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Vikings (Medieval Studies)

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  1. Introduction
  2.  
  3. The Viking Age spans the period from approximately 750 to 1100 CE in the Nordic countries of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. The name “Viking” is used to refer to the inhabitants of Scandinavia and its colonies during the early medieval period, even though the name originally most likely referred only to sea-pirates from Scandinavia. Much of the research on the Vikings has focused on three great narratives of the Viking Age: expansion through raids, trade, and settlement; the beginnings of political unification of the three Scandinavian nations; and the Christianization of these kingdoms. The Viking incursions into The British Isles began late in the 8th century, and in the 9th century, Vikings pushed farther west to The North Atlantic and North America, south along the coast of the European continent, and east to Russia and The East and beyond, even into Central Asia. By the 12th century, Scandinavia is Christianized and the Viking Age is over. This list of works focuses on Material Culture and the Historical Sources of the Viking Age rather than the 12th- and 13th-century medieval literature of Scandinavia and Iceland, except for brief mention of Eddic literature that may contain information from earlier times and has been influential for the study of the Vikings.
  4.  
  5. General Overviews
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  7. Numerous overviews of the Viking Age have been written for general and scholarly readers, including a large number by journalists and amateur enthusiasts. There is no paucity of works about the Viking world written in English, although much of the Anglophone literature has a Western bent, focusing on Viking raids and settlement in the British Isles. Many books have the same or very similar titles (e.g., The Viking, The Vikings, The Viking World, The World of the Vikings, A History of the Vikings), which can become confusing.
  8.  
  9. Classic Works
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  11. All of the following books are by specialists in the field. Arbman 1962 and Brøndsted 1965, by Swedish and Danish academics, respectively, examine the foundations of the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, while works by English-speaking authors (Jones 1984, Kendrick 1930, Sawyer 1972, Sawyer 1982) focus on the Viking expansion and settlement in the British Isles, whereas Roesdahl 1998 places more emphasis on Scandinavia. Foote and Wilson 1980 is a collaboration that achieves a synthesis emphasizing both written sources and material culture.
  12.  
  13. Arbman, Holger. The Vikings. Translated by Alan Binns. Ancient Peoples and Places 21. London: Thames and Hudson, 1962.
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  15. Features background of Vikings at home in Scandinavia, particularly the trading towns of Birka in Sweden, Hedeby in southern Jutland, and Kaupang in Norway, but devotes about half of the book to the Vikings abroad. Arbman, who was Professor of Archaeology at the University of Lund, places material culture into its historical context. Revised edition; originally published in 1961.
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  17. Brøndsted, Johannes. The Vikings. Translated by Kalle Skov. New York: Penguin, 1965.
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  19. English translation of Vikingerne, first published in 1960. Former professor at the University of Copenhagen discusses the Viking expansion abroad, the development of the Scandinavian kingdoms, and the Christianization of Scandinavia. Material culture of weapons and tools, costume and jewelry, ships, towns, and coins as well as numismatics and art is placed into the context of the written sources.
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  21. Foote, Peter G., and David M. Wilson. The Viking Achievement: The Society and Culture of Early Medieval Scandinavia. 2d ed. Great Civilizations Series. London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1980.
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  23. Synthesis written jointly by Foote, a literary scholar, and Wilson, an archaeologist and art historian. Viking Age culture presented as a world civilization, stressing common Scandinavian features of literature, language, and material culture. Comprehensive yet selective coverage.
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  25. Jones, Gwyn. A History of the Vikings. 2d ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1984.
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  27. Well-written, highly readable history by Welsh scholar of the history of Nordic literature. Detailed and comprehensive account focusing on the Vikin expansion both east and west as revealed by written sources.
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  29. Kendrick, T. D. A History of the Vikings. London: Frank Cass, 1930.
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  31. By former director of the British Museum, known for his studies of Anglo-Saxon and Viking art and archaeology. Old but useful and readable overview. Focuses on Viking expansion abroad and looks to archaeology to embellish what is known from written sources.
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  33. Roesdahl, Else. The Vikings. 2d ed. Translated by Susan M. Margeson and Kirsten Williams. London: Penguin, 1998.
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  35. Professor of archaeology at the University Aarhus, Denmark, foregrounds material culture and reflects the Scandinavian perspective that focuses on life at home in Scandinavia with only about one-third of the book on the Viking expansion and adventures abroad. English translation of Vikingernes Verden, first published in 1987.
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  37. Sawyer, Peter H. The Age of the Vikings. 2d ed. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 1972.
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  39. Overview by former professor of history at the University of Leeds in England, based on written sources, especially about raids and settlement in the British Isles and on the Continent. Downplays importance of archaeological material. Influential work that questions previous assumption about written sources.
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  41. Sawyer, Peter H. Kings and Vikings: Scandinavia and Europe AD 700–1100. London: Methuen, 1982.
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  43. Sequel to Sawyer 1972. Brief examination of Viking piracy in western Europe and the Christianization of Scandinavia. Studies how kings gained power and were supported by loyal retainers, especially in Viking settlements outside of Scandinavia.
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  45. Textbooks, Recent Overviews, and Miscellaneous Viewpoints
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  47. Recent works present variations on the themes of Viking expansion, Christianization, and the foundation of the Scandinavian kingdoms. Arnold 2007 and Logan 2005 are marketed as textbooks in the United States, and Forte, et al. 2005 was also written as a course book. Wilson 1980 differs from the other works in examining the background to the Vikings, while Forte, et al. 2005 extends coverage to the period after the Vikings. Wilson 1980 and Capelle 1988 both examine Viking art, and Hall 2007 includes recent archaeological discoveries. Capelle, Hall, and Wilson are archaeologists, Arnold is a literary historian, and Christiansen, Ferguson, Logan, and Forte, et al. are all historians. Logan 2005 covers the usual topic of Viking expansion, while Forte, et al. 2005 broadens the European coverage, and Ferguson 2009 is even more comprehensive, adding brief coverage of the Middle East. Christiansen 2002 takes the most independent approach, questioning the classic sources.
  48.  
  49. Arnold, Martin. The Vikings: Wolves of War. Critical Issues in History. Lanham, MD: Rowman Littlefield, 2007.
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  51. Brief survey by senior lecturer in early medieval literature at the University of Hull. Covers historical and archaeological sources seen in the context of literary history. First half on Viking culture; second half on Viking expansion, with strong focus on pirates and warlords. More emphasis on France than other overviews. Limited bibliography but with recommended readings listed at the end of each chapter.
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  53. Capelle, Torsten. Die Wikinger. 2d ed. Kultur- und Kunstgeschchte in Grundzügen. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1988.
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  55. Professor emeritus of archaeology at Münster presents archaeology as culture-history. Covers the usual topics of plunder and trade but with emphasis on material culture. Final third of the book on the art of the Vikings at home and abroad. In German.
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  57. Christiansen, Eric. The Norsemen in the Viking Age. Peoples of Europe. Oxford: Blackwell, 2002.
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  59. Skeptical of much research on Vikings, stresses archaeological over textual sources. Brings an anthropological perspective to Viking history, crediting Vikings with being resourceful in the face of challenging environments. With an insightful and sometimes irreverent twenty-four-page summary of recent research in an appendix.
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  61. Ferguson, Robert. The Vikings: A History. New York: Penguin, 2009.
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  63. Ferguson’s thesis is that Viking incursions were retaliation for Carolingian attempt to Christianize the Danes. Besides covering the usual topics of Viking raids and settlement, Christianization, and nation-building, Ferguson also features Viking contacts in the Mediterranean and with Muslims, as well as genetics. Each chapter has footnotes, and author carefully points out limitations of sources.
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  65. Forte, Angelo, Richard Oram, and Frederik Pedersen. Viking Empires. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
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  67. Sets the Viking expansion into a wide perspective and long span of time, continuing into the 13th century. Concludes with the integration of Scandinavia into European history. Special interest in the development of Viking ships and navigation. Authors teach on the Vikings at the University of Aberdeen. Has been criticized for many errors and insufficient coverage of Scandinavia.
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  69. Hall, Richard. The World of the Vikings. London: Thames and Hudson, 2007.
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  71. Survey by archaeologist who excavated Viking town of York (Jorvik), England. Comprehensive with strong emphasis on material culture and development of Viking towns, yet traditional in its focus on Viking raids and settlement abroad and the development of kingships in the three Scandinavian countries. Well illustrated with photographs and drawings. Includes a gazetteer of museums that contain Viking artifacts from Turkey to Canada.
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  73. Logan, F. Donald. The Vikings in History. 3d ed. London: Routledge, 2005.
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  75. Emphasizes the Viking expansion to the West. Often used as a textbook for Viking history courses. Each chapter concludes with suggestions for further reading, which have been updated in the third edition.
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  77. Wilson, David M. The Vikings and Their Origins: Scandinavia in the First Millennium. 2d ed. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1980.
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  79. Focuses on material culture and art. Differs from other works by covering the prelude to the Vikings back to the Roman Iron Age. Heavily illustrated.
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  81. Bibliographies
  82.  
  83. Syrett 2004 is an extremely comprehensive bibliography, especially on historical topics; others are discipline based and more limited in scope. BONIS features language and literature but also is useful for history and archaeology. Nordic Archaeological Abstracts was an excellent bibliography for archaeology but regrettably has been discontinued. Bekker-Nielsen 1967 covers literary history, and Lindow 1988 includes literature on Nordic mythology. Deshman 1984 is a specialized bibliography that includes Viking art in the British isles.
  84.  
  85. Bekker-Nielsen, Hans. Old Norse-Icelandic Studies: A Select Bibliography. Toronto Medieval Bibliographies 1. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1967.
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  87. Very dated, though complete for its time, including works in English and German. Covers texts, background material, and a section on the study of language.
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  89. BONIS (Bibliography of Old Norse-Icelandic Studies).
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  91. Focuses on Old Norse language and literature, but also covers selective publications on runology, history, and archaeology. Produced in print from 1963 to 1983 by the Royal Library in Copenhagen; superseded by the electronic database covering scholarship from 1984. Easy to use.
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  93. Deshman, Robert. Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Scandinavian Art: An Annotated Bibliography. Reference Publications in Art History. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1984.
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  95. Small section on Anglo-Scandinavian ivory, bone, and woodcarvings; some Viking material also under headings “brooches,” “swords,” and “minor objects” in “metal” section. More extensive coverage of Viking art in the last two sections, “stone sculpture” and “Anglo-Scandinavian art.”
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  97. Lindow, John. Scandinavian Mythology: An Annotated Bibliography. Garland Folklore Bibliographies 13. New York and London: Garland, 1988.
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  99. Extensive bibliography by professor of folklore at the University of California, Berkeley. Entries listed alphabetically according to authors, followed by index of topics.
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  101. Nordic Archaeological Abstracts.
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  103. Extensive bibliography of archaeology and related disciplines. Print volumes covering years 1974–2000, with the last one published in 2004. Online database still fully searchable by former subscribers and partly accessible to all. Excellent coverage of publications in the Scandinavian languages with brief summaries in English.
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  105. Syrett, Martin. Scandinavian History in the Viking Age: A Select Bibliography. 3d ed. Revised by Haki Anderson and Jonathan Grove. ASNC Guides, Texts, and Studies 2. Cambridge, UK: Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic, 2004.
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  107. Covers pre-Viking through the Medieval Period focusing on history and literature but also archaeology, art, mythology, and religion. Anglocentric emphasis, but includes comparative Merovinigan, Frankish, Russian, Byzantine, and Islamic primary sources as well as classical authors. Includes articles in journals, proceedings, and anthologies. Entries not annotated, but each section preceded by a short note.
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  109. Reference Works
  110.  
  111. Popular reference works intended for Anglophone students include Haywood 1995, Haywood 2000, and Holman 2003. The more scholarly works Lindow 2001 and Simek 1993 cover Scandinavian mythology. Pulsiano 1993 is a hefty one-volume tome by dozens of authors, strongest on written sources. Brøndsted, et al. 1956–1978 and Jankuhn, et al. 1968–2008 are multivolume works by generations of scholars with comprehensive coverage of Nordic culture and history.
  112.  
  113. Brøndsted, Johannes, John Danstrup, and Lis Rubin Jacobsen, eds. Kulturhistorisk leksikon for nordisk middelalder fra vikingetid til reformationstid. 22 vols. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde and Bagger, 1956–1978.
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  115. Comprehensive signed articles with bibliographies. Very informative but dated. Focuses on written sources from the Viking Age and later Middle Ages but also covers history, archaeology, mythology, religion, etc. General editor of later volumes was John Danstrup. In Scandinavian languages.
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  117. Haywood, John. The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Vikings. New York: Penguin Putnam, 1995.
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  119. Extensive use of maps to illuminate two-page spreads on a broad range of Viking topics, including the Viking expansion (especially the British Isles) but also sites in Scandinavia, including the distribution of Viking towns and ship burials. Some maps of the North Atlantic and Central Asia are shown from unusual cartographic projections that allow the viewer to consider these areas with a fresh perspective. Comparative timeline.
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  121. Haywood, John. Encyclopaedia of the Viking Age. New York: Thames and Hudson, 2000.
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  123. Coverage of historical, archaeological, and mythological sources in an inexpensive, modestly sized book. Extensive cross-referencing but no bibliographic citations for entries. Concludes with chronology and minimal suggestions for further reading. Criticized for spelling errors and inconsistencies.
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  125. Holman, Katherine. Historical Dictionary of the Vikings. Historical Dictionaries of Ancient Civilizations and Historical Eras. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2003.
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  127. Begins with a chronology and introduction; concludes with list of pertinent museums. Dictionary key words focus on historical and mythological figures, battles, and written sources. Extensive bibliography (pp. 303–378), with a five-page narrative bibliographic essay by Holman (formerly at the University of Hull).
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  129. Jankuhn, Herbert, Heinrich Beck, et al. Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde. 37 vols. 2d ed. Berlin and New York: de Gruyter, 1968–2008.
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  131. Second edition begun by Johnnes Hoops (1911–1919). Comprehensive encyclopedia covering cultural, historical, and religious topics relating to Germanic antiquity through the 12th century CE. Thirty-five volumes of critical articles, signed and with detailed bibliographies. Two index volumes (36–37) published in 2008. Recent volumes edited by Heinrich Beck, Dieter Geuenich, and Heiko Steuer. In German.
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  133. Lindow, John. Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
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  135. Introduction and short chapter on “Time,” then 279 pages of names of mythological figures and topics arranged alphabetically. Suggestions for further reading accompany some entries. Concludes with section on resources.
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  137. Pulsiano, Philip, ed. Medieval Scandinavia: An Encyclopedia. Garland Encyclopedias of the Middle Ages 1. New York: Garland, 1993.
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  139. Academically oriented, comprehensive coverage of medieval Scandinavia from the Migration Period (5th century CE) through the Reformation, including the Viking Age. Especially strong on literary material including the sagas but also covers cultural and historical topics. From broad overviews to short, specific entries, written by scholars in relevant fields, all with bibliographic citations.
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  141. Simek, Rudolf. Dictionary of Northern Mythology. Translated by Angela Hall. Cambridge, UK: D. S. Brewer, 1993.
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  143. Popular reference for Germanic mythology including Nordic but also Anglo-Saxon. Some entries with extensive references; with a bibliography. Updated from German edition. English translation of Lexikon der germanischen Mythologie, first published in 1984.
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  145. Journals and Series
  146.  
  147. Several periodicals specifically cover the Viking Age. The most venerable is the Saga-Book of the Viking Society for Northern Research, which is now available online. It is interesting to note that the journals dealing with an ancient form of writing, runic inscriptions (Nytt om runer and Futhark), are online and that the newest volume of the aperiodic series on runic matters (Runrön) is also available online. The publications of the Tværfaglige Vikingesymposier and Viking and Medieval Scandinavia are interdisciplinary, while Viking deals with Norwegian archaeology. Mediaeval Scandinavia and Saga-Book both focus on literary material.
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  149. Futhark: International Journal of Runic Studies. 2010–.
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  151. New online (open source) journal edited by James E. Knirk at the Archives at the Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo, and Henrik Williams at the Runic Forum at the Department of Scandinavian Languages, Uppsala University. First volume is the proceedings of the 2005 International Runic Symposium. Articles in English and German.
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  153. Mediaeval Scandinavia. Vols. 1–13. Odense, Denmark: Odense University Press, 1968–2000.
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  155. Covers the Viking Age and medieval period in Scandinavia and Iceland. Many articles on Old Icelandic literature. Irregular timing in the later years. Vol. 14. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2004.
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  157. Nytt om runer: Meldingsblad om runeforskning. 19 vols. Oslo, Norway: Runic Archives, Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo, 1985–2006.
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  159. An annual newsletter on runic inscriptions, no longer published. Vols. 16–19 online. In the Scandinavian languages, German, and English.
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  161. Runrön. Vols. 1–20. Uppsala, Sweden: Institutionen för nordiska språk, Uppsala Universitet, 1989–.
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  163. Monographs and collected papers on runology. In Swedish, German, and English. Vol. 20 (2010) is available in full text online.
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  165. Saga-Book of the Viking Society for Northern Research. Vols. 1–33. London: Viking Society for Northern Research, 1895–.
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  167. Classic source. All but the most recent two years are available online, as well as the Dorothea Coke Memorial Lectures, a text series, studies, and miscellaneous publications. Focuses on literature and history but also includes archaeology. For many years, each volume covered three years.
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  169. Tværfaglige Vikingesymposier. Højbjerg, Denmark: Forlaget Hikuin. 1982–.
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  171. The universities of Odense, Aarhus, Copenhagen, and Kiel sponsor an annual interdisciplinary conference, each with a specific theme. In English, German, and the Scandinavian languages.
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  173. Viking and Medieval Scandinavia. Vols. 1–5. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2005–.
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  175. Multidisciplinary journal that covers studies chronologically from the Viking Age to the end of the medieval period.
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  177. Viking: Tidsskrift for nørron arkeologi. Vols. 1–73. Oslo, Norway: Norsk arkeologisk selskap, 1937–.
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  179. Specializes in popular yet scholarly articles about Norwegian archaeology for the general audience in Norway. In Norwegian with English summaries.
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  181. Collected Works
  182.  
  183. Much information can be found in collected works of various types: Exhibition Catalogues, Anthologies, and proceedings of The Viking Congresses and Other Congresses and Symposia. Such volumes of collected works contain individual papers ranging across several disciplines and geographic areas that are too numerous to cite in this article.
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  185. Exhibition Catalogues
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  187. Popular blockbuster exhibitions of Vikings every decade or so have been accompanied by lavishly illustrated catalogues. Two catalogues were produced for the 1981–1982 exhibitions in New York, Minneapolis, and London—a popular work (Graham-Campbell and Kidd 1980) and a huge academic tome (Graham-Campbell 1980). The European exhibition sponsored by the Nordic Council of Ministers and The Council of Europe (Roesdahl and Wilson 1992) surpassed even the previous one in size and scope of the catalogue. Later projects were somewhat smaller and more focused on specific regions—the Smithsonian (Fitzhugh and Ward 2000) fittingly emphasized the North American development of Viking expansion, whereas the Rhine-Meuse exhibition (Willemsen 2004) brought attention to the lesser-known impact of the Vikings on the Continent. Philpott 1990 focuses on the Irish Sea area and numismatics. Finally, a small catalogue on the nationalistic use of Viking mythology breaks new ground for studying the Viking image in Western imagination (Wilson 1997).
  188.  
  189. Fitzhugh, William W., and Elisabeth I. Ward, eds. Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 2000.
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  191. Exhibition timed to celebrate the 1000th anniversary of Leif Eriksson reaching North America. First third covers Viking background in Scandinavia and Europe; the remainder follows the Viking expansion and settlement in Iceland, Greenland, and North America, even beyond the Viking Age. By leading European and North American experts. Extensive bibliography.
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  193. Graham-Campbell, James. Viking Artefacts: A Select Catalogue. London: British Museum, 1980.
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  195. Detailed and fully illustrated catalogue of 540 objects exhibited in New York, Minneapolis, and London in 1981–1982. References for each object that had been previously published, with full bibliography and concordance of British Museum exhibition and catalogue numbers.
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  197. Graham-Campbell, James, and Dafydd Kidd. The Vikings. New York: William Morrow, 1980.
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  199. Popular catalogue to accompany the 1981–1982 exhibition in New York, Minneapolis, and London. Viking culture at home and abroad through chapters on material culture and the representation of Nordic mythology in art. Concludes with list of 553 objects in the exhibit arranged according to thematic arrangement, listing provenance, size, and museum inventory number for each. Large color illustrations throughout.
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  201. Philpott, Fiona A. A Silver Saga: Viking Treasure from the North West. Edited by James Graham-Campbell. Liverpool, UK: National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside, 1990.
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  203. An exhibition in Liverpool to commemorate the discovery of the silver hoard at Cuerdale, Lancashire. Shows the significance of the entire Irish Sea area. Detailed catalogue including numerous coins in the collection at Liverpool and borrowed from museums across the British Isles and Scandinavia. Lavishly illustrated.
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  205. Roesdahl, E., and David M. Wilson, eds. From Viking to Crusader: The Scandinavians and Europe 800–1200. New York: Rizzoli, 1992.
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  207. Accompanies 1992–1993 exhibition in Paris, Berlin, and Copenhagen. The first part contains miscellaneous articles by leading experts on contacts between Scandinavia and other regions, cultural topics, and artifacts. The last half is a catalogue of 617 artifacts in the exhibition, lent from 85 institutions. Extensive bibliography plus a separate bibliography for the catalogue written by more than 100 authors.
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  209. Willemsen, Annemarieke. Vikings!—Raids in the Rhine/Meuse Region 800–1000. Translated by Gerard Forde. Utrecht, The Netherlands: Centraal Museum, 2004.
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  211. English translation of Wikinger am Rhein, 800–1000, 2004. For an exhibition in Bonn, Roskilde, and Utrecht. Focus on Viking interactions (raiding and trading) with the Frankish Empire but also contains the usual chapters on the Vikings at home and abroad and emphasis on shipping, especially on the Rhine.
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  213. Wilson, David M. Vikings and Gods in European Art. Højbjerg, Denmark: Møesgård Museum, 1997.
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  215. Documents an exhibition in Århus, York, and Nottingham on the classicized and romanticized use of Viking mythological imagery in nationalistic European painting, mostly 19th century, but also use of the Nordic past in 20th-century Nazi symbolism.
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  217. Anthologies
  218.  
  219. Almgren 1978, Graham-Campbell 1989, and Graham-Campbell 1994 are well-illustrated coffee-table books. Almgren focuses on material culture, and Graham-Campbell includes useful maps and ancillary features. Helle 2003 and Sawyer 1997 cover political organization from the conventional standpoint of historians. Scholarly compendia include Farrell 1982, an early anthology that is uneven but has some contributions of enduring value. Brink and Price 2008 is the most comprehensive scholarly anthology and the latest word on the standard subjects of expansion, kingship, and Christianization as well as on a wide range of cultural topics by international experts. Skibsted Klæsøe 2010 is narrower in scope than Brink but breaks new ground on Continental topics.
  220.  
  221. Almgren, Bertil, Torsten Capelle Jr., Arne Emil Christensen, et al. The Viking. New York: Crescent, 1978.
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  223. A lavishly illustrated popular book covering exploration and conquest but also with thematic coverage of cultural topics, including numerous original drawings inspired by archaeological finds, including costumes. Almgren, former professor at Uppsala University, is identified as chief contributor and advisory expert, but contributions of fourteen collaborating specialists are not individually credited. Thorough, although dated, bibliographies on each section. English translation of Vikingen. First published in 1967, but still in print.
