Dagfinn Skre | University of Oslo (original) (raw)

Books by Dagfinn Skre

This book argues that tribal Scandinavia was set on the route to kingship by the arrival in the A... more This book argues that tribal Scandinavia was set on the route to kingship by the arrival in the AD 180s–90s of warrior groups that were dismissed from the Roman army after defeating the Marcomanni by the Danube.Using a range of evidence, this book details how well‑equipped and battle‑seasoned warriors, familiar with Roman institutions and practices, seized land and established lordly centres. It shows how these new lords acquired wealth by stimulating the production of commodities for trade with peers and Continental associates, Romans included, to reward retainers and bestow on partners. In these transcultural circumstances, lords and their retainers nurtured artisanal production of exquisite quality and developed a heroic ethos and refined hall etiquette. The topic of warfare, created by the volatile politics of lordly cooperation and competition, is also explored.
Venturing substantially beyond the usual scope of syntheses of this period, this book looks at how the break‑up of the Western Roman Empire and the rise of ‘Great tribes’ such as the Franks and Goths influenced lords and tribal leaders across Scandinavia to form kingdoms, emulating what they for centuries had considered the superior polity, the Roman Empire.
This book’s fresh take on disputed research topics will inspire scholars, students, and interested readers to delve further into this pivotal period of European history.

OPEN ACCESS PUBLICATION: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110421101 This book discusses the 1st-11th c... more OPEN ACCESS PUBLICATION: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110421101
This book discusses the 1st-11th century developments that led to the formation of the three Scandinavian kingdoms in the Viking Age. Wide-ranging studies of communication routes, regional identities, judicial territories, and royal sites and graves trace a complex trajectory of rulership in these pagan Germanic societies. In the fi nal section, new light is shed on the pinnacle and demise of the Norwegian kingdom in the 13th-14th centuries.

The book seeks to revitalise the somewhat stagnant scholarly debate on Germanic rulership in the first millennium AD. A series of comprehensive chapters combines literary evidence on Scandinavia’s polities, kings, and other rulers with archaeological, documentary, toponymical, and linguistic evidence. The picture that emerges is one of surprisingly stable rulership institutions, sites, and myths, while control of them was contested between individuals, dynasties, and polities. While in the early centuries, Scandinavia was integrated in Germanic Europe, profound societal and cultural changes in 6th-century Scandinavia and the Christianisation of Continental and English kingdoms set northern kingship on a different path. The pagan heroic warrior ethos, essential to kingship, was developed and refined; only to recur overseas embodied in 9th–10th-century Vikings. Three chapters on a hitherto unknown masonry royal manor at Avaldsnes in western Norway, excavated 2017, concludes this volume with discussions of the late-medieval peak of Norwegian kingship and it’s eventual downfall in the late 14th century. This book’s discussions and results are relevant to all scholars and students of 1st-millenium Germanic kingship, polities, and societies.
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https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110421101

by Dagfinn Skre, Mari Arentz Østmo, Egil Bauer, Elna Siv Kristoffersen, Åsa Dahlin Hauken, Frode Iversen, Rebecca J S Cannell, Paul Cheetham, Stella Macheridis, Håkon Reiersen, Arne Anderson Stamnes, and Frans-Arne H Stylegar

The Royal manor Avaldsnes in southwest Norway holds a rich history testified by 13th century saga... more The Royal manor Avaldsnes in southwest Norway holds a rich history testified by 13th century sagas and exceptional graves from the first millennium AD. In 2011–12 the settlement was excavated. In this first book from the project crucial results from an international team of 23 scholars are published. The chapters cover a wide array of topics ranging from building-remains and scientific analyses of finds to landownership and ritual manifestations. It is suggested that Avaldsnes was a prominent base for sea kings that operated along the West-Scandinavian coast in the first millennium AD. The martial competence developed through the centuries in the sea-king environment was the basis of the Vikings' military success in the 9th–10th centuries.

