Viking Age Scandinavia

Coming to grips with the beast – a reply to Carrie Roy

by Michaela Helmbrecht

Debate article, co-authored with Maria Domeij Lundborg and Michael Neiß. Fornvännen 2012:1

"A man’s world" – the imagery of the Group C and D picture stones

by Michaela Helmbrecht

Gotländskt Arkiv 2012

A relação entre História e narrativa: algumas reflexões teóricas e seu debate na Escandinavística Medieval, REVISTA MEDIEVALIS 1, 2012 (NIELIM/UFRJ)

by Johnni Langer

Gardeła L. (2012) What the Vikings did for fun? Sports and pastimes in medieval northern Europe, World Archaeology 44(2), 234-247.

by Leszek Gardela

Where did All the People Go? Looking for Eleventh-Century Graves in Southern Norway

by Sæbjørg Walaker Nordeide

pp.320-332

The Process of State-Formation in Medieval Iceland

by Sverrir Jakobsson

A draft version of an article published in Viator. Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 40:2 (Autumn 2009), 151-70.

Hack-Silver, Weights and Coinage: the Anglo-Scandinavian Bullion Coinages and their Use in Late Viking-Age Society

by Christoph Kilger

in: Graham-Campbell, J. Sindbæk & Williams G. 2011 (eds.) Silver Economies, Monetisation and Society in Scandinavia, AD 800-1100. Aaarhus University Press, pp 257-278

The aim of this paper is to discuss the monetary use and function of the Anglo-Scandinavian coinages, especially the... more The aim of this paper is to discuss the monetary use and function of the Anglo-Scandinavian coinages, especially the Sigtuna coinage. In the early days of numismatic research their status among other Viking-age and early medieval coinages was not clearly understood, nor was it clear how they should be classified. Today, their status as Scandinavian imitations of English coins – minted in Viking towns such as Sigtuna and Lund – has been recognized. Their numismatic classification has recently been accomplished by meticulous die-studies, but the question of how they were used as means of payment remains unresolved.

It is suggested that the coinages did not necessarily have a nominal value, but an officially sanctioned exchange-value, which could only be reckoned and valued by weight and not by number. In such a monetary system, which had both elements of a coin-based and a bullion-based economy, weighing was probably the only way in which to settle the exchange-value. The archaeological evidence from the Sigtuna mint seems to suggest that the Sigtuna coins were weighed with oblate spheroid weights. These weights follow the Islamic mitqal standard.

It is also argued that at some stage in the bullion economy, coined silver was preferred to hack-silver in transactions. Because of that there might have existed a similar situation in the transactional sphere in the Viking Age, as later during the Middle Ages, whereby different qualities of silver were recognized and valued according to different exchange-rates. This change in the transactional sphere had probably been prompted by the arrival of Western European silver coins to Scandinavia at the turn of the first millennium AD.Finally, the Anglo-Scandinavian coinages probably did not have any monetary value outside the strongholds in which they were minted. They were intended for use only by people visiting the town and using its market.

Eastern archery in Birka’s Garrison

by Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson

Co-authored with Fredrik Lundström & Lena Holmquist Olausson
Published in The Martial Society. Aspects of warriors, fortifications and social change in Scandinavia. 2009

The epic poem Beowulf relates that Hathkin, son
of Hrethel king of the Geats, kills his older brother more The epic poem Beowulf relates that Hathkin, son
of Hrethel king of the Geats, kills his older brother
Herebeald with a ‘horn bow’ (OE ‘hornbage’ in
Klaeber 1951, l. 2437; translated as ‘horny bow’ in
Gummere 1910), most likely the present-day ‘composite
bow’, and an unusual weapon for the north
European Late Iron Age. It was an advanced type
of archer’s bow with constructional details mainly
of horn and sinew. It was a technological import
and not a natural component of north-Germanic
warfare. In a European context it was primarily to
be found among the Eurasian steppe nomads. The
steppes warriors also made use of other innovations
related to archery and the distinctive fighting
technique that accompanied it. What then is the significance
of finding fighting equipment associated
with the composite bow in a trading place like Birka
on Lake Mälaren?

Rus', Varangians and Birka Warriors

by Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson

published in The Martial Society. Aspects of warriors, fortifications and social change in Scandinavia. Eds. L. Holmquist Olausson & M. Olausson. 2009

Viking Age remains displaying a number of distinct
similarities stand in strategic locations along
the... more Viking Age remains displaying a number of distinct
similarities stand in strategic locations along
the Eastern trade routes from Birka to Kiev. They
consist of fortified settlements with many Scandinavian
features and a considerable military presence.
Some artefacts obviously associated with warriors’
dress or equipment are so diagnostic in their design
that questions about common origin and manufacture
have been raised. Who were the bearers of this
equipment and what was the relationship between
these warriors and the fortified settlements?