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  225. Brink, Stefan, and Neil Price, eds. The Viking World. London: Routledge, 2008.
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  227. Comprehensive work by dozens of emerging and established scholars. The first half of the book deals with cultural history including urbanism, technology, trade, warfare, religion, language, literature, and art of the Viking Age in Scandinavia. The next section covers the Viking expansion into the British Isles, continental Europe, the Baltic, Russia, and the North Atlantic. Concludes with Christianization and state formation. Articles include bibliographies.
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  229. Farrell, R. T., ed. The Vikings. London: Phillmore, 1982.
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  231. Papers on art, archaeology, and literature from Cornell University lecture series for exhibition touring the United States in 1980–1981. Includes Gwyn Jones on the Vikings in North America, Peter Sawyer on “The Causes of the Viking Age,” Patrick Wormald on “Viking Studies: Whence and Whither?,” and Rosemary Cramp on the image of the Vikings in art.
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  233. Graham-Campbell, James, ed. The Viking World. 2d ed. New Haven, CT: Ticknor and Fields, 1989.
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  235. Well-illustrated popular presentation of the Vikings at home and abroad. Chapters on Viking expansion and political organization as well as art. Foreword by David Wilson, with contributions by Sean McGrail on ships, R. I. Page on runes, and Christine Fell on mythology.
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  237. Graham-Campbell, James, ed. Cultural Atlas of the Viking World. New York: Facts on File, 1994.
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  239. The term “atlas” is a misnomer, although the work contains numerous maps as well as boxed features on specific sites and topics with excellent illustrations. Chapters on the background of the Vikings, cultural life in Viking Age Scandinavia, the Viking expansion, and Christianization and the development of kingdoms. Authors are listed on the title page, but individual contributions are not credited.
  240. Find this resource:
  241. Helle, Knut, ed. The Cambridge History of Scandinavia. Vol. 1, Prehistory to 1520. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
  242. DOI: 10.1017/CHOL9780521472999Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  243. Scholarly history edited by professor emeritus at the University of Bergen; pp. 105–342 relevant for Viking studies, mostly on political organization. Conservative coverage in “From Vikings to Kings” on Viking expansion, Christianization, and state formation, written by established international scholars, including Peter Sawyer and Else Roesdahl. “Material Growth,” on demography as well as rural and urban settlement, covers less-traveled ground
  244. Find this resource:
  245. Sawyer, Peter, ed. The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997.
  246. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  247. Strong emphasis on written sources, focusing on Viking raids on the British Isles and the Frankish Empire as well as contacts with Russia. Also includes chapters on ships, religion, and the legacy of the Vikings. Contributions by leading international specialists with useful chapter bibliographies with brief annotations.
  248. Find this resource:
  249. Skibsted Klæsøe, Iben, ed. Viking Trade and Settlement in Continental Western Europe. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum, 2010.
  250. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  251. Concerns the largely overlooked contact of Vikings with Frisia, the lower Rhine, and Normandy and Viking artifacts preserved in Continental churches. From archaeological as well as written sources, including evidence from ships, coins, settlement, and burials. By Continental and Scandinavian scholars. Extensive bibliographies for each chapter.
  252. Find this resource:
  253. The Viking Congresses
  254.  
  255. The interdisciplinary Viking Congress has been held every third or fourth year since 1950, in Scandinavia or the British Isles. The congress is an important venue for discussion of the latest theories and current investigations, often (but not always) focusing on the region in which the congress is held. The papers often appear in the proceedings before they are published more fully elsewhere, and they make research by Scandinavian scholars available to an Anglophone audience. The most recent volumes published are for the eighth Congress in Århus (Bekker-Nielsen, et al. 1981), the ninth on the Isle of Man (Fell, et al. 1983), the tenth in Larkollen, Norway (Knirk 1987), the eleventh in Thurso and Kirkwall, Scotland (Batey, et al. 1993), the twelfth at Hässleby castle in Sweden (Ambrosiani and Clarke 1994), the thirteenth in Nottingham and York (Graham-Campbell, et al. 2001), the fourteenth in the Faroe Islands (Mortensen and Arge 2005), and the fifteenth in Cork (Sheehan and Ó Corráin 2010).
  256.  
  257. Ambrosiani, Björn, and Helen Clarke, eds. Developments around the Baltic and the North Sea in the Viking Age: Proceedings of the Twelfth Viking Congress, 28 August–2 September 1989. Birka Studies 3. Stockholm: Riksantikvarieämbetet and Statens Historiska Museer, 1994.
  258. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  259. Papers focus on urbanization and settlement, numismatics, and language borrowings.
  260. Find this resource:
  261. Batey, Colleen E., Judith Jesch, and Christopher D. Morris, eds. The Viking Age in Caithness, Orkney and the North Atlantic: Select Papers from the Proceedings of the Eleventh Viking Congress, Thurso and Kirkwall, 22 August–1 September 1989. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1993.
  262. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  263. Papers are closely focused on Scotland, Orkney, Shetland, and the Faroe Islands.
  264. Find this resource:
  265. Bekker-Nielsen, Hans, Peter Foote, and Olaf Olsen, eds. Proceedings of the Eighth Viking Congress: Århus 24–31 August 1977. Mediaeval Scandinavia Supplements 2. Odense, Denmark: Odense University Press, 1981.
  266. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  267. Papers on various topics without a unifying theme.
  268. Find this resource:
  269. Fell, Christine, Peter Foote, James Graham-Campbell, Robert Thomson, eds. The Viking Age in the Isle of Man: Select Papers from the Ninth Viking Congress, Isle of Man, 4–14 July 1981. London: Viking Society for Northern Research, 1983.
  270. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  271. All of the papers deal with the Isle of Man.
  272. Find this resource:
  273. Graham-Campbell, James, Richard Hall, Judith Jesch, and David N. Parsons, eds. Vikings and the Danelaw: Select Papers from the Proceedings of the Thirteenth Viking Congress, Nottingham and York, 21–30 August 1997. Oxford: Oxbow, 2001.
  274. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  275. Published papers emphasize the Danelaw, the part of England controlled by the “Danes” (Scandinavians) during the Viking Age.
  276. Find this resource:
  277. Knirk, James E., ed. Proceedings of the Tenth Viking Congress, Larkollen, Norway, 1985. Universitetets Oldsaksamlings Skrifter, ny rekke 9. Oslo, Norway: Universitetets Oldsaksamling, 1987.
  278. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  279. A festschrift for Charlotte Blindheim, focusing on the Viking Age in eastern Norway and the area around the Oslo Fjord, but also containing papers on other topics. Contains an often-cited paper by Finn Hødnebø, “Who Were the First Vikings?,” on the meaning of the word “Viking.”
  280. Find this resource:
  281. Mortensen, Andras, and Símun V. Arge, eds. Viking and Norse in the North Atlantic. Select Papers from the Proceedings of the Fourteenth Viking Congress, Tórshavn, 19–30 July 2001. Annales Societatis Scientiarum Færoensis Supplementum 44. Tórshavn, Faroe Islands: Føroya Fróðskaparfelag, 2005.
  282. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  283. Most papers deal with the North Atlantic Viking colonies, including the Faroe Islands, Shetland, Orkney, Scotland, Ireland, Iceland, and Greenland.
  284. Find this resource:
  285. Sheehan, John, and Donnchadh Ó Corráin, eds. The Viking Age: Ireland and the West: Proceedings of the Fifteenth Viking Congress. Dublin, Ireland: Four Courts, 2010.
  286. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  287. Many but by no means all of these papers focus on Ireland.
  288. Find this resource:
  289. Other Congresses and Symposia
  290.  
  291. Proceedings from congresses and symposia often present the latest research before it is published more fully elsewhere. Preprints from two of the last three meetings of the International Saga Conference, which meets periodically worldwide, are available on the Internet (Barnes and Ross 2000; Ney, et al. 2009), displaying a broad range of topics relating to Viking studies. Lindquist 1985 brings attention to the wide geographic range of Viking scholarship, from the British Isles to Eastern Europe. Samson 1991 broke new ground with innovative social approaches to archaeological and textual sources. Discussion by conference participants in Jesch 2002 is more illuminating than the papers themselves. Recent proceedings (Adams and Holman 2004; Hines 2004; Andrén, et al. 2006) provide a good cross-section of current scholarship on Viking studies.
  292.  
  293. Adams, Jonathan, and Katherine Holman, eds. Scandinavia and Europe, 800–1350: Contact, Conflict, and Coexistence. Papers presented at a 1999 conference held at the University of Hull. Medieval Texts and Cultures of Northern Europe 4. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2004.
  294. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  295. Deals with three major topics: historical and archaeological evidence for Viking contact with the British Isles, evidence for the impact of Christianity on Viking Scandinavia, and textual evidence for contact. By Scandinavian and British authors.
  296. Find this resource:
  297. Andrén, Anders, Kristina Jennbert, and Catharina Raudvere, eds. Old Norse Religion in Long-Term Perspectives: Origins, Changes, and Interaction, An International Conference in Lund, Sweden, June 3–7, 2004. Vägar till Midgård 8. Lund, Sweden: Nordic Academic, 2006.
  298. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  299. The purpose of this conference was to improve communication among scholars who study textual and archaeological evidence concerning the pre-Christian Norse religion. Seventy-five papers by established and emerging scholars not only about religion but also on archaeological evidence for ritual and religious practice.
  300. Find this resource:
  301. Barnes, Geraldine, and Margaret Clunies Ross, eds. Old Norse Myths, Literature and Society: Proceedings of the 11th International Saga Conference, 2–7 July 2000. Sydney, Australia: Center for Medieval Studies, University of Sydney, 2000.
  302. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  303. Numerous papers on Old Norse literature and Nordic mythology but also some on archaeology, most in English, a few in German and Scandinavian languages; 589 pages.
  304. Find this resource:
  305. Hines, John, Alan Lane, and Mark Redknap, eds. Land, Sea and Home: Proceedings of a Conference on Viking-Period Settlement, at Cardiff, July 2001. The Society for Medieval Archaeology Monographs 20. Leeds, UK: Maney, 2004.
  306. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  307. Twenty-eight studies on “settlement” in the broadest sense, divided into sections on Scandinavia, the Atlantic provinces, and England.
  308. Find this resource:
  309. Jesch, Judith, ed. The Scandinavians from the Vendel Period to the Tenth Century: An Ethnographic Perspective. Papers presented at the Fifth Studies in Historical Archaeoethnology Conference, held in San Marino from 11–15 September 1998. Studies in Historical Archaeoethnology 5. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell, 2002.
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  311. Although the title is misleading—since the book contains papers that cover not only the 10th century but also the 11th—emphasis is on the beginnings of the Viking Age. Each paper is followed by a transcript of discussion that took place at the conference, and the book concludes with a broad discussion of current issues and future directions in the study of the Vikings and their immediate predecessors.
  312. Find this resource:
  313. Lindquist, Sven-Olaf, ed. Society and Trade in the Baltic during the Viking Age: Papers of the VIIth Visby Symposium, Gotlands Fornsal, Visby, August 15th–19th, 1983. Acta Visbyensia, 7. Visby, Sweden: Gotlands Fornsal, 1985.
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  315. Papers covering most of Viking world including the British Isles; noteworthy because some are about Viking connections with often overlooked regions in Finland, Germany, and Poland. In English and German.
  316. Find this resource:
  317. Ney, Agneta, Henrik Williams, and Fredrik Charpentier Ljungqvist, eds. Á austrvega: Saga and East Scandinavia; Preprint Papers of the 14th International Saga Conference, Uppsala, 9th–15th August 2009. 2 vols. Gävle, Sweden: Gävle University Press, 2009.
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  319. Preprint papers, varying considerably in length and polish, on archaeological and historical sources as well as textual evidence. One thousand eighty-one pages in two volumes.
  320. Find this resource:
  321. Samson, Ross, ed. Social Approaches to Viking Studies. Papers presented at a seminar titled “New Perspectives on Viking Studies,” held in Glasgow in September 1988. Glasgow: Cruithne, 1991.
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  323. These papers on literacy, gender, exchange, social power, and ethnicity were pioneering when this collection was published and they still are refreshing for the new ground that they broke.
  324. Find this resource:
  325. Textual Sources
  326.  
  327. The only contemporary written sources of the Viking Age in Scandinavia are inscriptions in runic characters, but there are also Historical Sources from outside Scandinavia. Many scholars turn to later Icelandic poetry and prose in the Old Norse (also known as Old Icelandic) language for information about Viking society and mythology. Most of these sources date to the 13th century, and there is considerable debate about how applicable they are to the Viking Age in Scandinavia. This article offers only a brief selective guide to the extensive literature on medieval Icelandic writings, intended for the general reader rather than for specialists in Old Norse language and literature.
  328.  
  329. Dictionaries of Old Norse
  330.  
  331. Specialists outside the language and literature fields may want to consult dictionaries of the Old Norse language as they read the secondary literature on the Vikings. Zoêga 2004 is the smallest and most available but is not as useful as larger works. Cleasby 1957 (referred to as “Cleasby-Vigfusson”) is the standard scholarly dictionary to use for reading sagas and other material, but de Vries 1962 is a very useful etymological source.
  332.  
  333. Cleasby, Richard. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2d ed. Revised by Gudbrand Vigfusson, with a supplement by Sir William A. Craigie. Oxford: Clarendon, 1957.
  334. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  335. Comprehensive glossary of Old Icelandic with extensive notes. The standard dictionary.
  336. Find this resource:
  337. de Vries, Jan. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2d ed. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1962.
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  339. Standard etymological dictionary, with notes in German.
  340. Find this resource:
  341. Zoêga, Geir T. A Concise Dictionary of Old Norse. Mineola, NY: Dover, 2004.
  342. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  343. Originally published by Oxford University Press in 1910, the reprint by Dover is small and affordable, thus realistically the best option for generalists but not for Old Norse specialists.
  344. Find this resource:
  345. Anthologies of Primary Sources
  346.  
  347. Collections of various primary sources that are informative for Viking studies have been made available in English translation. Page 1995 has been very useful, although the choices sometimes reflect a personal, eccentric bias. Somerville and McDonald 2010 covers more material, and it will be interesting to see whether it replaces Page for general use.
  348.  
  349. Page, Ray I. Chronicles of the Vikings: Records, Memorials and Myths. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1995.
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  351. Begins with a discussion of runic inscriptions, followed by a selection of mostly medieval Old Norse prose and poetry but also Anglo-Saxon and Arabic sources concerning the Vikings. Thematically arranged about the Vikings at home and abroad, law, mythology, and Christianity.
  352. Find this resource:
  353. Somerville, Angus A., and R. Andrew McDonald, eds. The Viking Age: A Reader. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2010.
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  355. Comprehensive collection of Old Norse and other sources, arranged topically about the Viking homelands, religion and belief, women, warriors, ships, raids, settlement abroad, death, Christianity, and nation-building.
  356. Find this resource:
  357. Runic Inscriptions
  358.  
  359. Inscriptions in the runic “alphabet,” known as the futhark after the first letters of the rune-row, were carved on raised stones, particularly during the late Viking Age. These inscriptions provide information about travels, family relationships, and property and inheritance. The most comprehensive scholarly introduction to runes is in German (Düwel 2008), but two surveys are available in English (Elliott 1989, Page 1987). Page 1993 provides a history of the study of runology, and annual bibliographies of publications on runic studies appeared in Nytt om runer from 1986 to 1984. The entire runic corpus is available online through Rundata, based at Uppsala University.
  360.  
  361. Düwel, Klaus. Runenkunde. 4th ed. Stuttgart: J. B. Metzler, 2008.
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  363. Introduction to everything about the runes, with a large section on Viking Age runic inscriptions in Scandinavia and elsewhere. The 4th edition is greatly enlarged and preferred over previous editions. In German.
  364. Find this resource:
  365. Elliott, Ralph W. V. Runes: An Introduction. 2d ed. New York: St. Martin’s, 1989.
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  367. Classic (1st ed. 1959) introduction to Scandinavian and British runes; skeptical of magic interpretations.
  368. Find this resource:
  369. Nytt om runer: Meldingsblad om runeforskning. 19 vols. Oslo, Norway: Runic Archives of the Museum of Cultural History at the University of Oslo, 1986–2004.
  370. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  371. Bibliographies of publications on runic studies were published in the journal Nytt om runer. Most of the issues are now either downloadable or available online.
  372. Find this resource:
  373. Page, R. I. Runes. Reading the Past. London: British Museum, 1987.
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  375. Very brief but scholarly introduction; cynic’s view of mystical interpretations of runes. Reading recommendations are sound.
  376. Find this resource:
  377. Page, R. I. “Scandinavian Society, 800–1100: The Contribution of Runic Studies.” In Viking Revaluations: Viking Centenary Symposium, 14–15 May 1992. Edited by Anthony Faulkes and Richard Perkins, 145–159. London: Viking Society for Northern Research, 1993.
  378. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  379. A summary of one hundred years of the contribution of runic studies to the study of Viking history. Several essays of enduring value.
  380. Find this resource:
  381. Rundata: Samnordisk runtextdatabas. Uppsala, Sweden: Uppsala University, 1993–.
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  383. Joint Nordic database for runic inscriptions. Contains over 6,500 inscriptions from the Scandinavian countries and elsewhere. Inscriptions listed as transliterations and with English translations of normalized forms. Database is downloadable and searchable on a PC but not on Macintosh computers.
  384. Find this resource:
  385. Proceedings of Runic Symposia
  386.  
  387. An international runic symposium is held every fifth year, and the proceedings of these meetings contain papers on all aspects of runology, from linguistics to history and archaeology. The first was held in Michigan in 1980 (see Thompson 1981), the second in Sigtuna, Sweden (Runor 1987), the third in Grindaheim, Norway (Knirk 1994), the fourth in Göttingen, Germany (Düwel 1998), the fifth in Jelling, Denmark (Stoklund 2006), and the sixth in Lancaster, England (Barnes and Jesch 2010).
  388.  
  389. Barnes, Michael P., and Judith Jesch, eds. “Selected Papers from the Sixth International Symposium on Runes and Runic Inscriptions, Lancaster, 11–16 August 2005.” Futhark: International Journal of Runic Studies 1 (2010).
  390. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  391. Thirteen selected papers from the sixth symposium are available in the new online journal Futhark: International Journal of Runic Studies, available digitally with open access. In English and German.
  392. Find this resource:
  393. Düwel, Klaus, ed. Runeninschriften als Quellen interdisziplinärer Forschung: Abhandlungen des vierten internationales Symposions über Runen und Runeninschriften in Göttingen vom 4.–6. August 1995. Ergänzungsbände zum Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde 15. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1998.
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  395. Forty-three papers on methodology, chronology and social history, bracteates, texts, philology, and the history of religion, law, and literature. In English and German.
  396. Find this resource:
  397. Knirk, James E., ed. Proceedings of the Third International Symposium on Runes and Runic inscriptions, Grindaheim, Norway, 8–12 August 1990. Runrön 9. Uppsala, Sweden: Institutionen för nordiska språk, Uppsala Universitet, 1994.
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  399. Eighteen papers. Preface lists the entire program of papers presented. In English, German, and Norwegian.
  400. Find this resource:
  401. Runor och runinskrifter: Föredrag vid Riksantikvarieämbetets och Vitterhetsakademiens symposium 8–11 September 1985. Kungl. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademien Konferenser 15. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International, 1987.
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  403. No editor listed. Twenty-two papers, and also a festschrift for Sven B. F. Jansson “Runjanne,” beloved Swedish runologist, on his 80th birthday, with a bibliography of his publications. In English, German, and Swedish.
  404. Find this resource:
  405. Stoklund, Marie, Michael Lerche Nielsen, Bente Holmberg, and Gillian Fellows-Jensen, eds. Runes and Their Secrets: Studies in Runology. Papers presented at the Fifth International Symposium on Runes and Runic Inscriptions, 16–20 August 2000, Jelling, Denmark. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum, 2006.
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  407. Twenty-two papers, with illustrations. The unfortunate title probably was given to increase sales and appeal to the runic magic aficionados.
  408. Find this resource:
  409. Thompson, Claiborne, ed. Proceedings of the First International Symposium on Runes and Runic Inscriptions. Michigan Germanic Studies 1. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1981.
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  411. This meeting in Michigan was the first time that some of the most eminent runologists of Scandinavia had met each other in person. Contains twenty papers and transcripts of discussion following the papers. In French and English.
  412. Find this resource:
  413. National Publications of Runic Inscriptions
  414.  
  415. The Nordic countries of Denmark (Jacobsen and Moltke 1941–1942), Norway (Olsen, et al. 1941–1990), and Sweden (Sveriges runinskrifter) each has a standard edition of inscriptions. In addition, there are one-volume works that make the Scandinavian and other runic monuments accessible for nonspecialists as sources for the study of cultural history (for Denmark, Moltke 1985; for Norway, Spurkland 2005; and for Sweden, Jansson 1987).
  416.  
  417. Jacobsen, Lis, and Erik Moltke. Danmarks runeindskrifter. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Ejnar Munksgaard, 1941–1942.
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  419. The standard collection of Danish runic inscriptions including the runestones of the Viking Age. Also includes Scania (Skåne), formerly part of Denmark. In Danish.
  420. Find this resource:
  421. Jansson, Sven B. F. Runes in Sweden. Translated by Peter Foote. Stockholm: Gidlunds, 1987.
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  423. English translation of Runinskrifter i Sverige (Stockholm, Almqvist & Wiksell, 1963). Brief summary of the most interesting Swedish inscriptions, mostly runestones, that provides information about Viking travels and relationships.
  424. Find this resource:
  425. Moltke, Erik. Runes and Their Origin: Denmark and Elsewhere. Translated by Peter G. Foote. Copenhagen: National Museum of Denmark, 1985.
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  427. Authoritative and personable discussion of Danish inscriptions, including forty discovered since the main corpus was published in 1942. English translation of Runerne i Danmark og deres oprindelse (Copenhagen: Forum, 1976).
  428. Find this resource:
  429. Olsen, Magnus, Aslak Liestøl, and James E. Knirk, eds. Norges innskrifter med de yngre runer. 6 vols. Oslo, Norway: Norsk Historisk Kjeldeskrift-institutt, 1941–1990.
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  431. The standard edition of Norwegian runic inscriptions of the Viking Age and later. Volumes 1–5 present the Viking Age inscriptions according to province, while Volume 6 covers post-Viking Age medieval finds from Bergen. In Norwegian. Volumes 1–5 edited by Magnus Olsen, Vol. 6.1 by Aslak Liestøl, and Vol. 6.2 by James E. Knirk.
  432. Find this resource:
  433. Spurkland, Terje. Norwegian Runes and Runic Inscriptions. Translated by Betsy van der Hoek. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell, 2005.
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  435. Very readable with a long chapter on the Viking Age runestones. English translation of I begynnelsen var fuþark (Oslo, Norway: Landslaget for Norskundervisning, Cappelen Akademisk Forlag, 2001).
  436. Find this resource:
  437. Sveriges runinskrifter. 14 vols. Stockholm: Kungl. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademien, 1900–1981.
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  439. Includes more than 3,000 Viking Age runestones. Older interpretations are outdated, and additional inscriptions have been discovered since these volumes: 1. Öland (1900–1906), 2. Östergötland (1911–1918), 3. Södermanland (1924–1936), 4. Småland (1935–1961), 5. Västergötland (1940–1971), 6.–9. Uppland (1940–1958), 11.–12. Gotland (1962–1978), 13. Västmanland (1964), 14:1. Närke (1975), 14:2. Värmland (1978), and 15. Gästrikland (1981). No Volume 10. Various editors. In Swedish.