The third volume covering the excavations of 1998–2003 in the Viking-period town of Kaupang exami... more The third volume covering the excavations of 1998–2003 in the Viking-period town of Kaupang examines a range of artefacts and discusses the inhabitants of the town: their origins, activities and trading connexions. Certain key threads from both this and the two previous volumes in the series are drawn together. The main categories of artefact are metal jewellery and ornaments, gemstones, vessel glass, pottery, finds of soapstone, whetstones and textile-production equipment. The artefacts are described and dated, and in some cases their areas of origin are discussed. An exceptional wealth and diversity of artefacts distinguishes sites such as Kaupang from all other types of site in the Viking world. This reflects the fact that a large population of some 400–600 people, engaged in a comprehensive range of production and trade, lived closely together in the town c. ad 800–930. The finds and structural remains make it possible to identify the activities that took place within the six buildings excavated. The earliest buildings were in use only periodically, but those erected in the 820s were occupied permanently. The earlier structures were used for limited periods by a variety of craftsmen, but those in permanent occupation were primarily houses and only secondarily workshops. Throughout the life of the town, trade links with southern Scandinavia, the Baltic and the Irish Sea appear to have been strong. In the earliest phases of the town there was considerable trade with the Frisian zone, probably with Dorestad, but this link faded in the second half of the 9th century, probably because Dorestad had been abandoned. Kaupang seems to have been supplied with goods from the interior of eastern Norway, while goods from the western coastland of Norway are all but absent. Finds of personal equipment show that many of the inhabitants were from southern and western Scandinavia. One house can be identified as that of a Frisian household engaged in trade. There were also Slavs in Kaupang, although it is not clear if they too were long-term residents. Kaupang was located in a border zone between southern and northern Scandinavia as well as between the East and the West. The trading potential of such border zones is probably why Kaupang, unlike Ribe, survived the demise of the Frisian trade in the mid-late 9th century.

This second volume concerning the excavations in the Viking-period town Kaupang in 1998–2003 exam... more This second volume concerning the excavations in the Viking-period town Kaupang in 1998–2003 examines types of find used in economic transactions: coins, silver ingots, hacksilver, balances and weights. Changes in the type and volume of economic transactions at Kaupang and in Scandinavia are discussed, and the economic thought-world of Viking-age craftsmen and traders explored.
The study of Viking silver currency has previously been based mainly on hoards. In this volume, the integrated study of the types of finds noted, in light of the detailed chronology of settlement finds from sites such as Kaupang, sheds completely new light upon economy and exchange.

In the early 9th century, long-distance trade goods seem to have come to Kaupang mainly from the Carolingian world. In the earliest phase, transactions were made using commodities as payment within a commodity-money system. From c. 825 silver weighed using locally produced lead weights, and possibly also Western coins, was used as currency on a limited scale. The old øre weight-unit was easily convertible into Carolingian measures.

After the mid-9th century, trade with Carolingian regions declined and Kaupang was more heavily involved in trade with the Baltic. The greater supply of silver resulting from the importation, via eastern Scandinavia, of Islamic coins, as well as the introduction in most of Scandinavia of standardized weights of probably Islamic origin, paved the way for an increasing use of silver in payment from then on.

These studies demonstrate that sites like Kaupang led the way in the development of means of payment and types of trade in Viking-age Scandinavia. In earlier times and in rural areas, trade took place within tight social networks where economic agency was socially sanctioned and prices were fixed by tradition. Urban long-distance trade was less dependent of such networks and therefore provided space for traders and craftsmen openly to display their economic agency. This development was encouraged by the urban environment, which housed a non-food-producing population dependent on numerous daily transactions to survive. By easing the traditional constraints on the economy and so allowing for economic expansion, the Viking towns contributed significantly to the fundamental transformation of Scandinavian culture and society around the turn of the millennium.