I en skrivkunnig miljö – om skriftkultur mellan vikingatid och medeltid (950 – 1150 e. Kr.)

by Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson

published in Situne Dei 2010

Alle veier fører til Kaupang? Om vareutveksling og ferdsel langs Numedalslågen i vikingtid

by Hanne Lovise Aannestad

Published in "Viking", Vol. LXXIV, 2011.

Do all Roads lead to Kaupang? On exchange and transport along the Numedalslågen river in the Viking Age. This article... more Do all Roads lead to Kaupang? On exchange and transport along the Numedalslågen river in the Viking Age. This article presents objects from two graves from the 9th century in Buskerud, Norway. Both graves contain objects of non-Scandinavian provenance and this indicates a connection
with oversea trade networks in Viking Age Scandinavia. The graves are used in an argumentation for the existence of non-permanent trading site in a network of the exchange
of products from the high mountain area of Hardangervidda and the upper valley of Numedalen to Skiringssalskaupangen.
In the study of trade and exchange in Viking Age Norway the focus has to a large extent been on the role of international trade and trading networks. However, the inland trade must
have been extensive, and both the control of primary production in high mountain areas and the control of trading routes must have been important economical factors in the establishment
of chiefdoms and the process of early state formation.

Tverrfaglighet i bosetningshistorisk forskning. Gleder og besværligheter.

by Dagfinn Skre

Published in Collegium Medievale, vol. 11, 1998:33-47.

The Dirham Output and Monetary Circulation of a Secondary Samanid Mint: A Case Study of Balkh”

by Roman Kovalev

‘First steps towards an archaeology of children in Iceland’, Archaeologia Islandica 5 (2006), 55-74.

by Chris Callow

‘Reconstructing the past in medieval Iceland’, Early Medieval Europe 14.3 (2006), pp. 297-324.

by Chris Callow

‘Childhood in the Viking Age North Atlantic’ in S. Crawford & G. Shepherd (eds), Children, Childhood and Social Identity (Oxford, 2007), 45-55.

by Chris Callow

‘Iceland’s medieval coastal market places: Dögurðarnes in its economic, social and political context’ in Jan Brendalsmo, Terje Gansum and Finn-Einar Eliassen (eds), Strandsteder, utvikinglingssteder og Småbyer i vikingtid, middelalder og tidlig nytid (ca. 800-ca.1800) (Oslo, 2010), pp. 213-29.

by Chris Callow

Viikinkiaika Suomessa – Viking Age in Finland (project announcement)

by Joonas Ahola

Ahola, J. & Frog, 05.2011 In : RMN Newsletter. 2, p. 59-60.

An Island in the Middle of An Island. On cult, laws and authority in Viking Age Gotland.

by Nanouschka (Nanni) Myrberg

Article in
Regner, E., von Heijne, C., Kitzler Åhfeldt, L. & Kjellström, A. (eds.). 2009. From Ephesos to Dalecarlia. Reflections on Body, Space and Time in Medieval and Early Modern Europe.
The Museum of National Antiquities, Stockholm. Studies 11. Stockholm Studies in Archaeology 48. Stockholm.
ISBN 978-91-89176-37-9

The present-day small village of Roma on Gotland in the Baltic Sea was the physical and symbolic centre of the island... more The present-day small village of Roma on Gotland in the Baltic Sea was the physical and symbolic centre of the island in the Iron Age and into Medieval times. The Cistercian monastery and the meeting place of the island’s assembly (the 'all-thing'), two well-known features of medieval Roma, have often been taken as indications of an egalitarian and non-stratified society on Gotland during the Viking Age and Middle Ages. It is here proposed, however, that an older Iron Age cult site at Roma eventually came under the control of a chieftain or major landowner who introduced Christianity, founded a monastery and inaugurated the thing in Roma in Viking or early medieval times, just as his equals did elsewhere in Scandinavia. While the later medieval thing was probably located near the monastery, an alternative site is suggested for the older all-thing. A small island in the great Roma bog, situated in a way more similar to how known thing-sites were located in the Viking Age Icelandic or Anglo/Hiberno Norse areas, may have been that elusive spot where the major assembly site was once located.

The social context of settlement in Norway in the first millennium AD. Comments and Reply to comments.

by Dagfinn Skre

Norwegian Archaeological Review, vol 34, pp. 1-34. 2001.