  440. Find this resource:
  441. Runic Inscriptions in the British Isles
  442.  
  443. While the overall number of Nordic Viking Age runic inscriptions in the British Isles is not high, these examples are important as evidence of the Norse colonization. Page 1999 provides an overview of the inscriptions in England. Scholarly editions present the Viking runes of Maeshowe, Orkney (Barnes 1994), Dublin (Barnes, et al. 1997), and the rest of Britain (Barnes and Page 2006). Holman 1996 places these runes in cultural context.
  444.  
  445. Barnes, Michael P. The Runic Inscriptions of Maeshowe, Orkney. Runrön 8. Uppsala Institutionen för nordiska språk, Uppsala Universitet, 1994.
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  447. Scholarly presentation of Viking Age runic inscriptions carved into the walls of a Stone Age cairn on the mainland of Orkney.
  448. Find this resource:
  449. Barnes, Michael P., Jan Ragnar Hagland, and R. I. Page. The Runic Inscriptions of Viking Age Dublin. National Museum of Ireland Medieval Dublin Excavations 1962–81, Series B:5. Dublin, Ireland: Royal Irish Academy, 1997.
  450. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  451. Twelve of a total of seventeen runic inscriptions from Ireland were discovered during the excavations at Dublin. This is the scholarly edition of these few inscriptions.
  452. Find this resource:
  453. Barnes, Michael P., and R. I. Page. The Scandinavian Runic Inscriptions of Britain. Runrön 19. Uppsala Institutionen för nordiska språk, Uppsala Universitet, 2006.
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  455. Scholarly edition of inscriptions of England and Scotland (including Shetland and Orkney except for Maeshowe) dating from 900 to 1300 CE.
  456. Find this resource:
  457. Holman, Katherine. Scandinavian Runic Inscriptions in the British Isles: Their Historical Context. Senter for middelalderstudier, Skrifter 4. Trondheim, Norway: Tapir, 1996.
  458. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  459. Places 120 inscriptions from England, Scotland (including Orkney, Shetland, and the Hebrides), and the Isle of Man into cultural and historical context to understand Viking settlement in the British Isles.
  460. Find this resource:
  461. Page, R. I. An Introduction to English Runes. 2d ed. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell, 1999.
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  463. Covers both Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian Viking Age runes in England. A readable and useful introduction that places the inscriptions into context.
  464. Find this resource:
  465. Cultural and Linguistic Studies of Runes and Runic Literacy
  466.  
  467. There are many monographs treating various aspects of runes. Meijer 1997 and Spurkland 2006 try to establish the extent of runic literacy. Thompson 1975 and Andrén 2000 break new ground methodologically, with both moving beyond the limitations of the standard editions of runic inscriptions. Jesch 2001, Larsson 1990, and Sawyer 2000 explore social history illuminated by runestone inscriptions, while Kitzler Åhfeldt 2002 perfects a new methodology to identify rune-carvers.
  468.  
  469. Andrén, Anders. “Re-reading Embodied Texts: An Interpretation of Rune-stones.” Current Swedish Archaeology 8 (2000): 7–32.
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  471. Controversial interpretations that attempt to reconcile linguistic and visual information on runestones. Examines how the runic text is broken by the interlacing of the animal ornamentation band that contains the runes.
  472. Find this resource:
  473. Jesch, Judith. Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell, 2001.
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  475. Examines how poetic and runestone inscriptions describe men and their use of ships. Includes nautical vocabulary but also descriptions of the crews and their travel.
  476. Find this resource:
  477. Kitzler Åhfeldt, Laila. Work and Worship: Laser Scanner Analysis of Viking Age Rune Stones. Theses and Papers in Archaeology B:9. Stockholm: Archaeological Research Laboratory, Stockholm University, 2002.
  478. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  479. Scientific study of cut marks on runestones to distinguish individual rune-carvers by their cutting techniques.
  480. Find this resource:
  481. Larsson, Mats G. Runestenar och utlandsfärder: aspekter på det senvikingatida samhället med utgångspunkt i de fasta fornlämningarna. Acta archaeologica Lundensia, series in octavo 21. Lund, Sweden: Institute for Archaeology, 1990.
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  483. A study of runestones mentioning voyages, analyzing the destinations cited and the social status of those who traveled. In Swedish with English summary.
  484. Find this resource:
  485. Meijer, Jan. “Literacy in the Viking Age.” In Blandade Runstudier 2, 83–110. Runrön 11. Uppsala, Sweden: Institutionen för nordiska språk, Uppsala Universitetet, 1997.
  486. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  487. Distinguishes between active and passive literacy, and establishes that literacy was not exceptional for certain social groups.
  488. Find this resource:
  489. Sawyer, Birgit. The Viking-Age Rune-Stones: Custom and Commemoration in Early Medieval Scandinavia. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
  490. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  491. Analyzes property, inheritance, and Christianization through study of runic inscriptions on 2,307 runestones, paying particular attention to women who sponsored the construction of bridges.
  492. Find this resource:
  493. Spurkland, Terje. “Viking Age Literacy in Runes: A Contradiction in Terms?” Paper presented at an international conference held at the University of Aarhus, 17–18 April 2002. In Literacy in Medieval and Early Modern Scandinavian Culture. Edited by Pernille Hermann, 136–150. Viking Collection 16. Odense, Denmark: University Press of Southern Denmark, 2006.
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  495. Discusses the extent of pragmatic and cultivated literacy attested by runestones. Also suggests the term “runacy” for literacy in runes.
  496. Find this resource:
  497. Thompson, Claiborne W. Studies in Upplandic Runography. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1975.
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  499. Studies formulae used in runestone inscriptions and examines the production of the rune-carver Asmund Karasun (Kåresson) who was active in the Swedish province of Uppland.
  500. Find this resource:
  501. Name Studies
  502.  
  503. The study of onomastics (place-names) and personal names that reflect Old Norse expansion and settlement outside Scandinavia as well as within the Nordic area is especially rewarding for tracing the Viking Age Norse colonies of the British Isles and North Atlantic. In Scandinavia, the study of place-names has been used to trace the development of towns and suggest the location of pagan cult sites. Two very old monographs give an idea of the information that can be gleaned from personal names (Janzén 1947) and place-names (Olsen 1928, for Norway). Unfortunately the sources are not parallel across the three Nordic countries. Brief but broad surveys include Pamp 1974 for Swedish place-names and Hald 1971 for Danish personal names. Nicolaisen 1980 is a specific study for Scotland, and Fellows-Jensen 2000 for the Danelaw, the area settled by Scandinavians in England. Larsson 2002 focuses on names in runic inscriptions, and Fellows-Jensen 1984 provides a bibliography.
  504.  
  505. Fellows-Jensen, Gillian. “Place-name Research in Scandinavia 1960–1982, with a Select Bibliography.” Names 32 (1984): 267–324.
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  507. An overview of onomastics for all of Scandinavia with a substantial bibliography.
  508. Find this resource:
  509. Fellows-Jensen, Gillian. “Vikings in the British Isles.” Acta Archaeologica 72 (2000): 135–146.
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  511. Analyzes Norse place-name elements such as by (“settlement”) and kirk (“church”), particularly in the Danelaw.
  512. Find this resource:
  513. Hald, Kristian. Personnavne i Danmark. Vol. 1, Oldtiden. Copenhagen: Dansk Historisk Fællesforenings Håndbøger, 1971.
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  515. Brief introduction to the history of personal names in Denmark, including Viking Age names known from England and Normandy. In Danish.
  516. Find this resource:
  517. Janzén, Assar. Personnamn. Nordisk Kultur 7. Stockholm: Albert Bonniers Förlag, 1947.
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  519. Dated but the basic work on personal names in all of Scandinavia. In Swedish.
  520. Find this resource:
  521. Larsson, Patrik. “Recent Research on Personal Names and Place-names in Runic Inscriptions.” Onoma 37 (2002): 47–68.
  522. DOI: 10.2143/ONO.37.0.519183Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  523. Summarizes research on names in Proto-Scandinavian as well as Viking Age runes. Covers publications from the late 1980s through 2001 by English, Dutch, German, and Scandinavian scholars.
  524. Find this resource:
  525. Nicolaisen, W. F. H. “Early Scandinavian Naming in the Western and Northern Isles.” Northern Scotland 3 (1980): 105–121.
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  527. Traces Nordic-derived names in Orkney, Shetland, and the Hebrides (especially Lewis) that show links with Norway, reflecting emigration of c. 750–850 CE. Also examines theories of naming and general characteristics of naming phenomena.
  528. Find this resource:
  529. Olsen, Magnus. Farms and Fanes of Ancient Norway: The Place-names of a Country Discussed in their Bearings on Social and Religious History. Translated by Theodor Gleditsch. Institutt for sammenlignende kulturforskning, serie A, forelesninger 9. Oslo, Norway: Aschehoug, 1928.
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  531. English translation of Ættegård og Helligdom, 1926. From a series of lectures, with a preface on the importance of the study of place-names. Old but useful introduction.
  532. Find this resource:
  533. Pamp, Bengt. Ortnamen i Sverige. 4th ed. Lundastudier i nordisk språkvetenskap, serie B, 2. Lund, Sweden: Studentlitteratur, 1974.
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  535. Brief introduction to place-names in Sweden, with numerous maps. In Swedish.
  536. Find this resource:
  537. Literary Sources
  538.  
  539. The focus of this article is on sources contemporary with the Viking Age rather than later medieval material. Later literature, particularly the Old Norse (also known as Old Icelandic) sources known as the Eddas and sagas, has been used to interpret the Viking Age within Scandinavia. Although scholars date the written versions of this literature to the 13th century, there is great disagreement over the age of the composition of these works and how much they reflect medieval ideas about the society and beliefs of the Viking Age. The Poetic Edda (or Elder Edda or Sæmundar Edda), for which we do not know the authors, and the Prose Edda (or Younger Edda or Snorra Edda) by Icelander Snorri Sturluson (b. 1179–d. 1241) contain mythological and heroic material that is most often used to interpret the Viking Age. The Old Icelandic edition of the Poetic Edda (Neckel and Kuhn 1962–1968 has been made available to English readers by Terry (Anonymous 1990) and Larrington (Anonymous 1996), and the Old Icelandic edition by Faulkes of Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda (Faulkes 1982) has been translated by Young (Snorri Sturluson 1964b) and Faulkes (Snorri Sturluson 1987). Snorri Sturluson 1964b is considered more readable than Snorri Sturluson 1987. Similarly, the medieval Icelandic family sagas (or Sagas of Icelanders) and the Kings’ Sagas are also considered evidence for Viking Age society. The literature on the sagas is much too vast to list here. Many of the sagas have been translated and published separately, but the most accessible may be the massive one-volume collection published by Penguin (The Sagas of Icelanders: A Selection). Íslenzk fornrit contains the standard editions. Snorri’s Heimskringla (Snorri Sturluson 1964a) includes stories about legendary and historic early kings of Scandinavia.
  540.  
  541. Anonymous. Poems of the Elder Edda. Translated by Patricia Terry. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1990.
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  543. Popular and readable translation of the Poetic Edda. Revised edition has regularized titles of the poems and added a bibliography.
  544. Find this resource:
  545. Anonymous. The Poetic Edda. Translated by Carolyne Larrington. Oxford World’s Classics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.
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  547. English translation of the Poetic Edda based on the Neckel and Kuhn 1962–1968 Old Icelandic edition, with a scholarly introduction. Criticized by many scholars of the Old Icelandic language.
  548. Find this resource:
  549. Faulkes, Anthony, ed. Edda: Prologue and Gylfaginning. Oxford: Clarendon, 1982.
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  551. Old Icelandic edition containing the prologue and first part of the Prose Edda, which retells the mythological tales of the Poetic Edda. Does not include the other parts, Skáldskaparmál and Háttatal. Includes a lengthy scholarly introduction, glossary of Old Icelandic words, and an index of names.
  552. Find this resource:
  553. Íslenzk fornrit. Rekjavík, Iceland: Hið íslenzka fornritafélag, 1933–.
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  555. The standard editions of Old Icelandic texts, including the family sagas. Published by the Old Icelandic Text Society, with scholarly introductions, normalized texts, and notes in modern Icelandic.
  556. Find this resource:
  557. Neckel, Gustav, and Hans Kuhn, eds. Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten Denkmälern. 4th ed. 2 vols. Heidelberg, West Germany: Carl Winter, 1962–1968.
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  559. Ten mythological poems and nineteen heroic poems known from one 13th-century Icelandic manuscript, the Codex Regius. The standard Old Icelandic edition in two volumes with a glossary in German. Vol. 1, Text. Vol. 2, Kurzes Wörterbuch.
  560. Find this resource:
  561. The Sagas of Icelanders: A Selection. New York: Penguin, 2000.
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  563. At 782 pages, this translation offers only a selection of the Icelandic sagas.
  564. Find this resource:
  565. Snorri Sturluson. Heimskringla. Translated by Lee M. Hollander. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1964a.
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  567. Begins with the saga of the legendary Swedish Yngling dynasty and continues with historic kings of Norway from Harald Fairhair up to Snorri Sturluson’s time.
  568. Find this resource:
  569. Snorri Sturluson. The Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson: Tales from Norse Mythology. Selected and translated by Jean I. Young. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1964b.
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  571. English translation of the Gylfaginning, the first part of the Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson. Reprint of 1954 Cambridge edition. Considered by many to be the most readable and accessible translation of the Edda.
  572. Find this resource:
  573. Snorri Sturluson. Snorri Sturluson: Edda. Translated by Anthony Faulkes. Everyman Classics 499. London: J. M. Dent, 1987.
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  575. Complete translation of Snorri’s Edda, including Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál and Háttatal. Considered accurate by Old Norse scholars.
  576. Find this resource:
  577. Historical Sources
  578.  
  579. The only written sources in Scandinavia that are contemporary with the Vikings are runic inscriptions, but information from outside Scandinavia during the Viking Age and shortly afterward document various aspects of Viking history and culture. Rimbert (b. 830–d. 888 CE), Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen, accompanied Anskar (also Ansgar) (b. 801–d. 865) to Birka and after Anskar’s death wrote Vita Ansgari, which includes information about the mission to Scandinavia (Rimbert 1921). Comments by two Scandinavian travelers, Wulfstan and Ohthere (Ottar), were inserted into text included with the c. 890 CE Anglo-Saxon translation of the Late Roman history of the world by the Christian Orosius. New editions of these works in Bately and Englert 2007 and Englert and Trakadas 2009 put the travels into cultural and political context. Besides Anskar and Rimbert, another cleric based in Hamburg-Bremen was Adam of Bremen (second half of the 11th century), who wrote about the mission to Scandinavia (see Adam of Bremen 2002). Although Saxo Grammaticus (b. c. 1150–d. 1220) was Danish and wrote after the Viking Age, the first nine books of his Gesta Danorum (History of the Danes) are treated here with historical sources, even though they actually contain mythological and heroic tales (see Saxo Grammaticus 1979–1980). The late-11th- or early-12th-century Russian Primary Chronicle (Cross and Sherbowitz-Wetzor 1953) is the major Russian (Old Slavonic) source dealing with the supposed invitation of the Viking Rus’ to become the princes of Kiev. Birkeland 1954 includes numerous Islamic sources that deal with the Viking expansion to the east, such as Ibn Fadlan’s account of a ship burial (see Smyser 1965).
  580.  
  581. Adam of Bremen. History of the Archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen. Translation by Francis J. Tschan, with a new introduction and selected bibliography by Timothy Reuter. Records of Civilization: Sources and Studies 53. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002.
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  583. English translation of Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum. History of the church from 788 CE through the mid-11th century. Book 4 concerns the mission to Scandinavia as well as geography, religious practices, and political history. With a lengthy scholarly introduction and notes.
  584. Find this resource:
  585. Bately, Janet, and Anton Englert, eds. Ohthere’s Voyages: A Late 9th-Century Account of Voyages along the Coasts of Norway and Denmark and Its Cultural Context. Maritime Culture of the North 1. Roskilde, Denmark: Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde, 2007.
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  587. Translation of Old English concerning 9th-century Norwegian chieftain Ohthere (Ottar) of Hålogaland into English and articles about the geography of Ohthere’s travels along the coasts of Denmark and Norway, ships, and trade.
  588. Find this resource:
  589. Birkeland, Harris. Nordens historie i Middelalderen efter arabiske kilder: Oversettelse til norsk av de Arabiske Kilder med Innledning, Forfatterbiografier, bibliografi og merknader. Skrifter utgitt av det Norske videnskaps-akademi i Oslo, Historisk-filosofisk klasse 2. Oslo, Norway: Jacob Dybwad, 1954.
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  591. Translation of selections from approximately fifty Arabic sources that are informative about interaction with the Viking Rus’, including Ibn Horradadbeh (Ibn Khurradadhbih), who documents Vikings in Baghdad and Samarra in the mid-9th century, and Ibh Fadlan, who witnessed a Viking ship burial in 922 CE. In Norwegian.
  592. Find this resource:
  593. Cross, Samuel H., and Olgerd P. Sherbowitz-Wetzor, eds. and trans. Russian Primary Chronicle: Laurentian Text. Cambridge, MA: Medieval Academy of America, 1953.
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  595. Formerly known as Nestor’s Chronicle, a history of the eastern Slavs from about 850 CE until it was compiled in Kiev shortly after 1100. Documents the trade and settlement of the Viking Rus’ in Russia.
  596. Find this resource:
  597. Englert, Anton, and Athena Trakadas, eds. Wulfstan’s Voyage: The Baltic Sea Region in the Early Viking Age as Seen from Shipboard. Maritime Culture of the North 2. Roskilde, Denmark: Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde, 2009.
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  599. Translation of Old English notes about the late-9th-century Wulfstan of Hedeby into English, with additions about navigation and the political geography of the Baltic Sea region including southern Scandinavia and Slavic areas.
  600. Find this resource:
  601. Rimbert. Vita Anskarii. Anskar: The Apostle of the North, 801–865. Translated by Charles H. Robinson. London: Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, 1921.
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  603. Saint’s life that describes missionary activity in Scandinavia, useful for its historical information about the trading site of Birka on an island in Sweden.
  604. Find this resource:
  605. Saxo Grammaticus. History of the Danes. 2 vols. Translated by Peter Fischer and edited by Hilda Ellis Davidson. Woodbridge, UK: D. S. Brewer, 1979–1980.
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  607. Considered the author of the first history of Denmark, Saxo drew upon Norse and Latin sources. His compilation of Nordic mythology is compared to Snorri’s Edda. Vol. 1, Text. Vol. 2, Commentary.
  608. Find this resource:
  609. Smyser, H. M. “Ibn Fadlan’s Account of the Rus with Some Commentary and Some Allusions to Beowulf.” In Medieval and Linguistic Studies in Honour of Francis Peabody Magoun, Jr. Edited by Jess B. Bessinger and Robert P. Creed, 92–119. London: Allen and Unwin, 1965.
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  611. English translation of Ibn Fadlan, including his account of the ship burial of a Viking Rus’ chieftain.
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  613. Material Culture
  614.  
  615. The primary source of information about the Vikings in Scandinavia is the material culture. Archaeological investigations have revealed information about towns and trade, architecture, subsistence, manufacturing, crafts, iron production, burials, and social stratification, including consideration of Gender. Two very different works summarize 20th-century research on Viking archaeology. Wilson 1996 gives a personal account that includes reminiscences of scholars the author has known. He points to the most important and enduring periodical literature and dissertations and concludes with a critique of postmodern and theoretical archaeology. Svanberg 2003, on the other hand, takes a decidedly postmodern approach as the author attempts to decolonize the Viking Age. He critiques the standard syntheses of Viking archaeology but does not delve into the periodical literature to the extent that Wilson does.
  616.  
  617. Svanberg, Fredrik, Decolonizing the Viking Age. Vol. 1. Acta Archaeologica Lundensia Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 2003.
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  619. Postmodern approach revealing the cultural construction of the Viking in the 1800s. Critiques the idea of the Viking Age as a period relevant for all of Scandinavia. Also evaluates the use of archaeology to illustrate historians’ construction of Viking history that focuses on state formation, urbanization, and Christianization.
  620. Find this resource:
  621. Wilson, David M. “Fifty Years of Viking Archaeology: A Personal View.” In Femtende tværfaglige Vikingesymposium (15, 1996, Moesgård, Højbjerg). Edited by Else Roesdahl and Preben Meulengracht Sørensen, 7–25. Moesgård, Denmark: Forlaget Hikuin og Afdelning for Middelalder-arkæologi, Aarhus Universitet, 1996.
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  623. A rich bibliographic essay on research in Viking archaeology, focusing on material culture and chronology. Includes references to periodical literature. Distinguishes how contributions from archaeology differ from those of history.
  624. Find this resource:
  625. Towns, Trade, and Numismatics
  626.  
  627. Clarke and Ambrosiani 1991 covers such a vast amount of material on the chronology, economy, and social organization of towns over the full geographic range of the Vikings that it is useful to treat this as an introduction to Viking archaeology. Sindbæk 2007 seeks the reasons for the development of Viking towns, distinguishing local markets from more important nodal centers of long-distance trade. Coins are both documentary and archaeological sources, and the work of numismatists seen in the light of archaeological interpretation (Graham-Campbell and Williams 2007) allows us to better understand trade, exchange, and the economy of the Vikings. Hårdh 1996 considers coins used both within and outside a monetary economy, and Malmer 1990 focuses on coins minted in Scandinavia.
  628.  
  629. Clarke, Helen, and Björn Ambrosiani. Towns in the Viking Age. New York: St. Martin’s, 1991.
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  631. Evaluates excavations of Viking towns from Dublin to Kiev, from the 7th through the 9th century. Well illustrated with maps.
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  633. Graham-Campbell, James, and Gareth Williams, eds. Silver Economy in the Viking Age. Publications of the Institute of Archaeology, University College London. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast, 2007.
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  635. Chapters by archaeologists and numismatists on coinage in Scandinavia and the Viking world from the North Sea and Normandy to the Volga. Studies on coin production, hoards, trade, and the silver economy presented at a conference in 1990.
  636. Find this resource:
  637. Hårdh, Birgitta. Silver in the Viking Age: A Regional-Economic Study. Acta Archaeologica Lundensia 25. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International, 1996.
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  639. Analyzes economic systems in Scandinavia and the Baltic area during the Viking Age. Considers both coins and “hack” silver hoards (broken and cut silver jewelry and coins) as means of payment and as gifts.
  640. Find this resource:
  641. Malmer, Brita. “What Does Coinage Tell Us about Scandinavian Society in the Viking Age?” In From the Baltic to the Black Sea: Studies in Medieval Archaeology. Edited by David Austin and Leslie Alcock, 157–167. One World Archaeology 18. London: Unwin Hyman, 1990.
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  643. A survey of Viking numismatics introducing the vast numbers of coins found in the North that stem from the British Isles, continental Europe, and the Islamic Near East—but focusing on coins struck in Scandinavia.
  644. Find this resource:
  645. Sindbæk, Søren. “Networks and Nodal Points: The Emergence of Towns in Early Viking Age Scandinavia.” Antiquity 81 (2007): 119–132.
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  647. Proposes that intrepid long-distance traders rather than political leadership stimulated proto-towns (which Sindbæk calls “nodal points”) of the Vikings in Scandinavia and along the Baltic Sea.
  648. Find this resource:
  649. Ships
  650.  