In this, the first of FOUR volumes, the main results of the excavations which the University of O... more In this, the first of FOUR volumes, the main results of the excavations which the University of Oslo carried out at Kaupang 1998–2003 are presented. A completely new picture is put forward of the port that Ohthere (Óttarr) visited in c. 890 AD. It is argued that Kaupang was one of three towns that were founded in south-west Scandinavia around the year 800. Kaupang was founded in the power centre Skiringssal, which for decades had been ruled by the Ynglings – the legendary Norwegian royal lineage. The founding was probably initiated by the King of the Danes – the dominant political actor in south-west Scandinavia at the time. Kaupang is shown to have had several of the features revealed in Birka, Hedeby and Ribe – i.e., a compact permanent settlement, divided into small plots, each with a dwelling. The town could have had 400-800 inhabitants. Substantial traces of trade and craftwork are proof of the main areas of occupation. Advanced geo- and environmental-archaeological analyses, published here, have played an important role in interpreting the finds. Documentary sources indicate that Skiringssal was an important royal seat in the 700s and 800s. These sources are put together with the archaeological and toponymical sources which, united, show a centre of power with a clear likeness to similar places in Denmark and Sweden, so called “central places”. A hall or sal building, presumably the Skirings-sal itself, has been excavated at Huseby, near Kaupang. Nearby, a thing site was situated by a holy lake. In this, the Yngling kings’ centre of power, to which many people came to attend thing meetings and sacrificial feasts, the town Kaupang was founded. The transition to Christian religious practices in Viken in the middle of the 10th century and the consequent demise of pagan cult activities in Skiringssal was probably a key factor in the abandonment of Kaupang at that time. In nine of the book’s 20 chapters, the excavations’ finds, analyses and results are presented. In three chapters, 200 years of research on Kaupang and Skiringssal are summarised, while in the remaining eight chapters an endeavour is made to re-establish the holistic approach to Skiringssal which dominated research in the 19th and early 20th Century.

Papers by Dagfinn Skre

I: Dagfinn Skre and Frans-Arne Stylegar (red.): Herre og drott – konge og sjøkonge, pp. 35-50. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. Oslo., 2023

Current Anthropology, 2024

Globally, monetization started from account units developed in the bureaucracies of centralized s... more Globally, monetization started from account units developed in the bureaucracies of centralized states like Egypt and Mesopotamia, and it appears to have transpired into the population through various economic obligations that largely may be called taxes. But the general acceptance within and beyond such states of one or both monetary practices—valuing in account units and paying with tokens—suggests that people found them useful for purposes other than paying tax. Studying individual agency in heterarchic relations seems a viable approach to explore this aspect of monetization in money-issuing states and other polities alike.

Neue Studien zur Sachsenforschung, 2022

Viking-Age Trade. Silver, Slaves and Gotland, 2021

This chapter draws out the implications of two issues raised by contributions to the volume: the ... more This chapter draws out the implications of two issues raised by contributions to the volume: the holding of slaves in Scandinavia; and the question of whether Gotlanders were involved in the slave trade in the ninth and tenth centuries. It suggests that slaveholding existed across most of the social spectrum and that it was more widespread in Iron- and Viking-Age Scandinavia than has been suggested, with Slavic slaves being held on Gotland and elsewhere in Sweden from the tenth century onwards. Slaves were an integral part of the honour culture which pervaded Vendel- and Viking-Age Scandinavia. The author suggests that the Gotlanders owed their ability to trade in slaves and other commodities, operating mainly between the Baltic and the Black and Caspian Seas, to networks developed through a longstanding culture of travel and trade. Hence Gotlanders appear to have been the first in Viking-Age Scandinavia to position themselves as merchants in a long-distance trading system.
In: Jonathan Shepard, Jacek Gruszczynski and Marek Jankowiak (eds.): Viking-Age Trade. Silver, Slaves and Gotland, page 437-49. Routledge. London.

