This book is a study of communities that drew their identity and livelihood from their relationships with water during a pivotal time in the creation of the social, economic and political landscapes of northern Europe. It focuses on the Baltic, North and Irish Seas in the Viking Age (ad 1050–1200), with a few later examples (such as the Scottish Lordship of the Isles) included to help illuminate less well-documented earlier centuries. Individual chapters introduce maritime worlds ranging from the Isle of Man to Gotland ― while also touching on the relationships between estate centres, towns, landing places and the sea in the more terrestrially oriented societies that surrounded northern Europe’s main spheres of maritime interaction. It is predominately an archaeological project, but draws no arbitrary lines between the fields of historical archaeology, history and literature. The volume explores the complex relationships between long-range interconnections and distinctive regional identities that are characteristic of maritime societies, seeking to understand communities that were brought into being by their relationships with the sea and who set waves in motion that altered distant shores.
Author(s): James H. Barrett, Sarah Jane Gibbon
Series: The Society for Medieval Archaeology Monographs, 37
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2016
Language: English
Pages: XII+396
Preface and Acknowledgements ix
List of Contributors xi
Chapter 1. Maritime Societies and the Transformation of the Viking Age and Medieval World / James H. Barrett 1
Chapter 2. Sails and the Cognitive Roles of Viking Age Ships / Christer Westerdahl 14
Chapter 3. Trade and Trust in the Baltic Sea Area During the Viking Age / Ingrid Gustin 25
Chapter 4. Bound for the Eastern Baltic: Trade and Centres AD 800–1200 / Marika Mägi 41
Chapter 5. Between East and West: Economy and Society on the Island of Gotland / Dan Carlsson 62
Chapter 6. Viking Age Bornholm: An Island on the Crossways / Magdalena Naum 69
Chapter 7. Trading Hubs or Political Centres of Power? Maritime Focal Sites in Early Sweden / Stefan Brink 88
Chapter 8. Accessibility and Vulnerability: Maritime Defence and Political Allegiance on the Vikbolandet Peninsula, Östergötland, Sweden / Martin Rundkvist 99
Chapter 9. Dorestad as a Fluviatile Society / Annemarieke Willemsen 108
Chapter 10. Maritime Environment and Social Identities in Medieval Coastal Flanders: The Management of Water and Environment and its Consequences for the Local Community and the Landscape / Dries Tys 122
Chapter 11. The Maritime Cultural Landscape of Early Medieval Northumbria: Small Landing Places and the Emergence of Coastal Urbanism / Pieterjan Deckers 138
Chapter 12. Post-Substantivist Production and Trade: Specialized Sites for Trade and Craft Production in Scandinavia AD c. 700–1000 / Dagfinn Skre 156
Chapter 13. Late Iron Age Boat Rituals and Ritual Boats in Norway / Sæbjørg Walaker Nordeide 171
Chapter 14. Bergen AD 1020/30–1170: Between Plans and Reality / Gitte Hansen 182
Chapter 15. Steatite Vessels and the Viking Diaspora: Migrants, Travellers and Cultural Change in Early Medieval Britain and Ireland / Søren Michael Sindbæk 198
Chapter 16. Status and Identity in Norse Settlements: A Case Study from Orkney / David Griffiths 219
Chapter 17. The Viking Occupation of the Hebrides: Evidence from the Excavations at Bornais, South Uist / Niall M. Sharples, Claire Ingrem, Peter Marshall, Jacqui Mulville, Adrienne Powell & Kelly Reed 237
Chapter 18. Disentangling Trade: Combs in the North and Irish Seas in the Long Viking Age / Steven P. Ashby 259
Chapter 19. Dealing with Deer: Norse Responses to Scottish Isles Cervids / Jacqui Mulville 279
Chapter 20. "Warrior Graves"? The Weapon Burial Rite in Viking Age Britain and Ireland / Stephen H. Harrison 299
Chapter 21. The Threatening Wave: Norse Poetry and the Scottish Isles / Judith Jesch 320
Chapter 22. Sea Kings, Maritime Kingdoms and the Tides of Change: Man and the Isles and Medieval European Change, AD c. 1100–1265 / R. Andrew McDonald 333
Chapter 23. The Sea Power of the Western Isles of Scotland in the Late Medieval Period / David H. Caldwell 350
Chapter 24. Coastal Communities and Diaspora Identities in Viking Age Ireland / Clare Downham 369
Index 384