  651. The Viking ship is the most important symbol of the Viking Age. The classic Viking ship finds at Oseberg and Gokstad in Norway (Brøgger and Shetelig 1971, Christensen 1982) are matched by finds from Roskilde fjord in Denmark (Olsen and Crumlin-Pedersen 1978). The Danish Viking ship expert Ole Crumlin-Pedersen can be credited with bringing scholarly attention from the ship itself to the broad subject of maritime archaeology (Crumlin-Pedersen 1991) and to the understanding of the ship as an important symbol during the Viking Age (Crumlin-Pedersen and Thye 1995, Crumlin-Pedersen 2010). Varenius 1992 also considers ship symbolism as well as technology. Binns 1980 is one example of continuing interest in Viking navigation and the construction and sailing of ship replicas. See also Ship Burials.
  652.  
  653. Binns, Alan. Viking Voyagers: Then and Now. London: Heinemann, 1980.
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  655. Summary of the history and navigational technology of Viking voyages from before the Vikings through the 11th century, followed by a popular account of building and sailing a replica of a Viking ship from Oslo to the Orkneys and finally to the Isle of Man.
  656. Find this resource:
  657. Brøgger, Anton W., and Haakon Shetelig. The Viking Ships: Their Ancestry and Evolution. Translated by Katherine John. Oslo, Norway: Dreyers Forlag, 1971.
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  659. English translation of Vikingeskipene: Deres forgjengere og etterfølgere, first published in 1950. The classic work on Viking ships, focusing on the Gokstad, Tune, and Oseberg ships found in Norway, with background on earlier boats and ships as well as the role of Viking ships in saga literature.
  660. Find this resource:
  661. Christensen, Arne Emil. “Viking Age Ships and Shipbuilding.” Norwegian Archaeological Review 15 (1982): 19–28.
  662. DOI: 10.1080/00293652.1982.9965363Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  663. A summary of Viking Age ship studies to this date. Discusses differing views of Christensen and Ole Crumlin-Pedersen on when merchant cargo ships developed in Scandinavia.
  664. Find this resource:
  665. Crumlin-Pedersen, Ole. Archaeology and the Sea in Scandinavia and Britain: A Personal Account. Maritime Culture of the North 3: Rhind Lectures. Roskilde, Denmark: Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde and the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 2010.
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  667. Danish pioneer of maritime archaeology discusses the construction of Viking ships and the use of the ship as a symbol. Special focus on the ships discovered in the Roskilde fjord. Well illustrated with excellent maps.
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  669. Crumlin-Pedersen, Ole, ed. Aspects of Maritime Scandinavia AD 200–1200: Proceedings of the Nordic Seminar on Maritime Aspects of Archaeology. Roskilde, 13th–15th March, 1989. Translated by Linda Kalish Sørensen and Gillian Fellows-Jensen. Roskilde, Denmark: The Viking Ship Museum, 1991.
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  671. Focuses on the maritime rather than “landbound” archaeology of Iron Age and early medieval Scandinavia with papers on navigation, coastal defenses, sea routes, portages, trading sites, and harbors.
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  673. Crumlin-Pedersen, Ole, and Birgitte Munch Thye, eds. The Ship as Symbol in Prehistoric and Medieval Scandinavia: Papers from an International Seminar at the Danish National Museum, Copenhagen, 5th–7th May 1994. Translated by Gillian Fellows, et al. Publications from the National Museum: Studies in Archaeology and History 1. Copenhagen: National Museum, 1995.
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  675. Papers interpreting pictorial representations of ships in art and burial customs.
  676. Find this resource:
  677. Olsen, Olaf, and Ole Crumlin-Pedersen. Five Viking Ships from Roskilde Fjord. Translated by Barbara Bluestone. Copenhagen: The National Museum, 1978.
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  679. Popular account of the excavation and salvage of the Skuldelev ships dredged from a fjord in Denmark.
  680. Find this resource:
  681. Varenius, Björn. Det nordiska skeppet: Teknologi och samhällsstrategi i vikingatid och medeltid. Stockholm Studies in Archaeology 10. Stockholm: Arkeologiska institutionen, Stockholms Universitet, 1992.
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  683. Doctoral dissertation comparing the technology of ship construction in the Viking Age with later medieval examples. Considers the role of the ship in Viking society and how ship symbolism was used in commemorative monuments. In Swedish with English summary, pp. 134–146.
  684. Find this resource:
  685. Crafts and Technology
  686.  
  687. Specific examples of the breadth of material available on crafts and craft technology list references to other important contributions. Arwidsson and Berg 1983 examines an extensive set of tools discovered on Gotland, and Martens 1982 looks at iron production in mountainous areas of Norway. Examples of craft production include Jansson 1985 on jewelry-making, Andersson 2003 on the tools for textile production, Roslund 2007 on imported pottery, Ambrosiani 1981 on comb-making from bone, Sode 2004 on bead-making at the marketplace of Ribe in Denmark, and Fridström 1984 on woodcarving tools.
  688.  
  689. Ambrosiani, Kristina. Viking Age Combs, Comb Making and Comb Makers in the Light of Finds from Birka and Ribe. Stockholm Studies in Archaeology 2. Stockholm: Department of Archaeology, University of Stockholm, 1981.
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  691. Examines combs and their raw material as discovered in Viking Age market sites. Describes experiments to make a comb with Viking Age techniques. In German and English.
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  693. Andersson, Eva. Tools for Textile Production from Birka and Hedeby: Excavations in the Black Earth 1990–1995. Birka Studies 8. Stockholm: Rikantikvarieämbetet, 2003.
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  695. Examines textile production tools from Birka and Hedeby and compares them to those found at other sites. Considers raw materials, textile finds, and tools including spindle whorls, loom weights, and needles.
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  697. Arwidsson, Greta, and Gösta Berg. The Mästermyr Find: A Viking Age Tool Chest from Gotland. Kungl. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademien. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1983.
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  699. The find of a chest containing tools that may have belonged to an itinerant craftsman with many skills in metalworking, carpentry, and woodcarving.
  700. Find this resource:
  701. Fridström, Erik. “The Viking Age Wood-carvers: Their Tools and Techniques.” Translated by Elizabeth Seeberg. In Festskrift til Thorleif Sjøvold på 70-årsdagen. Edited by Mari Høgestöl, Jan Henning Larsen, Eldrid Straume, and Birthe Weber, 87–92. Universitets Oldsaksamlings Skrifter, Ny rekke 5. Oslo, Norway: Universitets Oldsaksamling 1984.
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  703. Examines the relatively coarse woodcarvings from the Oseberg find and a few examples of woodcarvers’ tools, primarily from the find from Mästermyr on Gotland, to understand woodcarving tools used during the Viking Age.
  704. Find this resource:
  705. Jansson, Ingmar. “Ovala spännbucklor: En studie av vikingatida standard-smycken med utgångspunkt från Björkö-fynden.” PhD diss., Uppsala University, 1985.
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  707. Doctoral dissertation on the oval brooch, an important element of an elite Viking woman’s costume. Demonstrates the method of manufacture of oval brooches from molds. Swedish with English summary, pp. 122–230.
  708. Find this resource:
  709. Martens, Irmelin. “Recent Investigations of Iron Production in Viking Age Norway.” Norwegian Archaeological Review 15 (1982): 29–44.
  710. DOI: 10.1080/00293652.1982.9965364Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  711. Research on the physical remains of iron extraction, particularly in mountainous areas marginal for cultivation. Interpretation of iron as an important commodity for trade with the outside world.
  712. Find this resource:
  713. Roslund, Mats. Guests in the House: Cultural Transmission between Slavs and Scandinavians 900 to 1300 AD. Translated by Alan Crozier. The Northern World 33. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2007.
  714. DOI: 10.1163/ej.9789004161894.i-557Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  715. Examines style transmission and ethnic identity through a study of a pottery type known as “Baltic ware” found in Viking Age Sweden. Focuses on interactions between Slavic areas and Scandinavia that explain the presence of this pottery in Scandinavia.
  716. Find this resource:
  717. Sode, Torben. “Glass Bead Making Technology.” In Ribe Excavations 1970–76. Vol. 5. Edited by Mogens Bencard, Aino Kann Rasmussen, and Helge Brinch Madsen, 83–102. Jutland Archaeological Society Publications 46. Århus, Denmark: Jutland Archaeological Society, 2004.
  718. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  719. Examination of the technology of glass beads made in early Viking Age workshops at Ribe in Denmark.
  720. Find this resource:
  721. Environment, Demography, and Social Rank
  722.  
  723. Social organization during the Viking Age can be identified through many different approaches. In many cases, social stratification is manifested in physical ways. Benedictow 1996 shows what demographic studies of human skeletal remains can tell us about age and rank, and Arcini 2005 looks at modifications of teeth, which may indicate high social rank among Viking warriors. Linderholm, et al. 2008 correlates status as suggested by diet with the more traditional determination from grave goods. Scientific studies of flora and fauna contribute to our understanding of Birka and other Viking Age marketplaces (Miller and Clarke 1997), and Wigh 2001 examines animal bones found at Birka, offering some conclusions about diet. Herschend 1997 traces an aristocracy through the existence of a special type of building, and the papers in Jørgensen and Clausen 1997 consider military organization leading to state formation. Karras 1988 addresses slavery from historical and archaeological sources.
  724.  
  725. Arcini, Caroline. “The Vikings Bare Their Filed Teeth.” American Journal of Physical Anthropology 128 (2005): 727–733.
  726. DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.20164Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  727. Recently discovered examples of deliberate filed modifications on the front teeth of 24 Viking Age men who died young in Denmark and Sweden.
  728. Find this resource:
  729. Benedictow, Ole Jørgen. “The Demography of the Viking Age and the High Middle Ages in the Nordic Countries.” Scandinavian Journal of History 21 (1996): 151–182.
  730. DOI: 10.1080/03468759608579323Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  731. Studies of human skeletal remains allow estimations of population size, life expectancy, and mortality as well as the social composition of the population including the percentage of elites and slaves. Also an examination of demographic perspectives on hygiene, insects, and disease.
  732. Find this resource:
  733. Herschend, Frands. Livet i hallen: Tre fallstudier i den yngre järnälderns aristokrati. Occasional Papers in Archaeology 14. Uppsala, Sweden: Institutionen för arkeologi och antik historia, Uppsala Universitet, 1997.
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  735. Case studies of social rank and aristocracy in central Sweden traced through use of an extra building—the Viking hall—for social life and feasting. In Swedish.
  736. Find this resource:
  737. Jørgensen, Anne Nørgård, and Birthe L. Clausen, eds. Military Aspects of Scandinavian Society in a European Perspective AD 1–1300. Studies in Archaeology and History 2. Copenhagen: National Museum 1997.
  738. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  739. Studies of warfare, sea defenses, and military organization leading to state formation based on archaeological sources in the context of written sources that begin c. 800 CE for external sources and c. 1100 CE for Scandinavian sources. In German and English.
  740. Find this resource:
  741. Karras, Ruth Mazo. Slavery and Society in Medieval Scandinavia. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1988.
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  743. Deals with slavery from the Viking Age through the 14th century, drawing from historical and archaeological sources.
  744. Find this resource:
  745. Linderholm, Anna, Charlotte Hedenstierna Jonson, Olle Svensk, and Kerstin Lidén. “Diet and Status in Birka: Stable Isotopes and Grave Goods Compared.” Antiquity 82 (2008): 446–461.
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  747. Correlates status at the market site of Birka in Sweden as indicated by grave goods with diet as ascertained by stable isotope study. A diverse diet indicates a heterogeneous population. Men buried with weapons—perhaps Vikings—had a marine diet, while the diet of women associated with trade differs from the diet of other female burials.
  748. Find this resource:
  749. Miller, Urve, and Helen Clarke, eds. Environment and Vikings: Scientific Methods and Techniques. Birka Studies 4. Stockholm: Riksantikvarieämbetet och Statens Historiska Museer, 1997.
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  751. Contributions of the natural sciences to understanding the urban environment of the market site of Birka in Sweden, with focus on environmental archaeology. Includes papers on methods and techniques as well as comparative material for other Viking Age sites.
  752. Find this resource:
  753. Wigh, Bengt. Animal Husbandry in the Viking Age Town of Birka and its Hinterland: Scientific Methods and Techniques. Birka Studies 7. Stockholm: Rikantikvarieämbetet, 2001.
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  755. Osteological examination of bones of domestic and fur-bearing animals from excavations in the settlement area at Birka in Sweden. Examines how merchants and craft workers who could not actively provide food for themselves were provisioned on an island too small to support the numbers of domestic animals, which are reflected in the 6,000 kg of bones found here.
  756. Find this resource:
  757. Gender
  758.  
  759. Viking studies have long focused on male warriors, and gender as a category has been considered archaeologically only in recent decades. Dommasnes 1982 is one of the earliest studies of how burial customs symbolize social ranks and roles of men and women. Gräslund 1988–1989 examines inscriptions on runestones to understand the role of women in their families and their rank in society. Both Gräslund 1988–1989 and Wicker 1998 propose that burial evidence of adult women is scarce because female infanticide was carried out. Stalsberg 1991 overturned assumptions about Viking traders by showing that women, too, participated in trading activities. Jesch 1991 and Jochens 1995 examine how women are represented in Old Norse written sources, but Jesch also considers archaeological evidence to discuss the role of women during the Viking Age. Norrman 2008 studies tapestries most likely made by Viking women. Thedéen 2008 moves beyond the accepted correlation of women’s burials with beads (and men’s with weapons) to examine numbers of beads at different age grades, thus fine-tuning our understanding of grave goods by gender and age.
  760.  
  761. Dommasnes, Liv Helga. “Late Iron Age in Western Norway: Female Roles and Ranks as Deduced from an Analysis of Burial Customs.” Norwegian Archaeological Review 15 (1982): 70–84.
  762. DOI: 10.1080/00293652.1982.9965366Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  763. Studies grave finds from Sogn in Norway and identifies jewelry, especially oval brooches, as indicative of women, and weapons as indicative of men. Finds higher status for women in the early Viking Age than in previous centuries.
  764. Find this resource:
  765. Gräslund, Anne-Sofie. “‘Gud hjälpe nu väl hennes själ’: om runstenskvinnorna, deras roll vid kristnandet och deras plats i familj och samhälle.” Tor 22 (1988–1989): 223–244.
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  767. Gräslund, an archaeologist, studies inscriptions on runestones in central Sweden—especially those erected for women and by women—to clarify the roles of women within families and their importance in the process of Christianization. She also suggests that female infanticide was practiced. In Swedish with English summary.
  768. Find this resource:
  769. Jesch, Judith. Women in the Viking Age. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell, 1991.
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  771. Jesch combines evidence from her fields of literary and Old Norse language study with archaeological evidence to examine various aspects of women’s lives. An excellent introduction to the myriad sources.
  772. Find this resource:
  773. Jochens, Jenny. Women in Old Norse Society. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1995.
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  775. Considers women of Scandinavia and Iceland through Old Norse sagas and other medieval written sources. While Jochens does not explicitly examine Viking women or archaeological sources, her work has been used extensively by archaeologists to understand women in the context of Norse society during the Viking Age.
  776. Find this resource:
  777. Norrman, Lena Elisabeth, Viking Women: The Narrative Voice in Women Tapestries. Amherst, New York: Cambria, 2008.
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  779. Reinterprets the subjects of the Viking Age tapestries from Överhogdal in Sweden, suggesting that they depict part of the cycle of stories about Sigurd the Dragon Slayer. Suggests that women presented oral narratives through such weavings.
  780. Find this resource:
  781. Stalsberg, Anne. “Women as Actors in North European Viking Age Trade.” In Social Approaches to Viking Studies. Edited by Ross Samson, 75–83. Glasgow: Cruithne, 1991.
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  783. Examines what archaeology can reveal about women’s roles in the Viking Age. Focusing on burials of women with small scales used to weigh coins and other means of payment, Stalsberg proposes that women actively took part in trade.
  784. Find this resource:
  785. Thedéen, Susanne. “Who’s That Girl? The Cultural Construction of Girlhood and the Transition to Womanhood in Viking Age Gotland.” Childhood in the Past 1 (2008): 78–93.
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  787. Analyzes burials, finding that girls or women aged fifteen to twenty were buried with more beads than either younger girls or mature women. Thus, Thedéen suggests that this age group was particularly important socially and was at a liminal stage between girlhood and womanhood, buried with their dowries because they were not yet married.
  788. Find this resource:
  789. Wicker, Nancy L. “Selective Female Infanticide as Partial Explanation for the Dearth of Women in Viking Age Scandinavia.” In Violence and Society in the Early Medieval West. Edited by Guy Halsall, 205–221. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell, 1998.
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  791. Examines literary, historical, and archaeological sources to suggest that female infanticide contributed to the small numbers of adult female remains found in burials.
  792. Find this resource:
  793. Art
  794.  
  795. Art is a specific part of material culture, and art of the Viking Age has been studied by archaeologists rather than art historians; thus the line between art and archaeology is impossible to draw. Viking art is part of a continuum of Iron Age animal art styles from the Migration Period in the 5th century through late Viking art in the 12th century. During the first half of the 20th century, many scholars tried to trace outside influences on Viking art, but since then the independence of Scandinavian art has been stressed by most. Wilson and Klindt-Jensen 1980 is the most obvious starting point for the consideration of Viking art. Another contender is Anker 1970, which covers the Animal-Style Art presented by Wilson and Klindt-Jensen 1980 and also includes an extensive chapter on figurative art. Wilson 1995 is a fuller account of Viking art than Wilson and Klindt-Jensen 1980 but is accessible only to those who read Scandinavian languages. Høgestøl, et al. 1984 brings attention to methodological questions about how Viking art was made. Viking art has been popularized through several blockbuster exhibitions; see Exhibition Catalogues.
  796.  
  797. Anker, Peter. The Art of Scandinavia. Vol. 1. London: Paul Hamlyn, 1970.
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  799. Places Viking art in archaeological and historical context. Opens with the Migration Period and Vendel/Merovingian Period prelude to Viking art and includes both animal-style and figurative art of the Viking Age. Also deals with tapestries and architecture—primarily the Danish fortified camps and Norwegian post-Viking stave churches.
  800. Find this resource:
  801. Høgestøl, Mari, Jan Henning Larsen, Eldrid Straume, and Birthe Weber, eds. Festskrift til Thorleif Sjøvold på 70-årsdagan. Universitets Oldsaksamlings skrifter, ny rekke 5. Oslo, Norway: Universitets Oldsaksamling, 1984.
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  803. Festschrift with articles on archaeological aspects of the production of art, both animal-style and figural, including metalwork, woodcarving, and stone sculpture. Emphasis on techniques and workshops
  804. Find this resource:
  805. Wilson, David M. Vikingetidens konst. Signums svenska konsthistoria 2. Lund, Sweden: Bokförlaget Signum, 1995.
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  807. The second volume of a series on Swedish art in which Wilson expands upon his earlier interpretation of the sequence of Viking animal-style art. It is significant that the publishers turned to a British scholar to write this work, as there is no acknowledged Swedish or Scandinavian specialist on Viking art.
  808. Find this resource:
  809. Wilson, David M. and Ole Klindt-Jensen. Viking Art. 2d ed. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1980.
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  811. The classic survey of Viking animal-style art, beginning with a chapter on pre-Viking art by Klindt-Jensen. Identifies almost clinically precise diagnostic features of animal art. Little mention of figurative art. Sometimes difficult to see details in black-and-white illustrations.
  812. Find this resource:
  813. Animal-Style Art
  814.  
  815. Animal art of the Viking Age is usually divided into a series of overlapping styles, in chronological order: Broa/Oseberg, Borre, Jellinge, Mammen, Ringerike, and Urnes, dating from the late 8th century through the 12th century (see Wilson and Klindt-Jensen 1980, cited under Art). Karlsson 1983 rejects earlier interpretations of Viking art as dependent upon foreign influences and also serves as a handbook defining over 100 different names for animal-style art. Høilund Nielsen 2002 summarizes the research history of animal-style art and also offers new analyses. Fuglesang 1981 attempts to refine the dating of metalwork of the earlier Viking Age, and Fuglesang 1980 considers the later Viking styles in various media. Skibsted Klæsøe 1999 offers a new chronology of early Viking art that abandons the traditional terminology. Both Helmbrecht 2005 and Hedenstierna-Jonson 2006 show that certain animal styles are used on particular objects or by certain segments of the population. Wicker 2003 contrasts northern animal-style art with narrative Mediterranean art.
  816.  
  817. Fuglesang, Signe Horn. Some Aspects of the Ringerike Style: A Phase of 11th Century Scandinavian Art. Mediaeval Scandinavia Supplements 1. Odense, Denmark: Odense University Press, 1980.
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  819. Analyzes the Late Viking Ringerike style and its chronology in the context of styles that precede (Mammen) and follow it (Urnes). Considers metalwork, stonecarving, bone and horn, woodcarving, and manuscripts.
  820. Find this resource:
  821. Fuglesang, Signe Horn. “Early Viking Art.” Acta ad archaeologiam et artium historiam pertinentia, New Series 2 (1981): 125–173.
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  823. Considers animal-style art on metalwork of the mid-8th through mid-10th centuries, from Salin’s Style III through the Jellinge style.
  824. Find this resource:
  825. Hedenstierna-Jonson, Charlotte. “Borre Style Metalwork in the Material Culture of the Birka Warriors.” Fornvännen 101 (2006): 312–322.
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  827. Notes that the Borre style is absent from blade weapons but appears on defensive weapons; proposes that this style symbolized apotropaic protection.
  828. Find this resource:
  829. Helmbrecht, Michaela. “Der frühe nordische Greiftierstil: Studien zu einer stilistischen, räumlichen und chronologischen Gliederung.” Offa 61–62 (2005): 239–307.
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  831. An odd creature known as the “gripping beast” is a feature of the Broa and Borre styles, associated mainly with female jewelry. Building on previous research, Helmbrecht concludes that it is impossible to localize the origin of the motif, but the consensus is that it originates outside Scandinavia. In German.
  832. Find this resource:
  833. Høilund Nielsen, Karen, ed. Nordeuropæisk dyrestil, 400–1100e.Kr. Hikuin 29. Moesgård, Denmark: Forlaget Hikuin, 2002.
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  835. Collection of papers on both the Germanic animal style and Viking Age animal styles, including summaries of research history with extensive bibliography, specific studies on typology and chronology, and interpretations of symbolic content. In Scandinavian languages, German, and English; with English summaries.
  836. Find this resource:
  837. Karlsson, Lennart. Nordisk form: Om djurornamentik. Stockholm: Statens Historiska Museum, 1983.
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  839. An examination of the internal development of the Nordic animal styles without significant foreign influences, followed by an alphabetical catalogue of over 100 style names of various phases of animal art. In Swedish with English summary, pp. 178–189.
  840. Find this resource:
  841. Skibsted Klæsøe, Iben. “Vikingetidens kronologi — en nybearbejdning af det arkæologiske materiale.” Aarbøger for Nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie 1997 (1999): 89–142.
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  843. Reevaluates the early Viking art styles and proposes a new relative and absolute chronology, dividing art from c. 750 through 960 into Periods 1, 2, and 3, with Period 2 further subdivided. The absolute chronology is based on the introduction of Carolingian and Anglo-Saxon vine scrolls and acanthus in 9th-century Viking art, where vegetation is used without any connection with the animal. In Danish with English summary, pp. 138–142.
  844. Find this resource:
  845. Wicker, Nancy L. “The Scandinavian Animal Styles in Response to Mediterranean and Christian Narrative Art.” In The Cross Goes North: Processes of Conversion in Northern Europe, AD 300–1300. Edited by Martin Carver, 531–550. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell, 2003.