Primitive Tider, 2020

Hvert år leveres det inn tusenvis av detektorfunn til de arkeologiske museene i Norge. Bare til K... more Hvert år leveres det inn tusenvis av detektorfunn til de arkeologiske museene i Norge. Bare til Kulturhistorisk museum ble det i 2018 levert inn ca. 1630 funn, en tidobling siden 2008 (Axelsen in prep). Det store flertallet er funnet i pløyelaget i dyrket mark, men hvilke sammenhenger, om noen, har gjenstandene med eventuelle strukturer under pløyelaget? Svar på dette spørsmålet er sentralt for å utnytte gjenstandenes forskningspotensiale, og for å fatte velfunderte forvaltningsvedtak om etterundersøkelser og vern av lokaliteter med mange detektorfunn.
For å få bedre kunnskap om pløyelagsfunnenes deponeringshistorie, og dermed styrke grunnlaget for å forvalte metallrike lokaliteter, besluttet Riksantikvaren i 2016 å benytte et funnrikt jorde på Storhov i Heradsbygd, Elverum kommune (Figur 1 og 2), som en ‘case study’ i et prøveprosjekt. Vi har vært involvert i dette prosjektet, og basert på våre resultater vil vi her diskutere hvordan gjenstandene fremkommet med metallsøker kan ha funnet veien til pløyelaget. Stammer de fra kulturlag, stolpehull, graver, depoter eller andre strukturer som er mer eller mindre pløyd i stykker, eller har de kommet ut på jordet på andre måter? Kan de for eksempel ha blitt mistet under arbeid på jordet eller kjørt ut med gjødsel?
Etter korte sammendrag av detektorfunnene, så vel som resultatene fra de geofysiske og arkeologiske undersøkelsene, skal vi vurderer sammenhengen mellom geofysiske anomalier og påviste strukturer under pløyelaget. Til slutt tar vi opp prosjektets hovedspørsmål, den sannsynlige deponeringshistorien til pløyelagsfunnene på Storhov.

By, marsk og geest 32. Kulturhistorisk tidsskrift for Sydvestjylland, 2020

Brynesteiner var nødvendige redskaper for å vedlikeholde jernverktøy med skarpe egger og spisser,... more Brynesteiner var nødvendige redskaper for å vedlikeholde jernverktøy med skarpe egger og spisser, og de er en av de mest vanlige gjenstandstypene fra jernalder og middelalder. Geologiske analyser av materialet i Ribe viser at over halvparten av brynene kom fra steinbrudd i dagens Norge – fra Mostadmarka i Trøndelag og Eidsborg i Telemark. Importen av bryner fra Mostadmarka begynte allerede tidlig på 700-tallet, og vitner om en stabil og godt organisert tilførsel som varte i flere århundrer. På begynnelsen av 800-tallet skjer det likevel en endring i materialet, der bryner fra Eidsborg blir mer vanlig og etterhvert dominerer markedet. Bryner fra de norske steinbruddene er synlige eksempel på handel mellom Ribe og fjerne utmarksområder siden tidlig på 700-tallet. Dette var langvarige og stabile kontakter – der de samme steinbruddene forsynte byen med bryner i over 500 år.

Rulership in 1st to 14th century Scandinavia. Royal graves and sites at Avaldsnes and beyond, 2020

