA The thesis brings together information yielded from archaeology and other sources to provide an overall picture of the types of burial practices encountered during the Viking-Age in Scandinavia. From this, an attempt is made to establish deviancy. Comparative evidence, such as literary, runic, legal and folkloric evidence will be used critically to shed perspective on burial practices and the artefacts found within the graves. The thesis will mostly cover burials from the Viking Age (late 8th century to the mid- 11th century), but where the comparative evidence dates from other periods, its validity is discussed accordingly. Two types of deviant burial emerged: the criminal and the victim. A third type, which shows distinctive irregularity yet lacks deviancy, is the healer/witch burial.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 GENETIC JOYCE STUDIES – Issue 21 (Spring 2021) Source
    GENETIC JOYCE STUDIES – Issue 21 (Spring 2021) Source Emendations in Gem Thief, Notebook VI.B.1: Topography of Ireland and Handbook of the Ulster Question Viviana-Mirela Braslasu and Geert Lernout Gerard of Wales or Giraldus Cambrensis was a Welsh-Norman priest, clerk of Henry II and writer of scholarly works. As a relative of some of the Normans who had invaded Ireland a generation earlier he visited the island on a number of occasions and he wrote an account of the Norman invasion, preceded by what he called a Topographia, a description of Ireland and the Irish, which he considered a barbarous people, which in itself justified the Norman invasion. This is the first book about Ireland by a non-resident and as Joep Leerssen has demonstrated, it stands at the beginning of a long tradition of negative images of the Irish. Joyce refers to Cambrensis in A Portrait when Temple tells young Dedalus that his family is mentioned by Geraldus and in Ulysses when the Citizen claims that Cambrensis described the sophistication and wealth of the nation, especially its exports among which he includes wine, whereas Cambrensis explicitly says that contrary to what the Venerable Bede claimed, there are no vineyards in Ireland. It is clear that the material Joyce borrows from Cambrensis is the most fantastic and silly bits, such as that there are no mice, no earthquakes and ospreys that have a talon and a webbed foot. The second book was a very recent production, part of the Free State’s campaign over the lost province and its cultural, social and political role in a united Ireland.
    [Show full text]
  • The Norse Influence on Celtic Scotland Published by James Maclehose and Sons, Glasgow
    i^ttiin •••7 * tuwn 1 1 ,1 vir tiiTiv^Vv5*^M òlo^l^!^^ '^- - /f^K$ , yt A"-^^^^- /^AO. "-'no.-' iiuUcotettt>tnc -DOcholiiunc THE NORSE INFLUENCE ON CELTIC SCOTLAND PUBLISHED BY JAMES MACLEHOSE AND SONS, GLASGOW, inblishcre to the anibersitg. MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD., LONDON. New York, • • The Macmillan Co. Toronto, • - • The Mactnillan Co. of Canada. London, • . - Simpkin, Hamilton and Co. Cambridse, • Bowes and Bowes. Edinburgh, • • Douglas and Foults. Sydney, • • Angus and Robertson. THE NORSE INFLUENCE ON CELTIC SCOTLAND BY GEORGE HENDERSON M.A. (Edin.), B.Litt. (Jesus Coll., Oxon.), Ph.D. (Vienna) KELLY-MACCALLUM LECTURER IN CELTIC, UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW EXAMINER IN SCOTTISH GADHELIC, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON GLASGOW JAMES MACLEHOSE AND SONS PUBLISHERS TO THE UNIVERSITY I9IO Is buaine focal no toic an t-saoghail. A word is 7nore lasting than the world's wealth. ' ' Gadhelic Proverb. Lochlannaich is ànnuinn iad. Norsemen and heroes they. ' Book of the Dean of Lismore. Lochlannaich thi'eun Toiseach bhiir sgéil Sliochd solta ofrettmh Mhamiis. Of Norsemen bold Of doughty mould Your line of oldfrom Magnus. '' AIairi inghean Alasdair Ruaidh. PREFACE Since ever dwellers on the Continent were first able to navigate the ocean, the isles of Great Britain and Ireland must have been objects which excited their supreme interest. To this we owe in part the com- ing of our own early ancestors to these isles. But while we have histories which inform us of the several historic invasions, they all seem to me to belittle far too much the influence of the Norse Invasions in particular. This error I would fain correct, so far as regards Celtic Scotland.
    [Show full text]
  • Paviken Research Project 2013-2016 Investigation of a Viking Age Trading and Manufacturing Site on Gotland, Sweden
    Gotland Archaeological Field-school Paviken research project 2013-2016 Investigation of a Viking Age trading and manufacturing site on Gotland, Sweden Project plan Project Director Associate Professor Dan Carlsson Arendus Färjeleden 5c, 621 58 Visby Sweden. Tel. +46-498219999 www.gotland-fieldschool.com Email: [email protected] Cover picture: The head of a dress pin in the form of a dragons head. Found at Stånga, Gotland. Photo Dan Carlsson Harbours and trading in the Baltic Sea during the Viking Age - an introduction In our interpretation of prehistory we are highly influenced by the material we see in the landscape or by coincidences found during archaeological surveys, and we forget or neglect to take into account the hidden cultural landscape. This is particularly true when it comes to prehistory in Sweden. As we completely lack written sources before the 12th century (with the exception of runic inscriptions) we have to rely on archaeological field material. An example of this problem is the question of Viking Age trade and its associated port activities. Extensive Viking material from Gotland suggests that the island had a lively exchange with the surrounding regions at that time in its history. This is reflected in the existence of numerous silver hoards; no area in northern Europe has such a con- centration of silver from the Viking Age as Gotland. There are clear signs of an extensive and lively Staraya Sigtuna trade and exchange (or piracy, as Ladoga Birka some would argue), which in turn Kaupang required docking points, ports
    [Show full text]