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  847. Contrasts rare attempts at figural, narrative art in Viking Age Scandinavia with the more widespread animal-style non-narrative art.
  848. Find this resource:
  849. Runestone Art
  850.  
  851. Animal ornamentation on stones with runic inscriptions is considered the “runestone style” within the sequence of Viking art styles. Dating decoration on the stones is of interest not only to archaeologists and art historians but also to runologists who study the inscriptions. Christiansson 1959 identifies two distinct styles of runestones, the South Scandinavian and Central Swedish groups. Gräslund 1990–1991 and Gräslund 1992 further study the morphology of the Central Swedish (Upplandic) group, and Fuglesang 1998 uses a different method than Gräslund to propose a relative dating for certain Upplandic stones. Many stones are explicitly Christian with crosses in addition to the animal ornamentation, and Lager 2002 uses the form of crosses on stones to elucidate the source of monks who Christianized Sweden.
  852.  
  853. Christiansson, Hans. Sydskandinavisk stil: Studier i ornamentiken på de senvikingatida runstenarna. Uppsala, Sweden: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1959.
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  855. Examines the ornamental art on runestones of the late Viking age, focusing on a South Scandinavian style in Jutland in Denmark, in the Ringerike district north of Oslo in Norway, and in southern Sweden, which he contrasts with the runestone style in Uppland in central Sweden by identifying patterns of symmetry and asymmetry of ornamental patterns. In Swedish with English summary, pp. 262–268.
  856. Find this resource:
  857. Fuglesang, Signe Horn. “Swedish Runestones of the Eleventh Century: Ornament and Dating.” In Runeninschriften als Quellen interdisziplinärer Forschung: Abhandlungen des Vierten Internationalen Symposiums über Runen und Runeninschriften in Göttingen vom 4.–9. August 1995. Edited by Klaus Düwel, 197–218. Ergänzungsbände zum Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde 15. Göttingen, Germany: de Gruyter, 1998.
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  859. Surveys the runestones of Denmark and Scania in Sweden (formerly Denmark), establishes a relative dating for a group of Swedish examples known as the Ingvar stones, and examines stones raised by successive generations of two families in Uppland, Sweden.
  860. Find this resource:
  861. Gräslund, Anne-Sofie. “Runstenar: Om ornamentik och datering.” Tor 23 (1990–1991): 113–140.
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  863. Proposes that runic inscriptions may be dated according to the “line-play” of ornamentation on runestones. Analyzes two groups of stones, the “Ingvar” and “here lies” examples. Swedish with English summary.
  864. Find this resource:
  865. Gräslund, Anne-Sofie. “Runstenar: Om ornamentik och datering II.” Tor 24 (1992): 177–201.
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  867. Based on stylistic criteria, divides stones into five groups in a relative order supported by genealogical information in the inscriptions. Swedish with English summary.
  868. Find this resource:
  869. Lager, Linn. Den synliga tron: Runstenskors som en spegling av kristnandet i Sverige. Occasional Papers in Archaeology 31. Uppsala, Sweden: Institutionen för arkeologi och antik historia, Uppsala Universitet, 2002.
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  871. Classifies the crosses on Late Viking Age runestones of Scandinavia and analyzes stylistic influences on the cross shapes. Concludes that runestones suggest that the cultural independence from European styles reflects a gradual conversion to Christianity. In Swedish with English summary, pp. 243–257.
  872. Find this resource:
  873. Figural Art
  874.  
  875. Viking Age pictorial art carved in low relief on the so-called picture stones of the Baltic island of Gotland (Nylén and Lamm 1988, Andrén 1993) and on textiles from Norway and Sweden (Hougen 1940, Franzén and Nockert 1992) seem to represent stories of gods and heroes known from Old Norse literature, yet some scenes are impossible to interpret. Helmbrecht 2007–2008 examines the often-misunderstood images of “horned” helmets that appear in small-scale metalwork, and Christensen 2010 proposes that a small silver figurine from Lejre is the Nordic god Odin on his throne (high-seat) flanked by ravens—a controversial identification because some scholars identify the figure as female rather than male. Cramp 1982 examines the image of Viking men, especially on stone sculpture from the British Isles, and Bailey 1980 presents the major stone sculpture produced in the areas settled by Scandinavians in northern England. Blindheim 1989 focuses specifically on images of women.
  876.  
  877. Andrén, Anders. “Doors to Other Worlds: Scandinavian Death Rituals in Gotland Perspective.” Journal of European Archaeology 1 (1993): 33–56.
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  879. Interprets ships and carriages on Gotlandic picture stones as representations that were used in pagan death rituals. Proposes that there were different levels of meaning and images were used as metaphors.
  880. Find this resource:
  881. Bailey, Richard. Viking Age Sculpture in Northern England. London: Collins, 1980.
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  883. A survey of stone sculpture in the areas of the British Isles colonized by the Vikings.
  884. Find this resource:
  885. Blindheim, Martin. “En undersøkelse av kvinnefremstillinger i nordisk billedkunst i merovingertid og i vikingetid.” In Kvindebilleder: Eva, Maria og andre kvindemotiver i middelaldern. Edited by Karin Kryger, Louise Lillie, and Søren Kaspersen, 31–44. Copenhagen: Akademisk forlag, 1989.
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  887. Examines images of Viking women in pictorial art. In Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish, with summaries in German, English, and French.
  888. Find this resource:
  889. Christensen, Tom. “En sølvfigurin fra Lejre i Danmark.” Viking 73 (2010): 143–156.
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  891. Introduces a small (1.75 cm-high) silver figurine found in 2009 during excavations at Lejre in Denmark, a site known from literature as the seat of the first royal Danish family. The figure, seated on a chair flanked by two birds, is identified by Christensen as Odin in his high seat with his ravens. In Danish with English summary.
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  893. Cramp, Rosemary. “The Viking Image.” In The Vikings. Edited by Robert T. Farrell, 8–19. London: Phillimore, 1982.
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  895. Discusses visual representations of Vikings as they saw (and represented) themselves, mostly in stone sculpture located in the Viking colonies of the British Isles.
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  897. Franzén, Anne Marie, and Margareta Nockert. Bonaderna från Skog och Överhogdal och andra medeltida väggbeklädnader. Stockholm: Kungl. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademien, 1992. 113–126.
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  899. Emphasizes woven tapestries from Sweden but also discusses the Oseberg tapestry from Norway. Interpretations of figural scenes on these pieces are considered. A postscript gives radiocarbon dates for the Skog and Överhogdal textiles, with Skog dating to the 13th–14th centuries but Överhogdal dating to the Viking Age, 10th–11th centuries. In Swedish with English summary.
  900. Find this resource:
  901. Helmbrecht, Michaela. “Figures with Horned Headgear: A Case Study of Context Analysis and Social Significance of Pictures in Vendel and Viking Age Scandinavia.” Lund Archaeological Review 13–14 (2007–2008): 31–53.
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  903. Examines figures with so-called “horned” helmets that terminate in bird or animal heads. Uses context analysis, paying attention to the object on which the motif is found, how it was used and deposited, and whether it is linked to a certain social group (such as men or women) to show that images were used differently in various situations.
  904. Find this resource:
  905. Hougen, Bjørn. “Osebergfunnets Billedvev.” Viking 4 (1940): 85–124.
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  907. Presents the tapestries from the Oseberg ship find and compares them to other textiles with figural motifs. In Norwegian with German summary.
  908. Find this resource:
  909. Nylén, Erik, and Jan Peder Lamm. Stones, Ships and Symbols: The Picture Stones of Gotland from the Viking Age and Before. Stockholm: Gidlunds, 1988.
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  911. Popular survey interpreting figural scenes carved on the picture stones, which are unlike any other art in Scandinavia. Copiously illustrated, with some crowded composite illustrations that must be identified with a key and a catalogue, both at the end of the book.
  912. Find this resource:
  913. Mythology and Religion
  914.  
  915. The study of Viking mythology and religion is dependent upon both written and archaeological sources to explain pagan beliefs, practice, and rituals. Various Viking gods and heroes are depicted in art. The process of Christianization during the Viking Age is studied through history written by missionaries and other outsiders, but archaeology also informs us about the shift in religions. Turville-Petre 1964 and de Vries 1956–1957 are the classic and authoritative works on Norse mythology, while Davidson 1964 is a more popular and available source on the pantheon of Nordic gods. Page 1990 is very brief but also accessible. Dumézil 1973 approaches Scandinavian mythology from the standpoint of comparative religions. Davidson 1988 compares Viking cosmology and ritual to Celtic, and DuBois 1999 examines Germanic/Scandinavian religion in addition to Sámi religion in the far north of Scandinavia. See also the Poetic Edda, the Prose Edda, and Heimskringla (cited under Literary Sources), Lindow 1988 (cited under Bibliographies), and Lindow 2001 and Simek 1993 (cited under Reference Works).
  916.  
  917. Davidson, Hilda Roderick Ellis. Gods and Myths of Northern Europe. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin, 1964.
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  919. The most available general work (and still in print) on the Viking pantheon of gods and goddesses.
  920. Find this resource:
  921. Davidson, Hilda Roderick Ellis. Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe: Early Scandinavian and Celtic Religions. New York; Syracuse University Press, 1988.
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  923. Examines holy places, rituals, and ancestor rites in the context of a comparative approach, considering whether similarities between Scandinavian and Celtic religions is due to a common ancestry or Viking contact.
  924. Find this resource:
  925. de Vries, Jan. Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte. 2d ed. 2 vols. Grundriss der germanischen Philologie 12. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1956–1957.
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  927. The standard work on Germanic (including Nordic) history of religions. In German.
  928. Find this resource:
  929. DuBois, Thomas A. Nordic Religions in the Viking Age. Middle Ages Series. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999.
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  931. Considers not only Germanic-based Nordic mythology but also religions of the Finns and Sámi in northern Scandinavia, examining contact between pre-Christian northern Europe and the Christian Mediterranean area.
  932. Find this resource:
  933. Dumézil, Georges. Gods of the Ancient Northmen. Edited by Einar Haugen. UCLA Center for the Study of Comparative Folklore and Mythology 3. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973.
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  935. Views the Nordic pantheon according to the author’s comparative tripartite model of Indo-European gods and society.
  936. Find this resource:
  937. Page, R. I. Norse Myths. The Legendary Past. London: British Museum, 1990.
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  939. Succinct account of the written sources on Viking mythology and illustrated with the most compelling examples of art identified with specific Norse gods and heroes. A brief but informative bibliographic essay at the end.
  940. Find this resource:
  941. Turville-Petre, E. O. Gabriel. Myth and Religion of the North: The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1964.
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  943. Basic general work on the history of Nordic religion, focusing on the written sources.
  944. Find this resource:
  945. Collected Works
  946.  
  947. Festschrifts and proceedings contain many contributions by contemporary scholars of Viking mythology. Hermann, et al. 2007 includes an up-to-date summary of recent research. Stausberg 2001 comprises studies by the leading scholars of comparative religion, while Andrén, et al. 2006 has numerous studies by archaeologists as well as scholars of literature and comparative religion. Simek and Heizmann 2002 focuses on female deities and legendary figures.
  948.  
  949. Andrén, Anders, Kristina Jennbert, and Catharina Raudvere, eds. Old Norse Religion in Long-Term Perspectives: Origins, Changes, and Interactions. An International Conference in Lund, Sweden, June 3–7, 2004. Vägar till Midgård 8. Lund, Sweden: Nordic Academic, 2006.
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  951. Contains more than 50 studies on Nordic cosmology, religious practice, and ritual sites, as well as the modern reception of Nordic mythology. Papers dealing with literature, archaeology, and art.
  952. Find this resource:
  953. Hermann, Pernille, Jens Peter Schødt, and Rasmus Tranum Kristensen, eds. Reflections on Old Norse Myths. Studies in Viking and Medieval Scandinavia 1. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2007.
  954. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  955. Several specific studies as well as an introductory chapter by Jens Peter Schjødt summarizing recent research on Old Norse mythology.
  956. Find this resource:
  957. Simek, Rudolf, and Wilhelm Heizmann, eds. Mythological Women: Studies in Memory of Lotte Motz 1922–1997. Studia Medievalia Septentrionalia 7. Vienna: Fassbaender, 2002.
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  959. Specific studies on Nordic female deities, Valkyries, giantesses, and female dwarves. In English and German.
  960. Find this resource:
  961. Stausberg, Michael, ed. Kontinuitäten und Brüche in der Religionsgeschichte: Festschrift für Anders Hultgård zu seinem 65. Geburtstag am 23.12.2001. Ergänzungsbände zum Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde 31. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2001.
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  963. Numerous studies of specific aspects of Scandinavian mythology in honor of Anders Hultgård, a scholar of comparative religion. Articles are in German, English, and French.
  964. Find this resource:
  965. Mythology and Archaeology
  966.  
  967. Several scholars have examined Nordic mythology in light of archaeology and place-names to reconstruct forms of pagan cult and ritual. Steinsland 2005 is the broadest examination of cult and ritual, while Ellis 1943 focuses on death and Schjødt 2008 looks at initiation rituals. Olsen 1966 is a study based on archaeological examination of Christian and pagan sites as well as place-name evidence. Price 2002 examines archaeological evidence for the practice of shamanism and other rites. Davidson 1998 looks at the goddesses of Scandinavian mythology and the roles that they played in society.
  968.  
  969. Davidson, Hilda Ellis. Roles of the Northern Goddess. London: Routledge, 1998.
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  971. Examines literature, legend, folklore, and archaeology in order to study Nordic goddesses and how they were worshiped by men and women.
  972. Find this resource:
  973. Ellis, Hilda Roderick. The Road to Hel: A Study of the Conception of the Dead in Old Norse Literature. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1943.
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  975. Focuses on funeral customs, the cult of the dead, and the afterlife in Viking society from archaeological, historical, and literary sources.
  976. Find this resource:
  977. Olsen, Olaf. Hørg, hov og kirke: Historiske og arkæologiske vikingetidsstudier. Aarbøger for nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie 1965. Copenhagen: G. E. C. Gad, 1966.
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  979. Classic archaeological examination of early churches to determine whether they show continuity from pagan cult sites; however, concludes that excavations do not reveal such a connection. Also examines place-name evidence of hof sites, where ritual ceremonies may have taken place. In Danish with English summary, pp. 277–288.
  980. Find this resource:
  981. Price, Neil S. The Viking Way: Religion and War in Late Iron Age Scandinavia. AUN Archaeological Studies 31. Uppsala, Sweden: Uppsala University Institute of North European Archaeology, 2002.
  982. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  983. A study of ritual practices including shamanism, sorcery, and sacrifice from archaeological and historical sources.
  984. Find this resource:
  985. Schjødt, Jens Peter. Initiation between Two Worlds: Structure and Symbolism in Pre-Christian Scandinavian Religion. Translated by Victor Hansen. Odense, Denmark: University Press of Southern Denmark, 2008.
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  987. Examines rituals associated with initiation in the pre-Christian North from the standpoint of comparative religions.
  988. Find this resource:
  989. Steinsland, Gro. Norrøn religion: Myter, riter, samfunn. Oslo, Norway: Pax, 2005.
  990. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  991. Comprehensive investigation of myths, rites, and society. Particularly strong on cult and ritual. In Norwegian.
  992. Find this resource:
  993. Conversion to Christianity
  994.  
  995. Recent national projects in Norway (Rindal 1996) and Sweden (Nilsson 1992, Nilsson 1996) have resulted in large collections of papers on various aspects of the conversion to Christianity. Sawyer, et al. 1987 summarizes scholarly debates about the process of conversion, and Sawyer and Sawyer 1993 carries the study from the Viking Age into the medieval period. Both Gräslund 2001 and Sawyer 1990 consider women’s roles in the conversion, and Gräslund examines the archaeology of the shift in religions.
  996.  
  997. Gräslund, Anne-Sofie. Ideologi och mentalitet — om religionsskiftet i Skandinavien från en arkeologisk horisont. Occasional Papers in Archaeology 29. Uppsala, Sweden: Institutionen för arkeologi och antik historia, Uppsala Universitet, 2001.
  998. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  999. Examines how archaeological evidence can reveal the process of Christianization. Uses Fridtjuv Birkeli’s phases of infiltration, mission, and organization for each of the Scandinavian countries, including Finland. Also considers the perspectives of women toward conversion. In Swedish with English summary, pp. 141–150.
  1000. Find this resource:
  1001. Nilsson, Bertil, ed. Kontinuitet i kult och tro från vikingatid till medeltid. Projektet Sveriges kristnande 1. Uppsala, Sweden: Lunne Böcker, 1992.
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  1003. Four papers on cult continuity from pagan to Christian in Sweden, including Bertil Nilsson on the legal attitude of the Church, Anders Hultgård on persistence and change in pre-Christian ritual, Stefan Brink on cult continuity studied from settlement history, and Anne-Sofie Gräslund with an archaeological analysis of continuity from pagan graveyards to Christian cemeteries. In Swedish with English summaries.
  1004. Find this resource:
  1005. Nilsson, Bertil, ed. Kristnandet i Sverige: Gamla källor och nya perspektiv. Projektet Sveriges kristnandet 5. Uppsala, Sweden: Lunne Böcker, 1996.
  1006. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1007. Swedish research project on the conversion process, with numerous contributions on archaeology, runestones, written sources, liturgy, and church organization. In Swedish with English summaries.
  1008. Find this resource:
  1009. Rindal, Magnus, ed. Fra hedendom til kristendom: Perspektiver på religionsskiftet i Norge. Oslo, Norway: Ad notam Gyldendal, 1996.
  1010. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1011. Papers from a Norwegian research project on the process of conversion to Christianity. In Norwegian.
  1012. Find this resource:
  1013. Sawyer, Birgit. “Women and the Conversion in Scandinavia.” In Frauen in Spätantike und Frühmittelalter: Lebensbedingungen — Lebensnormen — Lebensformen. Edited by Werner Affeldt, 263–281. Sigmaringen, Germany: Jan Thorbecke Verlag, 1990.
  1014. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1015. Examines how women were affected by the introduction of Christianity in Scandinavia. Considers historical sources and archaeological evidence.
  1016. Find this resource:
  1017. Sawyer, Birgit, and Peter Sawyer. Medieval Scandinavia: From Conversion to Reformation, circa 800–1500. The Nordic Series 17. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1993.
  1018. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1019. Places Scandinavian history beginning with the Viking Age into the broader European context, looking at social and political developments that accompanied the growth of the church.
  1020. Find this resource:
  1021. Sawyer, Birgit, Peter Sawyer, and Ian Wood, eds. The Christianization of Scandinavia: Report of a Symposium held at Kungälv, Sweden, 4–9 August 1985. Alingsås, Sweden: Viktoria Bokförlag, 1987.
  1022. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1023. Includes papers by the editors about the conversion plus summaries of the discussion and debate that took place at the conference.
  1024. Find this resource:
  1025. The Vikings at Home
  1026.  
  1027. Each of the modern Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden has a vast and sometimes nationalistic literature on the Viking past with its own character. Denmark has been characterized by the royal site of Jelling and fortifications of King Harald Bluetooth; Norway by the Viking Ship Burials from Oseberg, Gokstad, and Borre; and Sweden by the trading center at Birka and thousands of Viking Age runestones.
  1028.  
  1029. Denmark
  1030.  
  1031. Viking Age Denmark was pivotal because of its geographic location between continental Europe and the rest of Scandinavia, as well as its close proximity to the British Isles. The availability of arable land there, especially compared to Norway, allowed the early growth of villages and towns. The development of its kingdom is also better documented than for Norway and Sweden. Jensen 2004 is part of a larger synthesis of the archaeology of prehistoric and early historic Denmark. Sawyer 1988 emphasizes written sources, while Randsborg 1980 deals with data from archaeological sources, but both of these authors focus on the development of the political development of the nation. Roesdahl 1982 is an archaeologist’s thematic survey of all aspects of daily life. Näsman 1989 summarizes results from archaeological investigations.
  1032.  
  1033. Jensen, Jørgen. Yngre Jernalder og Vikingetid, 400 e. Kr.–1050 e. Kr. Danmarks Oldtid 4. Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 2004.
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  1035. Massive, well-illustrated 4th volume of prehistory of Denmark, from the Migration Period (5th–6th century CE) through the Viking Age. With extensive bibliography. In Danish.
  1036. Find this resource:
  1037. Näsman, Ulf. “The Germanic Iron Age and Viking Age in Danish Archaeology: A Survey of the Literature 1976–1986.” Journal of Danish Archaeology 8 (1989): 159–187.
  1038. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1039. Review of excavations and publications on the pre-Viking period and the Viking Age during a period of intense archaeological activity.
  1040. Find this resource:
  1041. Randsborg, Klavs. The Viking Age in Denmark: The Formation of a State. New York: St. Martin’s, 1980.
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  1043. Focuses on the development of the state of Denmark as a political unit established c. 1000 CE. Looks at changes in burial customs and the development of towns.
  1044. Find this resource:
  1045. Roesdahl, Else. Viking Age Denmark. London: British Museum, 1982.
  1046. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1047. Chapters on transport, settlements, towns, trade and crafts, weapons and fortifications, religion, burials and churches, and relations with other countries, all based on archaeological sources. English translation of Danmarks Vikingetid, 1980.
  1048. Find this resource:
  1049. Sawyer, Peter H. Da Danmark blev Danmark: fra ca. år 700 til ca. 1050. Gyldendal og Politikens Danmarkshistorie 3. Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1988.
  1050. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1051. Focuses on written sources and deals with political consolidation of the kingdom of Denmark under Harald Bluetooth. In Danish.
  1052. Find this resource:
  1053. Jelling
  1054.  
  1055. The site of Jelling in central Jutland, with two runestones, two large mounds, and an early church, is considered the seat of the creation of the kingdom of Denmark. The entire complex is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The larger runestone was raised by King Harald Bluetooth (d. c. 987) to honor his parents Gorm (d. c. 958) and Thyra and records that Harald “won for himself all of Denmark, and Norway, and made the Danes Christian.” Each decade has its own “new” interpretation. The multidisciplinary discussion Nielsen 1974 challenges the classic interpretation of Dyggve 1954 and sets the stage for the next generation of research at the site by Krogh 1982, then Andersen 1995, and finally Randsborg 2008. Rather than new archaeological excavations, Bjerrum Jensen 2009 takes a postmodern stance and studies the use of the site itself as a national symbol of Denmark.
  1056.  
  1057. Andersen, Harald. “The Graves of the Jelling Dynasty.” Acta Archaeologica 66 (1995): 281–300.
  1058. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1059. Describes the Jelling complex in its entirety: two mounds (one with a burial chamber), two runestones, rows of standing stones under one of the mounds, and an early church. Gives the history of the 1820–1821 and 1861 excavations of the burial mound and interprets the chronology of the various parts of the complex.
  1060. Find this resource:
  1061. Bjerrum Jensen, Mette. “Royal Jelling: Danish National Heritage Reinvented.” Archaeological Review from Cambridge 24 (2009): 77–93.
  1062. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1063. Critiques the nationalistic use of the site of Jelling.
  1064. Find this resource:
  1065. Dyggve, Ejnar. “Gorm’s Temple and Harald’s Stave-Church at Jelling.” Acta Archaeologica 25 (1954): 221–239.
  1066. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1067. Discusses whether the present medieval church at Jelling was preceded by a pagan temple and then a wooden stave church.