OPEN ACCESS PUBLICATION: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110421101-003 This chapter’s discussion of r... more OPEN ACCESS PUBLICATION: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110421101-003
This chapter’s discussion of rulers and polities in 1st-millennium Scandinavia is based on evidence on the upper echelon of ‘central places’, those that may arguably be regarded as ruler’s sites, as well as on written evidence, primarily the Old English poem Beowulf and the Old Norse skaldic poem Ynglingatal.
The Roman expansion into continental Europe amplified interaction between Germanic peoples as well as with the Roman Empire, mainly through military campaigns and trade. The intensified mobility triggered deep cultural and societal integration processes within 2nd to mid-6thcentury Germanic Europe. This interaction and integration is evident in martial proficiency and in the rise of a new type of leaders, the dróttinn (army commanders), among many Germanic peoples. Challenging the authority of tribal rulers, the kindins and þiudans, some of the dróttinn became de facto rulers.
In southern and middle Scandinavia, where a southern and a northern economic zone overlap, some dróttinn of the 3rd century established economic and political centres that also served as ritual and communal assembly sites. Sites such as Uppåkra, Gudme, Helgö, Åker, and Avaldsnes appear to have constituted the nodes where the dróttinn’s networks into the two economic zones intersected. Commodities obtained through one network were conveyed into the other, and at the sites, raw materials were worked into commodities. At the core of each site was the residence and hall of the dróttinn; they were ruler’s sites.
In the decades around AD 500, royal lineages were initiated in several Germanic polities, the Merovingians the most prominent among them. In contemporary Scandinavia, the Skjǫldungar, the Skilfingar, and other royal lineages were initiated. In the same period, the number of tribes was reduced from the plethora of the 1st–6th centuries to predominantly three: the Danir, the Svíar, and the Norðmenn. The 6th century also saw the downfall of several ruler’s sites and the emergence of new such sites. It is suggested that these three parallel developments were related to the introduction of kingship and the establishment of kingdoms.
Following the downfall of southern long-distance networks and societal and climatic upheaval in late 6th to early 7th centuries, Scandinavia became less economically and culturally connected to the west and south. In the same period, most continental and British kingdoms were Christianised. No longer deeply integrated with the latter, Scandinavian kingship came to follow its own trajectory. Within the pagan universe, the heroic warrior ethos of the past was developed and refined, only to recur overseas in the 9th–10th centuries, embodied in sea-borne warrior bands. After a turbulent two centuries, Scandinavia was reintegrated among what was now the west-European normality: the Christian kingdoms.

Journal of Maritime Archaeology, 2018

During the Viking Age, Arctic Scandinavia was a source of exquisite furs, down, walrus ivory, and... more During the Viking Age, Arctic Scandinavia was a source of exquisite furs, down, walrus ivory, and other commodities that met with high demand in England and on the Continent. Hitherto, the earliest firm evidence of this trade has been Ohthere’s account c. 890, but in light of this paper’s findings, its history may be pushed further back in time. Geological analyses of whetstones retrieved in eighth- to early ninth-century Ribe, south-western Jylland, in present-day western Denmark, demonstrate that the majority were quarried near the aristocratic manor Lade (‘loading/storing place’) in Trøndelag, present-day central Norway, some 1100 km by sea to the north. Because of their high numbers and durability, whetstones retrieved in Ribe and other urban sites may be regarded as a proxy for long-distance seaborne trade from the Arctic. The peak in this trade on the threshold of the Viking Age invites a reconsideration of the coinciding and conflicting interests of Scandinavian long-distance traders, kings, and Vikings. It is argued that coalitions and conflicts that arose from these interests, and new constraints and opportunities that emerged for these three types of agents, provide keys to understanding why and where Vikings raided overseas up to the mid-ninth century.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11457-018-9221-3

Medieval Archaeology, 2017

A social approach to monetisation shifts the attention from the classic money media – gold and si... more A social approach to monetisation shifts the attention from the classic money media – gold and silver – to the dissemination of two social practices: valuing and paying. When these two monetary practices first became widespread in western Scandinavia during the gold rich migration period (in the 5th to 6th centuries AD), they were not introduced in the sphere of trade, but instead were features of traditional or customary payments, such as weregeld (atonements for murder or offences against the person) or marriage dowries. By the Viking Age, in the late 8th to 10th centuries AD, despite flourishing commodity production, precious metals were used as payment in trade solely in towns. Even in towns, this commercial use seems to have been adopted late, and was employed only occasionally. This paper reviews the changing approaches to money and monetisation, and draws attention to the potential for regarding monetisation as the spread of a set of social practices.