  1068. Find this resource:
  1069. Krogh, Knud J. “The Royal Viking-age Monuments at Jelling in the Light of Recent Archaeological Excavations: A Preliminary Report.” Acta Archaeologica 53 (1982): 183–216.
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  1071. Discusses excavations of the church, standing stones that lie beneath one of the mounds, and metal artifacts found in the 1820–1821 excavation of the burial chamber. Concludes that remains of all three structures that predate the present church were also churches rather than pagan temples.
  1072. Find this resource:
  1073. Nielsen, Karl Martin, et al. “Jelling Problems: A Discussion.” Mediaeval Scandinavia 7 (1974): 156–234.
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  1075. Multidisciplinary approach to Jelling, with contributions signed by archaeologists, historians, philologists, and runologists within the “article” by Nielsen.
  1076. Find this resource:
  1077. Randsborg, Klavs. “Kings’ Jelling: Gorm and Thyra’s Palace, Harald’s Monument and Grave, Svend’s Cathedral.” Acta Archaeologica 79 (2008): 1–23.
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  1079. Discusses the siting of Jelling, the wooden churches that precede the present one, and plans for the future of Jelling.
  1080. Find this resource:
  1081. Ribe
  1082.  
  1083. Ribe on the west coast of Jutland, which is considered the first town in Denmark, seems to have been established as a market site early in the 8th century, trading across the North Sea. The archaeological excavations beginning the late 1970s have been reported in popular (Jensen 1991) and scholarly publications. Jensen, et al. 1983 presents the long-term settlement, and other publications analyze the dating of the early Viking Age site (Bencard and Bender Jørgensen 1990, Feveile and Jensen 2000).
  1084.  
  1085. Bencard, Mogens, and Lise Bender Jørgensen. “The Foundation of Ribe.” Antiquity 64 (1990): 576–583.
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  1087. Archaeological investigations of Ribe, which developed during the 8th century and thus dates to the very beginning of the Viking Age. Stratigraphic details and dendrochronological dates, with several dates in the early 700s.
  1088. Find this resource:
  1089. Feveile, Claus, and Stig Jensen. “Ribe in the 8th and 9th Century: A Contribution to the Archaeological Chronology of North Western Europe.” Acta Archaeologica 71 (2000): 9–24.
  1090. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1091. Report on excavations of 1970–1976 dated to the early Viking Age of 700–850 CE by stratigraphy and dendrochronology.
  1092. Find this resource:
  1093. Jensen, Stig. The Vikings of Ribe. Ribe: Den antikvariske Samling, 1991.
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  1095. Popular volume with useful illustrations, especially of craft techniques such as bead-making. Interprets Ribe as an emporium, that is, a market town or trading site.
  1096. Find this resource:
  1097. Jensen, Stig, Per Kristian Madsen, and Ole Schiørring. “Excavations in Ribe 1979–82.” Journal of Danish Archaeology 2 (1983): 156–170.
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  1099. Presentation of the Ribe excavations, supporting its interpretation as a market town from the early Viking Age into the medieval period.
  1100. Find this resource:
  1101. Other Significant Sites
  1102.  
  1103. Archaeological investigations have confirmed the importance of Lejre, which according to legend was a royal seat (Niles and Osborn 2007). Both Dankirke (Hansen 1989) and Tissø (Jørgensen 2003) seem to have been rich chieftains’ trading sites rather than urban centers, whereas Århus (Damm 2005) was mentioned in 10th-century German annals and became an early bishop’s seat. Hedeby (in German, Haithabu) lies in modern-day Germany across the River Schlei from Schleswig in the often-contested Danish-northern German border area (Elsner 1988). Its location between Scandinavia and the Frankish Empire, and between the North Sea and the Baltic, allowed it to become an important marketplace.
  1104.  
  1105. Damm, Annette, ed. Viking Aros. Århus, Denmark: Moesgård Museum, 2005.
  1106. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1107. Presentation of excavations tracing 10th-century settlement of Århus, an early bishop’s seat in northern Jutland.
  1108. Find this resource:
  1109. Elsner, Hildegard, ed. Haithabu: ein Handels- und Gewerbezentrum der Wikingerzeit. Schleswig-Holsteinische Geschichte in Lichtbildern 2. Neumünster, West Germany: Archäologisches Landesmuseum der Christian-Albrechts Universität, 1988.
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  1111. General introduction to the results of decades of archaeological investigation at the trading site Hedeby (Haithabu), considered the largest of the Viking towns, even though it lies in present-day Germany. In German.
  1112. Find this resource:
  1113. Hansen, Henrik Jarl. “Dankirke: Affluence in Late Iron Age Denmark.” In The Birth of Europe: Archaeology and Social Development in the First Millennium AD. Edited by Klaus Randsborg, 123–128. Analecta Romana Institutu Danici Supplementum 16. Rome: L’Erma di Bretschneider, 1989.
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  1115. Dankirke, which lies near Ribe on the west coast of Jutland, has been considered either a proto-town or a rich estate. Current understanding refutes town interpretation.
  1116. Find this resource:
  1117. Jørgensen, Lars. “Manor and Market at Lake Tissø in the Sixth to Eleventh Centuries: the Danish Productive Sites.” In Markets in Early Medieval Europe: Trading and “Productive Sites” c. 650–850. Edited by Tim Pestell and Catharina Ulmschneider, 175–207. Macclesfield, UK: Windgather, 2003.
  1118. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1119. Describes a site by a lake in western Zealand, discovered through metal detector finds. Settlement from the Roman Iron Age onwards, but became an important trading site—yet not a town—in the Viking Age.
  1120. Find this resource:
  1121. Niles, John, and Marijane Osborn, eds. Beowulf and Lejre. Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2007.
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  1123. Collection of papers gathering previous research on the site of the legendary royal seat at Lejre and presenting the archaeological discovery of a large hall at Lejre. Includes a long chapter by Niles discussing archaeological and literary sources concerning Lejre and Beowulf.
  1124. Find this resource:
  1125. Bornholm
  1126.  
  1127. The Baltic island of Bornholm is Danish but has much in common with the Swedish Baltic islands of Öland and Gotland. Archaeologically it is very rich with many sites in use over a long period of time (Adamsen, et al. 2009; Watt 1983). Intensive metal-detecting has discovered many new sites (Watt 2006).
  1128.  
  1129. Adamsen, Christian, Ulla Lund Hansen, Fin Ole Nielsen, and Margrethe Watt. Sorte Muld: Wealth, Power and Religion at an Iron Age Central Settlement on Bornholm. Translated by Stuart R. Goodale. Rønne, Denmark: Bornholms Museum, 2009.
  1130. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1131. The site of Sorte Muld is known for its rich finds of gold dating to the Migration Period, but it was in use throughout the entire Iron Age including the Viking Age. English translation of Sorte Muld, 2008.
  1132. Find this resource:
  1133. Watt, Margrethe. “A Viking Age Settlement at Runegård (Grødby), Bornholm: An Interim Report of the Investigations 1979–1982.” Journal of Danish Archaeology 2 (1983): 137–148.
  1134. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1135. Excavation of a complex of “Trelleborg-type” houses (with curving walls as at the fortification at Trelleborg, Denmark) indicating different settlement phases as well as burials that might have belonged to this farming community.
  1136. Find this resource:
  1137. Watt, Margrethe. “Detector Sites and Settlement Archaeology on Bornholm: A Survey of ‘Productive Sites’ from the Iron Age and the Viking Age 1996–1999.” Journal of Danish Archaeology 14 (2006): 139–167.
  1138. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1139. Over 30,000 metal detector finds have led to the discovery of hoards as well as settlement sites indicated by phosphate mapping.
  1140. Find this resource:
  1141. Architecture and Fortifications
  1142.  
  1143. Circular forts found across Denmark are considered public works reflecting military expansion associated with Harald Bluetooth (d. c. 987 CE), but their interpretation has evolved over time. These forts at Trelleborg, Fyrkat, Aggersborg, and Nonneberg (as well as another Trelleborg in Sweden) are so standardized that it is assumed they were built under the strict control of the king (Christiansen 1982, Roesdahl 1986). Dendrochronology confirms that they were built around 980 CE (Bonde and Christensen 1982). Schmidt 1973 and Schmidt 1994 examine the house types discovered at these sites. The defensive earthwork called the Danevirke (“work of the Danes”) stretches westward across the neck of the Jutish Peninsula, approximately from Schleswig and Hedeby (Haithabu) to the River Treene and was built in many phases (Dobat 2008).
  1144.  
  1145. Bonde, Niels, and Kjeld Christensen. “Trelleborgs alder: dendro-kronologisk datering.” Aarbøger for nordisk oldkyndighed og historie (1982): 111–152.
  1146. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1147. Dendrochronological dating of the ring-fort at Trelleborg to c. 980 CE. In Danish with English summary.
  1148. Find this resource:
  1149. Christiansen, Tage E. “Trelleborgs alder: arkæologisk datering.” Aarbøger for nordisk oldkyndighed og historie (1982): 84–110.
  1150. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1151. Places the dendrochronological dating of c. 980 CE into context and considers hypothesis of royal control. In Danish with English summary.
  1152. Find this resource:
  1153. Dobat, Andres Siegfried. “Danevirke Revisited: An Investigation into Military and Socio-political Organisation in Southern Scandinavia (c. AD 700 to 1100).” Medieval Archaeology 52 (2008): 27–67.
  1154. DOI: 10.1179/174581708x335431Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1155. New archaeological and dendrochronological investigations have clarified various phases of construction. The wall was extended to Hedeby c. 968 CE.
  1156. Find this resource:
  1157. Roesdahl, Else. “The Danish Geometrical Viking Fortresses and Their Context.” Anglo-Norman Studies 9 (1986): 208–226.
  1158. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1159. Considers all of the circular forts in Denmark in light of the new dendrochronological datings.
  1160. Find this resource:
  1161. Schmidt, Holger. “The Trelleborg House Reconsidered.” Medieval Archaeology 17 (1973): 52–77.
  1162. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1163. Investigates the house or hall type with curved walls that lies within the circular fortifications. The house form at Trelleborg has become known as a general type across much of Scandinavia.
  1164. Find this resource:
  1165. Schmidt, Holger. Building Customs in Viking Age Denmark. Translated by Jean Olsen. Copenhagen: Poul Kristensen, 1994.
  1166. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1167. Heavily dependent upon the archaeological remains of houses discovered at the fortified sites of Fyrkat and Trelleborg but also examines other house sites excavated in Denmark in recent decades.
  1168. Find this resource:
  1169. Burials
  1170.  
  1171. Viking Age burials include both cremations (Ramskou 1950) and inhumations (Brøndsted 1936), with a gradual shift to inhumation. Specific well-published cemeteries include the spectacularly large and well-marked example at Lindholm Høje in Jutland (Ramskou 1976) and the high-status site of Mammen (Iversen 1991), dated dendrochronologically to 970–971 CE.
  1172.  
  1173. Brøndsted, Johannes. “Danish Inhumation Graves of the Viking Age: A Survey.” Acta Archaeologica 7 (1936): 81–228.
  1174. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1175. Old but accessible survey of inhumation graves found to that date.
  1176. Find this resource:
  1177. Iversen, Mette, ed. Mammen: grav, kunst og samfund i vikingetid. Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab Skrifter 28. Århus, Denmark: Aarhus Universitetsforlag, 1991.
  1178. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1179. Grave chamber including textiles and weapons, dated dendrochronologically to 970–971 CE. These finds have led scholars to question the separation of the Jelling and Mammen art styles, with the finds at Jelling dated c. 958–959. Most articles in Danish with short English or German summary.
  1180. Find this resource:
  1181. Ramskou, Thorkild. “Viking Age Cremation Graves in Denmark.” Acta Archaeologica 21 (1950): 137–182.
  1182. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1183. Old but accessible survey of cremation graves found to that date. Cremations tend to be earlier than the inhumations.
  1184. Find this resource:
  1185. Ramskou, Thorkild. Lindholm Høje: Gravpladsen. Nordiske fortidsminder B:2, Copenhagen: Det kongelige nordiske Oldskriftselskab, 1976.
  1186. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1187. Publication of the very large cemetery of at least 700 graves of the Iron Age, including pre-Viking and Viking Age cremations and inhumations, with some marked by above-ground stone settings. In Danish.
  1188. Find this resource:
  1189. Norway
  1190.  
  1191. Norway’s Viking Age contacts for both trading and raiding were primarily to the west across the North Sea to the British Isles rather than east, due to the mountainous terrain in the east, which also limits agriculture. Viking Ship Burials discovered in the late 19th and early 20th century were connected to the development of the modern Norwegian kingdom, and the ships became national symbols of Norway as it gained its independence in the period of these discoveries. Historians (Andersen 1985, Bagge 2002) focus on the beginnings of the Norwegian state, whereas archaeologists (Sjøvold 1974, Skre 2001) consider a longer time frame beginning with the period before the Viking Age. Sjøvold 1974 looks at northern Norway, which was important for Viking Age trade with the British Isles.
  1192.  
  1193. Andersen, Per Sveaas. Vikings of the West: The Expansion of Norway in the Early Middle Ages. 2d ed. Tokens of Norway. Sandnes, Norway: Aase Grafiske, 1985.
  1194. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1195. Based primarily on written sources. Posits 9th-century unification of regional territories into kingdom of Norway.
  1196. Find this resource:
  1197. Bagge, Sverre. “Eleventh-century Norway: The Formation of a Kingdom.” In The Neighbours of Poland in the Eleventh Century. Edited by Przemyslaw Urbanczyk, 29–47. Warsaw, Poland: Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, 2002.
  1198. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1199. Emphasizes written sources and the development of the medieval kingdom of Norway.
  1200. Find this resource:
  1201. Sjøvold, Thorleif. The Iron Age Settlement of Arctic Norway: A Study in the Expansion of European Iron Age Culture within the Arctic Circle. Vol. 2, Late Iron Age (Merovingian and Viking Periods). Tromsø Museums Skrifter 10:2. Tromsø: Norwegian University Press, 1974.
  1202. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1203. Analysis of finds and discussion of the scope and character of Viking Age settlements along the northern Norwegian coastline such as Borg in Lofoten. Part of Tromsø Museums Skrifter series.
  1204. Find this resource:
  1205. Skre, Dagfinn. “The Social Context of Settlement in Norway in the First Millennium AD.” Norwegian Archaeological Review 34 (2001): 1–13.
  1206. DOI: 10.1080/00293650116757Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1207. Analyzes settlement history in Romerike in east central Norway in the context of a theoretical framework comparing it to settlement in other Germanic cultures and written sources from the 11th century and later.
  1208. Find this resource:
  1209. Rural Settlements and Trading Sites
  1210.  
  1211. Norway is characterized by rural rather than urban settlement. Kaupang (Skre 2007, Skre 2008) is the only Viking Age trading site that approaches the scale of Ribe in Denmark or Birka in Sweden. More common are farm complexes and iron production sites in the mountains (Bakka 1965, Johansen 1982). High social status may be revealed by the location of boathouses (Myhre 1985) and weapons found in graves (Solberg 1985).
  1212.  
  1213. Bakka, Egil. “Ytre Moa: eit gardsanlegg frå vikingtida i Årdal i Sogn.” Viking 29 (1965): 121–145.
  1214. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1215. Valuable information about house structures with postholes for roof-bearing posts from excavation of a deserted farm site. In Norwegian with English summary.
  1216. Find this resource:
  1217. Johansen, Olav Sverre. “Viking Age Farms: Estimating the Number and Population Size, a Case Study from Vestvågøy, North Norway.” Norwegian Archaeological Review 15 (1982): 45–69.
  1218. DOI: 10.1080/00293652.1982.9965365Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1219. An attempt to give quantitative figures relying on deserted farms, pollen analysis, and also written records.
  1220. Find this resource:
  1221. Myhre, Bjørn. “Boathouses as Indicators of Political Organization.” Norwegian Archaeological Review 18 (1985): 36–60.
  1222. DOI: 10.1080/00293652.1985.9965410Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1223. Boathouses as protection for chieftain’s boats reflect high-status farm complexes.
  1224. Find this resource:
  1225. Skre, Dagfinn, ed. Kaupang in Skiringsal. Kaupang Excavation Project Publications Series. Norske Oldfunn 22:1. Århus, Denmark: Aarhus University Press, 2007.
  1226. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1227. The market center at Skiringssal, also known as Kaupang, in Vestfold was an active trading center during the 9th century. Full report of excavations of the 1990s and 2000s.
  1228. Find this resource:
  1229. Skre, Dagfinn, ed. Means of Exchange: Dealing with Silver in the Viking Age. Kaupang Excavation Project Publications Series., Norske Oldfunn 2. Århus, Denmark: Aarhus University Press, 2008.
  1230. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1231. Interpretation of metal finds at Kaupang, including Islamic silver coins as evidence of trade with the East.
  1232. Find this resource:
  1233. Solberg, Bergljot. “Social Status in the Merovingian and Viking Periods in Norway from Archaeological and Historical Sources.” Norwegian Archaeological Review 18 (1985): 61–76.
  1234. DOI: 10.1080/00293652.1985.9965411Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1235. Correlates attempts to assess rank from burials with interpretations by historians. In particular, shows an association between requirements of laws about weapons and the weapons found in graves.
  1236. Find this resource:
  1237. Ship Burials
  1238.  
  1239. The ship burials of Oseberg, Gokstad, Borre, and Tune in the Vestfold region have dominated Norwegian Viking Age archaeology. Christensen, et al. 1992 is an extensive yet popular presentation of the Oseberg find as a national treasure. Recent dendrochronological investigations (Bonde and Christensen 1993) are crucial for dating the ship finds. The bodies in the Oseberg find continue to be of interest for osteological and DNA investigations (Holck 2006, Holck 2009). Ingstad 1981 attempts to identify one of the women buried in the Oseberg ship, and Arwill-Nordbladh 2001 considers how the two bodies from that ship have been treated in the century since their discovery.
  1240.  
  1241. Arwill-Nordbladh, Elisabeth. “Re-arranging History: The Contested Bones of the Oseberg Grave.” In Thinking through the Body: Archaeologies of Corporeality. Edited by Yannis Hamilakis, Mark Pluciennik, and Sarah Tarlow, 201–216. New York: Kluwer Academic, 2001.
  1242. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1243. Examines how the modern reburial of the bodies of the two women in the ship burial became a nationalistic symbol.
  1244. Find this resource:
  1245. Bonde, Niels, and Arne Emil Christensen. “Dendrochronological Dating of the Viking Age Ship Burials at Oseberg, Gokstad and Tune, Norway.” Antiquity 67 (1993): 575–583.
  1246. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1247. Dates the grave chambers and grave goods from three ship burials by dendrochronology and correlates these dates with relative dating according to artistic styles of the artifacts. Finds that the entire chronology may need to be moved further back in time.
  1248. Find this resource:
  1249. Christensen, Arne Emil, Anne Stine Ingstad, and Bjørn Myhre. Oseberg-dronningens grav: vår arkeologiske nasjonalskatt i nytt lys. Oslo, Norway: Schibsted, 1992.
  1250. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1251. Popular account of the new investigation of the Oseberg ship burial with its contents including woodcarving and textiles. References to the earlier literature. In Norwegian.
  1252. Find this resource:
  1253. Holck, Per. “The Oseberg Ship Burial, Norway: New Thoughts on the Skeletons from the Grave Mound.” European Journal of Archaeology 9 (2006): 185–210.
  1254. DOI: 10.1177/1461957107086123Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1255. Fragments of the bones from the two women in the grave are dated to 1220 ± 40 BP (730 ± 70 CE) and 1230 ± 40 BP (720 ± 40 CE). Proposes that the DNA profile of the younger woman is similar to modern populations in Iran rather than Europe, although this interpretation has subsequently been questioned.
  1256. Find this resource:
  1257. Holck, Per. “The Skeleton from the Gokstad Ship: New Evaluation of an Old Find.” Norwegian Archaeological Review 42 (2009): 40–49.
  1258. DOI: 10.1080/00293650902907706Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1259. Reopening of lead coffin from 1928 reburial allowed osteological examination of the body of a male around age 40 with marks of older injuries and mortal blows showing that he had likely been killed in battle.
  1260. Find this resource:
  1261. Ingstad, Anne Stine. “Osebergdronningen: hvem var hun?” Viking 45 (1981): 49–65.
  1262. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1263. Proposes that the body of the younger woman from the Oseberg ship burial was King Gudrød the Splendid’s first wife Alvhild rather than his second wife Åsa, as is usually assumed. In Norwegian with English summary.
  1264. Find this resource:
  1265. Sweden
  1266.  
  1267. The legendary histories of the Geats of the Old English Beowulf and the Yngling dynasty in Snorri’s Old Icelandic Heimskringla have been associated with Sweden. Historians tend to emphasize struggles between the Götar and Svear that resulted in the medieval Swedish kingdom, while archaeologists have focused on settlements and burials, particularly at the important trading site of Birka in central Sweden. Viking expansion outward from Sweden took the form of trading and settlement in Russia and the East. Rausing 1985 assesses the legendary sources concerning the early history of Sweden. Historians Sawyer and Lindkvist both focus on the formation of the Swedish kingdom (see Sawyer 1991 and Lindkvist 1991), although Lindkvist uses a Marxist perspective to consider the exploitation of the lower classes. Stenberger 1979 traces the beginning of the Swedish state through archaeological sources and also discusses the Viking expansion to the east. Hyenstrand 1996 analyzes regional differences beyond central Sweden.
  1268.  
  1269. Hyenstrand, Åke. Lejonet, draken och korset: Sverige 500–1000. Lund, Sweden: Studentliteteratur, 1996.
  1270. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1271. Uses archaeological and historical sources to examine regional differences for a long-term perspective and considers the ideology and iconography of the lion, the dragon, and the cross. In Swedish.
  1272. Find this resource:
  1273. Lindkvist, Thomas. “Social and political power in Sweden 1000–1300.” In Social Approaches to Viking Studies. Edited by Ross Samson, 137–146. Glasgow: Cruithne, 1991.
  1274. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1275. Marxist view of exploitation by the ruling classes leading up to the feudal Swedish state.
  1276. Find this resource:
  1277. Rausing, Gad. “Beowulf, Ynglingatal and the Ynglinga Saga: Fiction or History?” Fornvännen 80 (1985): 163–178.
  1278. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1279. Places legendary sources on Swedish history into context.
  1280. Find this resource:
  1281. Sawyer, Peter H. När Sverige blev Sverige. Occasional Papers on Medieval Topics 5. Alingsås, Sweden: Victoria Bokförlaget, 1991.
  1282. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1283. Updated version of The Making of Sweden, 1988. Examines the development of a unified kingdom in central Sweden in the period of transition from the Viking Age to the medieval period through historical sources. In Swedish.
  1284. Find this resource:
  1285. Stenberger, Mårten. Det forntida Sverige. 3d ed. Stockholm: AWE/Gebers, 1979.
  1286. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1287. Survey of prehistoric Sweden from the Stone Age through the Iron Age, of which the Viking Age is considered a subcategory. Devotes almost 200 pages to the Vikings, including expansion to the east and cultural themes. In Swedish.
  1288. Find this resource:
  1289. Settlements and Trading Sites
  1290.  
  1291. Callmer 1986 and Damell 1993 are general studies of settlement types in southern and central Sweden, and Callmer 1986 looks at the longevity of settlements. In central Sweden, Birka was a trading site with international contacts, whereas Sigtuna, founded c. 980 (Tesch 1989, Tesch 1990), epitomizes a later stage of urbanization with a mint and royal connections. Birka has been investigated intensely for over two centuries (Ambrosiani and Clarke 1992, Holmqvist 1979), and new excavations were carried out in the 1990s (Ambrosiani and Clarke 1995). The long-term settlement site of Uppåkra in Skåne (Scania), which is historically associated with Denmark, has more recently become the focus of a large research project (Stjernquist 1995).
  1292.  
  1293. Ambrosiani, Björn, and Helen Clarke, eds. Early Investigations and Future Plans. Birka Studies 1. Stockholm: Riksantikvarieämbetet och Statens Historiska Museer, 1992.
  1294. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1295. Summarizes the history of excavations of the settlement area at Birka and plans for the 1990–1995 campaign.
  1296. Find this resource:
  1297. Ambrosiani, Björn, and Helen Clarke, eds. Investigations in the Black Earth. Birka Studies 2. Stockholm: Riksantikvarieämbetet och Statens Historiska Museer, 1995.
  1298. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1299. Interim and specialist reports from the 1990 excavation at Birka.
  1300. Find this resource:
  1301. Callmer, Johan. “To Stay or to Move: Some Aspects of the Settlement Dynamics in Southern Scandinavia in the Seventh to Twelfth Centuries A.D. with Special Reference to the Province of Scania, Southern Sweden.” Meddelanden från Lunds Universitets Historisk Museum. New Series 6. 1985–1986: 167–208.
  1302. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1303. Finds that half of settlements show continuity through the entire period whereas the other half were abandoned or moved some distance away.
  1304. Find this resource:
  1305. Damell, David. “About Royal Manors from the Late Iron Age in Middle Sweden.” Current Swedish Archaeology 1 (1993): 39–47.
  1306. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1307. Studies central place characteristics. Connects royal power to ancient monument sites with strong similarities to one another, proposing that other sites may be found on the basis of these characteristics.
  1308. Find this resource:
  1309. Holmqvist, Wilhelm. Swedish Vikings on Helgö and Birka. Stockholm: Studio Granath, 1979.
  1310. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1311. Well-illustrated, popular presentation of international trading site of Birka as well as the smaller and earlier elite site of Helgö.
  1312. Find this resource:
  1313. Stjernquist, Berta. “Uppåkra, a Central Place in Skåne during the Iron Age.” Lund Archaeological Review 1 (1995): 89–120.
  1314. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1315. Settlement remains from the entire first millennium CE, including remains of a unique building that has been referred to as a cult house. Suggests that Uppåkra was an economic, political, and religious center in Skåne, perhaps even a royal seat.
  1316. Find this resource:
  1317. Tesch, Sten, ed. Avstamp—för en ny Sigtunaforskning: 18 forskare om Sigtuna, heldagsseminarium kring Sigtunaforskning den 26 November 1987 Gröna Ladan, Sigtuna. Sigtuna, Sweden: Sigtuna Museer, 1989.
  1318. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1319. The urban center of Sigtuna was founded c. 980, growing from a royal manor and soon having a mint. Papers on various topics, in Swedish except one in English by Peter Sawyer.
  1320. Find this resource:
  1321. Tesch, Sten, ed. Makt och människor i kungens Sigtuna: Sigtunautgrävningen 1988–90. Sigtuna, Sweden: Sigtuna Museer, 1990.
  1322. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1323. Papers on the excavations at Sigtuna, on the town plan, cultural contacts and trade, craft workshops, runestones, and religion. In Swedish.
  1324. Find this resource:
  1325. Regional Studies and Burials in Mainland Sweden
  1326.  
  1327. Svealand in central Sweden has been considered the seat of the unification of Sweden and has been the focus of much research, while southwestern Götaland and the very southernmost regions of Skåne and contiguous areas (Svanberg 2003) have been studied less. Numerous studies of central Sweden have focused on assembly sites (Sanmark 2009), royal manors (Ambrosiani 1985), rich burials (Arrhenius 2002, Ringstedt 1997, Gräslund 1980, Nordal 2001, Norr 2008), and the international trading site of Birka (Gräslund 1980).
  1328.  
  1329. Ambrosiani, Björn. “Aristocratic Graves and Manors in Early Medieval Sweden.” In honorem Evert Baudou. Edited by Margareta Backe, et al., 109–118. Archaeology and Environment 4. Umeå, Sweden: Department of Archaeology, 1985.
  1330. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1331. Eight settlement sites marked by large mounds, each accompanied by a cemetery, church, castle, and marketplace, provide evidence of the age and structure of early administration of power.
  1332. Find this resource:
  1333. Arrhenius, Birgit. “Kinship and Social Relations in the Early Medieval Period in Svealand Elucidated by DNA.” In The Scandinavians from the Vendel Period to the Tenth Century: An Ethnographic Perspective. Edited by Judith Jesch, 45–49. Studies in Historical Archaeoethnology 5. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell, 2002.
  1334. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1335. Preliminary report on a project analyzing DNA from graves at Vendel and Valgärde in Uppland.
  1336. Find this resource:
  1337. Gräslund, Anne-Sofie. Birka IV: The Burial Customs: A Study of the Graves on Björkö. Birka: Untersuchungen und Studien. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1980.
  1338. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1339. Evaluation of the graves at Birka, analyzing different categories of grave forms and grave goods.
  1340. Find this resource:
  1341. Nordal, Else. Båtgravar i Gamla Uppsala: Spår av en vikingatida högreståndsmiljö. Aun 29. Uppsala, Sweden: Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University, 2001.
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  1343. Report on excavation of boat graves and cremation burials at Gamla Uppsala, including osteological analyses of the bones. Well illustrated. In Swedish with English captions.
  1344. Find this resource:
  1345. Norr, Svante, ed. Valsgärde Studies: The Place and Its People, Past and Present. Occasional Papers in Archaeology 42. Uppsala, Sweden: Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University, 2008.
  1346. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1347. Site best known for its pre-Viking (Vendel Period) graves, with men buried in boat graves but women cremated. However, it also has some Viking Age burials. Reports on radiocarbon dates.
  1348. Find this resource:
  1349. Ringstedt, Nils. “The Birka Chamber-graves: Economic and Social Aspects: A Quantitative Analysis.” Current Swedish Archaeology 5 (1997): 127–146.
  1350. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1351. Presents a methodology to show that chamber graves may reflect high status by grave goods or by grave construction; thus, wealth is not the only way to signal status. Also finds that some women had high status.
  1352. Find this resource:
  1353. Sanmark, Alexandra. “Administrative Organisation and State Formation: A Case Study of Assembly Sites in Södermanland, Sweden.” Medieval Archaeology 53 (2009): 205–240.
  1354. DOI: 10.1179/007660909X12457506806289Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1355. A multidisciplinary investigation of assembly (thing) sites taking into account location and landscape characteristics. Proposes that 11th-century sites reflect growing central power under Christian magnates.
  1356. Find this resource:
  1357. Svanberg, Fredrik. Death Rituals in South-East Scandinavia AD 800–1000: Decolonizing the Viking Age. Vol. 2. Acta Archaeologica Lundensia (series in 4) 24. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 2003.
  1358. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1359. Believes that death rituals are most significant for understanding regional differences. Covers Skåne, Blekinge, Halland, and parts of Småland.
  1360. Find this resource:
  1361. Gotland and Öland
  1362.  
  1363. The history and archaeology of the Swedish Baltic islands of Öland and Gotland differ considerably from the mainland of Sweden, characterized in particular by stone construction including fortifications, of which the ring-fort at Eketorp on Öland (Borg, et al. 1976; Näsman and Wegraeus 1979) is the best known, and dwellings, with Fallgren 2006 providing a recent and comprehensive survey for Öland. Both islands were involved with considerable trade across the Baltic to the east (Jansson 1983), reflected in numerous coin hoards (Östergren 1989). Thunmark-Nylén 1983 summarizes earlier scholarship on Gotland, and Kyhlberg 1991 analyzes both archaeological and literary sources.
  1364.  
  1365. Borg, Kai, Ulf Näsman, and Erik Wegraeus, eds. Eketorp: Fortification and Settlement on Öland/Sweden: The Monument. Translated by Nils Stedt. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1976.
  1366. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1367. Report on the excavation of the stone ring-fort—the ring wall, the settlement, and the workshops.
  1368. Find this resource:
  1369. Fallgren, Jan-Henrik. Kontinuitet och förändring: Bebyggelse och samhälle på Öland 200–1300e. Kr. Aun 35. Uppsala, Sweden: Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University, 2006.
  1370. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1371. Analyzes the development of settlements based on house foundations of the Iron Age and early medieval period. Identifies a new type of dwelling that started to appear at the beginning of the Viking Age. In Swedish.
  1372. Find this resource:
  1373. Jansson, Ingmar, ed. Gutar och vikingar. Historia i fickformat. Stockholm: Statens Historiska Museum, 1983.
  1374. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1375. Papers on settlements, fortifications, harbors, ships, jewelry, trade, and religion. With a section on written sources on Gotland during the Viking Age and the early medieval period (pp. 415–480). In Swedish.
  1376. Find this resource:
  1377. Kyhlberg, Ola. Gotland mellan arkeologi och historia: Om det tidiga Gotland. Stockholm: Stockholms Universitet, 1991.
  1378. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1379. Uses archaeological spatial analysis and written sources (in particular, Guta saga) to study the period of transition between the Viking Age and the early medieval period on Gotland. In Swedish.
  1380. Find this resource:
  1381. Näsman, Ulf, and Erik Wegraeus, eds. Eketorp: Fortification and Settlement on Öland/Sweden: The Setting. Translated by Nils Stedt. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1979.
  1382. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1383. Places the ring-fort at Eketorp into context of the island of Öland in the Iron Age and early middle ages.
  1384. Find this resource:
  1385. Östergren, Majvor. Mellan stengrund och stenhus: Gotlands vikingatda silverskatter som boplatsindikation. Theses and Papers in Archaeology 2. Stockholm: Stockholm Universitet, 1989.
  1386. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1387. Analyzes silver hoards as an indication of settlement locations, giving the location of 400 Viking Age farmsteads. In Swedish with English summary, pp. 247–251.
  1388. Find this resource:
  1389. Thunmark-Nylén, Lena. Bibliography for the Viking Age of Gotland. RAGU Arkeologiska Skrifter 1983:1. Visby, Sweden: Riksantivarieämbetet och Statens Historiska Museer, 1983.
  1390. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1391. Extensive although dated bibliography focusing on artifacts. Also includes references to comparative material across the Baltic to Finland and Estonia and continues into the 12th century, since there is no clear end of the Viking Age on Gotland in the middle of the 11th century.
  1392. Find this resource:
  1393. The Viking Expansion
  1394.  
  1395. Vikings expanded both east and west. Interactions with The British Isles and Continental Western Europe originally took the form of raids but were eventually replaced by colonization, which also characterized contacts across the The North Atlantic and North America and even to North America. Relations with the East were distinguished by emphasis on trade, from Russia to the The Varangians and the Byzantine Empire and Scandinavian Contact with the Islamic World .
  1396.  
  1397. The British Isles
  1398.  
  1399. Viking activity in the British Isles began with raids in the late 8th century, traditionally dated to the invasion of Lindisfarne in 793 CE. Although the raids continued into the 11th century, colonies were established in a large portion of northeast England known as the Danelaw as well as the Northern and Western Isles of Scotland, and the kingdoms of York and Dublin. Historians focus on the raids documented in written sources, while archaeologists emphasize cultural assimilation and integration traced through Material Culture. There are more specific studies of regions of the British Isles than overviews of the entire area. Loyn 1977 presents a previous generation’s emphasis on Viking raids, while more nuanced views examining colonization as well as invasions are presented by Hall 1990. Graham-Campbell 1992 features a hoard from Lancashire but touches upon all the areas that face the Irish Sea: England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and the Isle of Man.
  1400.  
  1401. Graham-Campbell, James. Viking Treasure from the North West: The Cuerdale Hoard in Its Context. Selected Papers from the Irish Sea Conference, Liverpool, 18–20 May 1990. National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside Occasional Papers, Liverpool Museum. Liverpool, UK: Liverpool Museum, 1992.
  1402. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1403. Arrival and settlement of Vikings around the Irish Sea, focusing on a hoard of Viking silver coins and bullion found in Lancashire in 1840. Papers on archaeology, numismatics, history, place-names, trade, economy, and metallurgical analysis of silver sources.
  1404. Find this resource:
  1405. Hall, Richard. Viking Age Archaeology in Britain and Ireland. Shire Archaeology. Princes Risborough, UK: Shire Archaeology, 1990.
  1406. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1407. Brief introduction to the archaeology of the Viking raids and settlements, including towns, art, runes, hoards, and graves.
  1408. Find this resource:
  1409. Loyn, Henry Royston. The Vikings in Britain. New York: St. Martin’s, 1977.
  1410. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1411. Historian’s classic analysis of Viking invasions of Wales, Ireland, Scotland, the Northern and Western Isles, and the Isle of Man with a final chapter on Norse settlement in Britain.
  1412. Find this resource:
  1413. England and Wales
  1414.  
  1415. The Vikings made incursions from all sides of England, but the north and east were affected to such a large extent that this region became known as the “Danelaw,” where laws of the Danes (i.e., Vikings) applied (Graham-Campbell, et al. 2001). Viking settlement can be traced linguistically (Townend 2002) and archaeologically (Hadley 2006, Richards 1991), but comparatively few Scandinavian-type graves are known (Rogers 2004). Vikings established a kingdom at York, which has been extensively studied (Hall 1984, Hall 2004). Wales was less affected by Vikings than England (Redknap 2000).
  1416.  
  1417. Graham-Campbell, James, Richard Hall, Judith Jesch, and David N. Parsons, eds. Vikings and the Danelaw: Select Papers from the Proceedings of the Thirteenth Viking Congress, Nottingham and York, 21–30, August 1997. Oxford: Oxbow, 2001.
  1418. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1419. The published papers from the 13th Viking Congress deal with the Danelaw.
  1420. Find this resource:
  1421. Hadley, Dawn M. The Vikings in England: Settlement, Society and Culture. Manchester Medieval Studies. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 2006.
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  1423. Interdisciplinary study of archaeological, historical, and linguistic evidence on political accommodation, identity, and processes of assimilation and integration. Also an examination of ethnicity, gender, and social status through burial practices.
  1424. Find this resource:
  1425. Hall, Richard. The Viking Dig: The Excavations at York. London: The Bodley Head, 1984.
  1426. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1427. Popular presentation of rescue excavation at Coppergate in York, which established the Viking role in the urbanization of northern England.
  1428. Find this resource:
  1429. Hall, Richard A., D. W. Rollason, M. Blackburn, et al. Aspects of Anglo-Scandinavian York. The Archaeology of York. Anglo-Scandinavian York 8, fasc. 4. York: Council for British Archaeology, 2004.
  1430. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1431. Scholarly articles on the history and archaeology of York, including specialist reports on numismatics, street names, animal and plant remains, and osteology.
  1432. Find this resource:
  1433. Redknap, Mark. Vikings in Wales: An Archaeological Quest. Cardiff, UK: National Museums and Galleries of Wales, 2000.
  1434. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1435. Summary of historical and archaeological evidence for the Viking incursions across the Irish Sea into Wales, particularly Anglesey.
  1436. Find this resource:
  1437. Richards, Julian D. Book of Viking Age England. London: B. T. Batsford, 1991.
  1438. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1439. Archaeological evidence for Vikings as raiders and colonizers. Summary discussion of settlement and economy, growth of towns, trade and exchange, craft and industry, burial rituals, and stone memorials. Excavations at London, Lincoln, and York.
  1440. Find this resource:
  1441. Rogers, Penelope Walton. “A Burial of a Viking Woman at Adwick-le-Street, South Yorkshire: The Significance of a Viking Woman’s Burial in the Danelaw.” Medieval Archaeology 48 (2004): 51–90.
  1442. DOI: 10.1179/007660904225022807Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1443. Analysis of woman’s burial near Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Viking-style grave goods suggest that she was from Norway or northeastern Scotland.
  1444. Find this resource:
  1445. Townend, Matthew. Language and History in Viking Age England: Linguistic Relations between Speakers of Old Norse and Old English. Studies in the Early Middle Ages. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2002.
  1446. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1447. Assesses linguistic contact between speakers of Old Norse and Old English through runic inscriptions and studies of place-names and personal names.
  1448. Find this resource:
  1449. The Isle of Man
  1450.  
  1451. Located in the middle of the Irish Sea, the Isle of Man was at the center of Viking activity in the British Isles. Viking influence is seen in place-names, silver hoards, runic inscriptions, and the art of stone crosses (Fell, et al. 1983; Wilson 2008), as well as burials (Bersu and Wilson 1966). Despite its Nordic character, the pictorial art of the Isle of Man is distinctively different from anything known in Scandinavia (Wilson 1973). Norse rule continued in the Isle of Man longer than elsewhere.
  1452.  
  1453. Bersu, Gerhard, and David M. Wilson. Three Viking Graves in the Isle of Man. Society for Mediaeval Archaeology Monograph Series 1. London: Society for Medieval Archaeology, 1966.
  1454. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1455. Classic study of three Viking burial mounds excavated in the 1940s. All three were warrior’s graves and dated to the late 9th or early 10th century.
  1456. Find this resource:
  1457. Fell, Christine, Peter Foote, James Graham-Campbell, and Robert Thomson, eds. The Viking Age in the Isle of Man: Select Papers from the Ninth Viking Congress, Isle of Man, 4–14 July 1981. London: Viking Society for Northern Research, 1983.
  1458. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1459. All of the papers deal with the Isle of Man.
  1460. Find this resource:
  1461. Wilson, David M. “Manx Memorial Stones of the Viking Period.” Saga-Book of the Viking Society for Northern Studies 18.1970–1973: 1–18.
  1462. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1463. Raised stones on the Isle of Man are unlike anything in Scandinavia yet exhibit distinctively Nordic iconography.
  1464. Find this resource:
  1465. Wilson, David M. The Vikings in the Isle of Man. Århus, Denmark: Aarhus University Press, 2008.
  1466. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1467. Stone sculpture, runic inscriptions, grave finds, silver hoards, and fortifications as evidence of a Viking kingdom in the Isle of Man. Sums up Wilson’s career in the Isle of Man.
  1468. Find this resource:
  1469. Ireland
  1470.  
  1471. Viking raids on Ireland are first recorded for the year 795 CE and they continued through the 9th century. The Viking kingdom of Dublin was established in the 10th century, and Scandinavian rule was eroded in the 11th century after the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. Weapons and silver hoards attest to the Viking presence (Philpott 1990), and Irish saints’ lives as well as Icelandic sagas also shed light on Irish-Viking interactions (Clarke, et al. 1998; Larsen 2001; Valante 2008). A salvage excavation in the early 1960s at Wood Quay that exposed well-preserved remains of the daily life of Viking Dubliners became a battle between the city’s developers and the people of Dublin (Bradley 1984, Heffernan 1988). Sheehan and Ó Corráin 2010 covers the latest research on the Vikings in Ireland from the viewpoints of many disciplines.
  1472.  
  1473. Bradley, John. Viking Dublin Exposed: The Wood Quay Saga. Dublin, Ireland: O’Brien, 1984.
  1474. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1475. An archaeologist’s view of the controversy about the rescue excavation in downtown Dublin.
  1476. Find this resource:
  1477. Clarke, Howard B., Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, and Raghnall Ó Floinn, eds. Ireland and Scandinavia in the Early Viking Age. Dublin, Ireland: Four Courts, 1998.
  1478. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1479. Papers on archaeological, historical, and literary sources of our knowledge about the Vikings in Ireland, from a 1995 conference.
  1480. Find this resource:
  1481. Heffernan, Thomas Farel. Wood Quay: The Clash over Dublin’s Viking Past. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1988.
  1482. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1483. Written for the general reader, bringing Viking city remains to the attention of historic preservationists.
  1484. Find this resource:
  1485. Larsen, Anne-Christine, ed. The Vikings in Ireland. Roskilde, Denmark: The Viking Ship Museum, 2001.
  1486. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1487. A collection of articles published to accompany an exhibition co-organized by the National Museum of Ireland and the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde, Denmark.
  1488. Find this resource:
  1489. Philpott, Fiona A. A Silver Saga: Viking Treasure from the North West. Liverpool, UK: National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside, 1990.
  1490. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1491. A catalogue of metal finds from Ireland and around the Irish Sea.
  1492. Find this resource:
  1493. Sheehan, John, and Donnchadh Ó Corráin, eds. The Viking Age: Ireland and the West: Proceedings of the Fifteenth Viking Congress. Dublin, Ireland: Four Courts, 2010.
  1494. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1495. Papers on many aspects of the Vikings in Ireland placed into the context of Viking expansion to the west.
  1496. Find this resource:
  1497. Valante, Mary A. The Vikings in Ireland: Settlement, Trade and Urbanization. Dublin, Ireland: Four Courts, 2008.
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  1499. Examines the relationship between Vikings in Dublin with the rural Irish through Irish annals, Old Norse sagas, and archaeology.
  1500. Find this resource:
  1501. Scotland
  1502.  
  1503. Overviews of the Vikings in Scotland (Crawford 1987, Graham-Campbell and Batey 1998, Ritchie 1993) actually focus on the Northern Isles of Orkney and Shetland where the Norse colonies were the most enduring, as does Batey, et al. 1993. Barrrett, et al. 2000 steps back to take a broad view of the Viking colonization of Orkney. Sharples and Parker Pearson 1999 brings attention to the Outer Hebrides (the Western Isles), which have been studied less than the Northern Isles. Smith 2002 considers whether the Viking settlement in the north and east of Scotland displaced or replaced the indigenous Picts, and Goodacre, et al. 2005 presents genetic data that supports saga evidence for settlement of the Northern Isles.
  1504.  
  1505. Barrett, James, Roelf Beukens, Ian Simpson, Patrick Ashmore, Sandra Poaps, and Jacqui Huntley. “What Was the Viking Age and When Did It Happen? A View from Orkney.” Norwegian Archaeological Review 33 (2000): 1–39.
  1506. DOI: 10.1080/00293650050202600Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1507. Uses world-systems theory to consider how and when the Norse Earldom of Orkney and Caithness in northern Scotland adopted what the authors call the key aspects of the Viking Age: the centralization of authority, the adoption of Christianity, the growth of market trade, the intensification of production, and the development of urbanism. The “market trade” studied here is the export of dried codfish and to a lesser extent cereals.
  1508. Find this resource:
  1509. Batey, Colleen E., Judith Jesch, and Christopher D. Morris, eds. The Viking Age in Caithness, Orkney and the North Atlantic: Select Papers from the Proceedings of the Eleventh Viking Congress, Thurso and Kirkwall, 22 August–1 September 1989. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1993.
  1510. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1511. The 11th Viking Congress was devoted to Scotland, including the Northern Isles of Orkney and Shetland and the Faroe Islands. Includes papers on literature, history, names, and archaeology.
  1512. Find this resource:
  1513. Crawford, Barbara E. Scandinavian Scotland. Scotland in the Early Middle Ages 2. Leicester: Leicester University Press, 1987.
  1514. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1515. Presents written and place-name evidence, as well as archaeological material. With an extensive bibliography.
  1516. Find this resource:
  1517. Goodacre, S., A. Helgason, J. Nicholson, et al. “Genetic Evidence for a Family-based Scandinavian Settlement of Shetland and Orkney during the Viking Periods.” Heredity 95 (2005): 129–135.
  1518. DOI: 10.1038/sj.hdy.6800661Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1519. Contrasts evidence from Orkney and Shetland with that from Iceland and from the Western Isles to suggest that the former were founded by family groups from Scandinavia.
  1520. Find this resource:
  1521. Graham-Campbell, James, and Colleen Batey. The Vikings in Scotland: An Archaeological Survey. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1998.
  1522. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1523. Detailed overview by a specialist in Material Culture (Graham-Campbell) and archaeologist who has excavated many Scottish Viking sites (Batey). Includes many unpublished excavations.
  1524. Find this resource:
  1525. Ritchie, Anna. Viking Scotland. London: B. T. Batsford and Historic Scotland, 1993.
  1526. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1527. Introduction for the general reader by archaeologist who excavated Pictish and Viking farmsteads at Buckquoy, Orkney.
  1528. Find this resource:
  1529. Sharples, Niall, and Michael Parker Pearson. “Norse Settlement in the Outer Hebrides.” Norwegian Archaeological Review 32 (1999): 41–62.
  1530. DOI: 10.1080/002936599420894Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1531. Settlement continuity until the 14th century is traced for Uist in the Western Isles (Outer Hebrides), and two Norse settlements are examined. Concludes that the Norse did not kill off the native population.
  1532. Find this resource:
  1533. Smith, Brian. “The Picts and the Martyrs or Did the Vikings Kill the Native Population of Orkney and Shetland.” Northern Studies 36 (2002): 7–32.
  1534. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1535. Takes up the controversy concerning what happened to the Picts.
  1536. Find this resource:
  1537. The North Atlantic and North America
  1538.  
  1539. The Viking expansion into the North Atlantic occurred in a step-by-step fashion from the Northern Isles to the Faroes, then on to Iceland and Greenland, and finally to North America. Scholars’ interest in Iceland has often been driven by the written Old Icelandic sagas, but much research has also been carried out on genetics, pollen analysis, botanical and zoo archaeological data, volcanic ash analysis, and climate. The Norse settlement of Greenland lasted into the medieval period, and Viking contact with North America was probably minimal but has excited popular interest. A Smithsonian exhibition and its publication (Fitzhugh and Ward 2000) drew attention to the entire North Atlantic region. Jones 1986 and Marcus 1980 are readable accounts for the scholar as well as the general reader. Conference proceedings focusing on the entire North Atlantic area include Arneborg and Grønnow 2006, Morris and Rackham 1992, and Mortensen and Arge 2005. Barrett 2003 and Bigelow 1990 are collections of papers on a wide array of topics.
  1540.  
  1541. Arneborg, Jette, and Bjarne Grønnow, eds. Dynamics of Northern Societies: Proceedings of the SILA/NABO Conference on Arctic and North Atlantic Archaeology, Copenhagen, May 10th–14th, 2004. Publications from the National Museum, Studies in Archaeology and History 10. Copenhagen: National Museum, 2006.
  1542. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1543. Contains sections on Inuit and Norse settlement. SILA is the Greenland Research Centre at the National Museum of Denmark, and NABO is the North Atlantic Biocultural Organization.
  1544. Find this resource:
  1545. Barrett, James H., ed. Contact, Continuity and Collapse: The Norse Colonization of the North Atlantic. Studies in the Early Middle Ages 5. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2003.
  1546. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1547. Scholarly articles on cultural contacts and ethnicity from the first colonists who arrived in Iceland in the 9th century to the short-lived occupation on the coast of North America.
  1548. Find this resource:
  1549. Bigelow, Gerald F., ed. “The Norse of the North Atlantic.” Acta Archaeologica 61 (1990): 1–291.
  1550. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1551. Entire volume is devoted to the proceedings of a conference on the North Atlantic, with specific papers on the Vikings in Orkney, Shetland, the Faroes, Iceland, Greenland, and North America. Many papers on climate and the flora and fauna.
  1552. Find this resource:
  1553. Fitzhugh, William W., and Elisabeth I. Ward, eds. Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 2000.
  1554. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1555. Deals with Viking background in Scandinavia and Europe; then follows the Viking expansion and settlement in Iceland, Greenland, and North America. Extensive bibliography.
  1556. Find this resource:
  1557. Jones, Gwyn. The Norse Atlantic Saga: Being the Norse Voyages of Discovery and Settlement to Iceland, Greenland, and North America. 2d ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986.
  1558. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1559. History of the Norse voyages for the educated public. Includes the pertinent Old Icelandic written sources in English translation. With numerous maps.
  1560. Find this resource:
  1561. Marcus, G. J. The Conquest of the North Atlantic. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell, 1980.
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  1563. A sailor’s view of the Vikings’ North Atlantic voyages.
  1564. Find this resource:
  1565. Morris, Christopher D., and D. James Rackham, eds. Norse and Later Settlement and Subsistence in the North Atlantic. Occasional Paper Series 1. Glasgow: University of Glasgow Department of Archaeology, 1992.
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  1567. Includes papers on climate, archaeobotanical analyses, and paleoeclogical investigations.
  1568. Find this resource:
  1569. Mortensen, Andras, and Símun V. Arge, eds. Viking and Norse in the North Atlantic. Select Papers from the Proceedings of the Fourteenth Viking Congress, Tórshavn, 19–30 July 2001. Annales Societatis Scientiarum Færoensis Supplementum 44. Tórshavn, Faroe Islands: Føroya Fróðskaparfelag, 2005.
  1570. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1571. Most papers presented at the Viking Congress held in the Faroes on 19–30 July 2001 deal with the Viking colonies, including those in the Faroe Islands, Shetland, Orkney, Scotland, Ireland, Iceland, and Greenland.
  1572. Find this resource:
  1573. Iceland and the Faroe Islands
  1574.  
  1575. Study of the colonization of Iceland and the Faroes (“sheep islands”) has been guided by the Old Icelandic sagas, but there are also contributions from place-name and archaeological research. Dahl 1970 suggests that Celtic settlement may have preceded the Norse in the Faroes, whereas Arge 1991 refutes this. Iceland, on the other hand, is assumed to have been essentially unpopulated before the Vikings arrived, but Saugstad 1977 proposes that Iceland also had a large influx of Celtic stock, which has not been accepted by many scholars. Byock 2001 examines saga literature as well as other sources of information about Iceland. Byock, et al. 2005 and Nordahl 1988 report on rural and urban settlements in Iceland. Smith 2004 offers a different viewpoint, bringing gender and identity into the discussion.
  1576.  
  1577. Arge, Símun V. “The Landnám in the Faroes.” Arctic Anthropology 28 (1991): 101–120.
  1578. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1579. Critical of use of sparse written sources to interpret the Norse settlement in the Faroes. Strong reservations about radiocarbon dates of paleobotanical finds thought to indicate pre-Viking Irish settlement.
  1580. Find this resource:
  1581. Byock, Jesse. Viking Age Iceland. New York: Penguin, 2001.
  1582. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1583. An investigation into how the Old Icelandic sagas reflect the society in which they were written. Presents history and anthropology as informed by literary works. Covers the period from the Viking Age into the medieval period, when Iceland ceased to be an independent state in the 1260s.
  1584. Find this resource:
  1585. Byock, Jesse, Phillip Walker, Jon Erlandson, et al. “A Viking-age Valley in Iceland: The Mosfell Archaeological Project.” Medieval Archaeology 49 (2005): 195–218.
  1586. DOI: 10.1179/007660905x54080Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1587. Scholarly report on a large interdisciplinary project involving archaeology, history, and saga studies, as well as environmental bioarchaeological approaches. Habitation from the pagan land-taking period through Christian medieval times.
  1588. Find this resource:
  1589. Dahl, Sverri “The Norse Settlement of the Faroe Islands.” Medieval Archaeology 14 (1970): 60–73.
  1590. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1591. Examines Norse place-names and the Saga of the Faroese in light of archaeological sources.
  1592. Find this resource:
  1593. Nordahl, Else. Reykjavík from the Archaeological Point of View. Aun 12. Uppsala, Sweden: Societas Archaeologica Upsaliensis, 1988.
  1594. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1595. Report on 1971–1975 excavations in Reykjavík, including a late-9th-century settlement as well as textile implements and metalwork.
  1596. Find this resource:
  1597. Saugstad, Letten Fegersten. “The Settlement of Iceland.” With comments by Sveinbjörn Rafnsson, Jon Steffensen, and E. A. Thompson, and reply by Letten Fegersten Saugstad. Norwegian Archaeological Review 10 (1977): 60–83.
  1598. DOI: 10.1080/00293652.1977.9965267Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1599. Compares genetic markers for current populations of Ireland and Iceland to propose that Viking Age Iceland had a sizable (≤ 25%) admixture of people of Celtic stock. Critiqued heavily in comments.
  1600. Find this resource:
  1601. Smith, Michèle Hayeur. Draupnir’s Sweat and Mardöll’s Tears: An Archaeology of Jewellery, Gender and Identity in Viking Age Iceland. British Archaeological Reports International Series 1276. Oxford: John and Eria Hedges, 2004.
  1602. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1603. Considers jewelry from burial contexts dated from 870 to 1000 CE as social symbols indicating gender, status, and religion.
  1604. Find this resource:
  1605. Multidisciplinary Studies on Icelandic Climate, Volcanic Ash Layers, and Genetics
  1606.  
  1607. For the most part, the dating of the Icelandic settlement according to Old Icelandic written sources (Urbanczyk 2002) has been confirmed by dates from tephra layers of volcanic ash (Smith 1995, Vilhjálmur Örn Vilhjálmsson 1990), but a farm at Herjólfsdalur has been dated earlier than the earliest supposed Icelandic colonists (Hermanns-Auðardóttir 1991), however, not without controversy. The Norse supposedly colonized Iceland as an uninhabited island, and anthropological (Jens Pálsson 1978) and genetic (Agnar Helgason, et al. 2001) research on the modern population has attempted to ascertain whether Celtic peoples from the British Isles also contributed to the population. In addition, multidisciplinary studies of climate and the impact of humans on the ecology of the island have been undertaken (McGovern 2007).
  1608.  
  1609. Agnar Helgason, E. Hickey, S. Goodacre, et al. “mtDNA and the Islands of the North Atlantic: Estimating the Proportions of Norse and Gaelic Ancestry.” American Journal of Human Genetics 68 (2001): 723–737.
  1610. DOI: 10.1086/318785Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1611. Since Iceland is a small island that was apparently unpopulated when the Norse arrived, research into the genetics of the modern population may shed light on the origins of the settlers.
  1612. Find this resource:
  1613. Jens Pálsson.“Some Anthropological Characteristics of Icelanders Analyzed with Regard to the Problem of Ethnogenesis.” Journal of Human Evolution 7 (1978): 695–702.
  1614. DOI: 10.1016/S0047-2484(78)80067-0Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1615. Hair and eye colors of the modern Icelandic population compared to Scandinavians, Irish, and British. Concludes that Icelanders are more similar to Scandinavians, thus confirming historical, archaeological, and linguistic evidence. An approach that has been superseded by genetic research.
  1616. Find this resource:
  1617. Margrét Hermanns-Auðardóttir. “The Early Settlement of Iceland: Results Based on Excavations of a Merovingian and Viking Farm Site at Herjólfsdalur in the Westman Islands, Iceland.” Norwegian Archaeological Review 24 (1991): 1–9.
  1618. DOI: 10.1080/00293652.1991.9965524Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1619. Controverisal report on excavation of a farm that is supposedly dated earlier than the documented 9th-century (c. 874 CE) “land-taking” in Iceland. Comments by Sigrid Kaland, et al., pp. 10–33.
  1620. Find this resource:
  1621. McGovern, Thomas H., Orri Vésteinsson, Adolf Friðriksson, et al. “Landscapes of Settlement in Northern Iceland: Historical Ecology of Human Impact and Climate Fluctuation on the Millennial Scale.” American Anthropologist 109 (2007): 27–51.
  1622. DOI: 10.1525/aa.2007.109.1.27Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1623. Interdisciplinary investigation by a large team of scientists. Traces worsening climate and soil erosion caused by excessive grazing of sheep from the 9th through the 13th centuries at a site in the highland interior of Iceland.
  1624. Find this resource:
  1625. Smith, Kevin P. “Landnám: The Settlement of Iceland in Archaeological and Historical Perspective.” World Archaeology 26 (1995): 319–347.
  1626. DOI: 10.1080/00438243.1995.9980280Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1627. Compares archaeological data with the copious Old Icelandic written sources on the colonization of Iceland and cautions against wholesale use of the sagas to understand the land-taking, especially in the interior of the island.
  1628. Find this resource:
  1629. Urbanczyk, Przemyslaw. “Ethnic Aspects of the Settlement of Iceland.” Collegium Medievale 15 (2002): 156–165.
  1630. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1631. Looks at Old Icelandic sagas to investigate anthropologically why settlers came to Iceland and how “foreigners” (Celtic, Sami, German) were integrated into the society.
  1632. Find this resource:
  1633. Vilhjálmur Örn Vilhjálmsson. “Dating Problems in Icelandic Tephrochronology.” Norwegian Archaeological Review 23 (1990): 43–53.
  1634. DOI: 10.1080/00293652.1990.9965506Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1635. Explains how layers of volcanic debris from Icelandic eruptions can be dated very precisely to correlate with written and archaeological sources of information.
  1636. Find this resource:
  1637. Greenland
  1638.  
  1639. Norwegian explorer Helge Ingstad (see Ingstad 1966) presents the disappearance of the Norse Greenland colonists as a mystery, while later studies attempt to explain what happened to the inhabitants. Archaeological excavations (Keller 1990) in Greenland have largely confirmed saga accounts of the Viking settlement of Greenland late in the 10th century (Krogh 1967). Studies of subsistance strategies as well as climate studies explain the demise of the Greenland population in the medieval period (Buckland, et al. 1996; McGovern 1989; McGovern 1991).
  1640.  
  1641. Buckland, Paul, T. Amorosi, L. K. Barlow, et al. “Bioarchaeological and Climatological Evidence for the Fate of Norse Farmers in Medieval Greenland.” Antiquity 70 (1996): 88–96.
  1642. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1643. Analyzes the so-called Western Settlement, which is actually north of the Eastern Settlement. Attributes the settlement’s demise to a difficult climate compounded by a conservative social system that did not learn to make use of arctic resources.
  1644. Find this resource:
  1645. Ingstad, Helge. Land under the Pole Star: A Voyage to the Norse Settlements of Greenland and the Saga of the People That Vanished. Translated by Naomi Walford. New York: St. Martin’s, 1966.
  1646. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1647. Popular account of the life and disappearance of the Norse colonies in Greenland colony and 1953 expedition by the author along the Greenland coast. English translation of Landet under leidarstjernen, 1959.
  1648. Find this resource:
  1649. Keller, Christian. “Vikings in the West Atlantic: A Model of Norse Greenlandic Medieval Society.” Acta Archaeologica 61 (1990): 126–141.
  1650. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1651. An ecological model for the Viking Age settlement of Greenland by the Norse and its subsequent collapse in the medieval period.
  1652. Find this resource:
  1653. Krogh, Knud J. Viking Greenland: With a Supplement of Saga Texts. Copenhagen: National Museum, 1967.
  1654. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1655. Sets archaeological evidence about the Greenland colonies into the context of the sagas that deal with Greenland. Examines the settlement including churches at Brattahlíð, Garðar, and Hvalsey.
  1656. Find this resource:
  1657. McGovern, Thomas H. “A Comparison of the Greenlandic Eastern and Western Settlements.” Hikuin 15 (1989): 27–36.
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  1659. Explains how the Western Settlement failed before the Eastern Settlement (which lay south rather than east of the “Western” one).
  1660. Find this resource:
  1661. McGovern, Thomas H. “Climate Correlation and Causation in Norse Greenland.” Arctic Anthropology 28 (1991): 77–100.
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  1663. Uses paleoecological data to propose that subsistence patterns and refraining from sea resources, not merely climate change contributed to the collapse of the Norse Greenlandic population.
  1664. Find this resource:
  1665. North America
  1666.  
  1667. The discovery of a Norse presence in North America owes much to Ingstad (see Ingstad 1969), who indefatigably explored the coast in search of the Vinland that is mentioned in Icelandic sagas. His archaeologist wife published the results of the 1961–1968 excavations that presented undeniable proof of Norse contact (Ingstad 1985). Wawn and Þórunn Sigurðardóttir 2001 covers evidence from various disciplines. Magnus Stafánsson 1998 is a philological analysis of the meaning of the name “Vinland.” Wahlgren 1986 and Wallace 1991 summarize evidence challenging alleged Viking sites in North America. McGhee 1984 examines ill-fated contact between Native Americans and the Vikings, and Park 2008 refines our knowledge of such encounters by showing that at least one group, the Dorset, were not in contact with the Norse.
  1668.  
  1669. Ingstad, Anne Stine. The Norse Discovery of America. I: Excavations of a Norse Settlement at L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, 1961–68. II: The Historical Background and the Evidence of the Norse Settlement Discovered in Newfoundland. Oslo, Norway: Norwegian University Press, 1985.
  1670. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1671. Report on the excavation of a Norse farmstead at L’Anse aux Meadows on Newfoundland, which included an iron pin, definitive proof of European and Viking presence, since the Native Americans did not work iron.
  1672. Find this resource:
  1673. Ingstad, Helge. Westward to Vinland: The Discovery of Pre-Columbian Norse House-sites in North America. Translated by Erik J. Friis. New York: St. Martin’s, 1969.
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  1675. Contains account of author’s expedition in 1960 and excavations in 1961–1964 at L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland. English translation of Norwegian Vesterveg til Vinland, 1965.
  1676. Find this resource:
  1677. Magnus Stafánsson. “Vínland or Vinland?” Scandinavian Journal of History 23 (1998): 139–152.
  1678. DOI: 10.1080/03468759850115927Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1679. Debate over whether Vinland referred to vín meaning “wine” or vin meaning “meadow” or “pasture.” The area around L’Anse aux Meadows is a “Meadow-land,” but “Wine-land” must lie far enough to the south for grapes to grow.
  1680. Find this resource:
  1681. McGhee, Robert. “Contact between Native North Americans and the Medieval Norse: A Review of the Evidence.” American Antiquity 49 (1984): 4–26.
  1682. DOI: 10.2307/280509Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1683. Historical and archaeological evidence of occasional contact between Native Americans and the Norse in Labrador and Newfoundland.
  1684. Find this resource:
  1685. Park, Robert W. “Contact between the Norse Vikings and the Dorset Culture in Arctic Canada.” Antiquity 82 (2008): 189–198.
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  1687. Concludes that the Dorset did not have contact with the Norse, although other native North American groups did.
  1688. Find this resource:
  1689. Wahlgren, Erik. The Vikings and America. Ancient Peoples and Places 102. London: Thames and Hudson, 1986.
  1690. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1691. A sensible and popular analysis of evidence of Norse exploration in North America. Concludes that L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland was not the Vínland of the sagas but that it must have been farther south. Dismisses the Kensington Runestone as a fraud.
  1692. Find this resource:
  1693. Wallace, Birgitta Linderoth. “The Vikings in North America: Myth and Reality.” In Social Approaches to Viking Studies. Edited by Ross Samson, 207–220. Glasgow: Cruithne, 1991.
  1694. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1695. Presents the definitive evidence of the Viking presence at L’Anse aux Meadows—iron and ironworking, and also debunks the Newport Tower in Rhode Island and the Kensington Runestone in Minnesota.
  1696. Find this resource:
  1697. Wawn, Andrew, and Þórunn Sigurðardóttir, eds. Approaches to Vínland: A Conference on the Written and Archaeological Sources for the Norse Settlements in the North-Atlantic Region and Exploration of America. Sigurður Nordal Institute Studies 4. Reykjavík, Iceland: Sigurður Nordal Institute, 2001.
  1698. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1699. Papers on literary, folkloristic, historical, and scientific topics relating to the voyages of the Vikings and their exploration of North America.
  1700. Find this resource:
  1701. Continental Western Europe
  1702.  
  1703. The Viking raids on continental Europe are less well known than Viking incursions into the British Isles, but the Northmen attacked the Frisian islands along the Atlantic coast and up the Rhine and the navigable rivers of France. They also raided the coast of the Iberian Peninsula and reached North Africa and Italy.
  1704.  
  1705. The Frankish Empire, Normandy, and Frisia
  1706.  
  1707. The Vikings raided along the Atlantic coasts as well as up the Rhine (see Willemsen 2004) and the navigable rivers of France (see Musset 1997). Abbo 2007 is a first-hand account of the fury of the Northmen in Paris. The Viking presence in Brittany (Price 1989) is less well known than their eponymous land-taking in Normandy. The Northmen had a lasting effect in Normandy, as the duchy was given to the Scandinavian Hrolf (Rollo). Place-names (Fellows-Jensen 1988) and the vocabulary of navigation (Renaud 2000, Ridel 2002) reflect the heritage of the Vikings in France. Skibsted Klæsøe 2010 includes numismatic evidence and the Viking contact with Frisia.
  1708.  
  1709. Abbo. Viking Attacks on Paris: The Bella parisiacae urbis of Abbo of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Edited by Nirmal Dass. Dallas Medieval Texts and Translations. Paris: Peeters, 2007.
  1710. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1711. Chronicle of the Viking siege of Paris in 885, recorded by Abbo, a monk at the abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Près. In Latin and English.
  1712. Find this resource:
  1713. Fellows-Jensen, Gillian. “Scandinavian Place-names and Viking Settlement in Normandy: A Review.” Namn och Bygd 76 (1988): 113–137.
  1714. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1715. Summarizes the considerable evidence of the continuing Viking presence in Normandy as attested by place-names.
  1716. Find this resource:
  1717. Musset, Lucian. Nordica et Normannica: Recueil d’études sur la Scandinavie ancienne et médiévale, les expeditions des Vikings et la fondation de la Normandie. Studia Nordica 1. Paris: Société des etudes Nordiques, 1997.
  1718. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1719. Sections on Scandinavia as an intermediary between the East and the West, Viking incursions into the Frankish Empire, and the role of the Vikings in the development of Normandy. With a bibliography of works by Musset. In French.
  1720. Find this resource:
  1721. Price, Neil S. The Vikings in Brittany. London: Viking Society for Northern Research, 1989.
  1722. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1723. Examination of documentary sources and archaeological evidence of the Viking raids.
  1724. Find this resource:
  1725. Renaud, Jean. Les Vikings en France. Rennes, France: Éditions Ouest France, 2000.
  1726. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1727. Well-illustrated popular introduction to historical, place-name, linguistic, and archaeological evidence of the Viking raids along the coast and up the navigable rivers of France. In French.
  1728. Find this resource:
  1729. Ridel, Élisabeth, ed. L’Héritage Maritime des Vikings en Europe de l’Ouest. Caen, France: Université de Caen Basse-Normandie, 2002.
  1730. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1731. Collection of papers on the Vikings in Normandy, with emphasis on ships and the vocabulary of navigation. Most articles have English summaries.
  1732. Find this resource:
  1733. Skibsted Klæsøe, Iben, ed. Viking Trade and Settlement in Continental Western Europe. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum, 2010.
  1734. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1735. Concerns the largely overlooked contact of Vikings with Frisia, the lower Rhine, and Normandy and examines Viking artifacts preserved in Continental churches. From archaeological as well as written sources, including evidence from ships, coins, settlement, and burials.
  1736. Find this resource:
  1737. Willemsen, Annemarieke. Vikings!—Raids in the Rhine/Meuse Region 800–1000. Translated by Gerard Forde. Utrecht, The Netherlands: Centraal Museum, 2004.
  1738. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  1739. Focus on Viking interactions (raiding and trading) with the Frankish Empire and evidence in Germany and the Netherlands. Emphasis on shipping on the Rhine. English translation of Wikinger am Rhein, 800–1000, 2004.
  1740. Find this resource:
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