I: Dagfinn Skre and Frans-Arne Stylegar (red.): Herre og drott – konge og sjøkonge, pp. 35-50. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. Oslo., 2023

Current Anthropology, 2024

Neue Studien zur Sachsenforschung, 2022

Viking-Age Trade. Silver, Slaves and Gotland, 2021

Primitive Tider, 2020

By, marsk og geest 32. Kulturhistorisk tidsskrift for Sydvestjylland, 2020

Rulership in 1st to 14th century Scandinavia. Royal graves and sites at Avaldsnes and beyond, 2020

Journal of Maritime Archaeology, 2018

Medieval Archaeology, 2017

Glørstad and Loftsgarden (eds.) 2017: Viking Age Transformations: Trade, Craft and Resources in Western Scandinavia, pp. 1-27

In Scandinavia, the Viking Age – in this context c. AD 750–1100 – is a period of transformations.... more In Scandinavia, the Viking Age – in this context c. AD 750–1100 – is a period of transformations. Towns were founded and become numerous, three kingdoms were established, Christianity became the dominant religion, production thrived, and long-distance contacts, peaceful and hostile, brought Scandinavian societies into closer and more regular contact with each other and with the rest of Europe. By 1100 the Iron Age communities, polities, and cultures of Scandinavia had been transformed profoundly and irrevocably.
Few scholars have attempted to grasp the interconnectedness of these transformations; exploring any single transformation is more than enough for most of us. Those who have discussed a combination of them have relied heavily on written evidence; hence they focus on the two transformations that are best testified in the texts: Christianisation and state formation (e.g., Bagge 2010). Consequently, they mainly treat the latter part of the period: the 10th–11th centuries. In addition, due to the nature of the written records, these studies are skewed toward a top-down perspective on societal and cultural structures and processes. Although sagas, skaldic poems, law codes, cadastres, and diplomas also contain information on everyday life and commonplace occurrences, they say more about the activities, perspectives, and interests of social elites than about those of other groups. By contrast, the materiality of the archaeological record invites the building of interpretations from the ground up, complementing the top-down perspective of the written record. Thus, by consulting the archaeological record, a new range of transformations can be studied, one connected more closely to the social and economic agency of the broader population.

In memoriam: Bjørn Myhre 1938-2015. By Ingrid Fuglestvedt, Terje Gansum, Grete Lillehammer, Dagf... more In memoriam: Bjørn Myhre 1938-2015.

By Ingrid Fuglestvedt, Terje Gansum, Grete Lillehammer, Dagfinn Skre, Ingvild Øye,

Frode Iversen, Ole Rikard Høisæther

Jes Martens, Mads Ravn (eds.) 2016: Pløyejord som kontekst. Nye utfordringer for forskning, forvaltning og formidling. Pp. 107-110

On several occasions, Norwegian archaeology has swiftly adopted methodological innovations. Promi... more On several occasions, Norwegian archaeology has swiftly adopted methodological innovations. Prominent examples include the introduction of scholarly excavation in the 1860s and the development of single-context excavation methods in medieval towns in the 1970s. However, there are many examples of slow adoption. Aerial photography and mechanical topsoil stripping required several decades to be incorporated into Norwegian archaeology. It is difficult to determine the reasons for such delays – other than traditionalism and conservatism. Currently, widespread recreational metal detecting unearths numerous artifacts of substantial archaeological interest. The Norwegian Cultural Heritage Act is not well suited as a legal framework for this activity, the Directorate of Cultural Heritage has not produced a consistent policy, and Norway’s five archaeological museums and 19 counties have developed a variety of practices. In addition, many archaeologists are hesitant to cooperate with detectorists. In the author’s view, we have no choice but to develop a close, trusting relationship with detectorist organizations. My primary reason is that hundreds of thousands of artifacts in cultivated land are currently deteriorating as a result of chemical and mechanical agricultural impacts. Experiences from Denmark and England demonstrate the substantial scholarly potential of this material. We must secure this heritage for the future, and this goal cannot be achieved without the help of detectorists.

Barrett, James (ed) 2015: Maritime Societies of the Viking and Medieval World, pp. 156-170

Along the West-Scandinavian coast, agrarian settlements, which are found along fjords and in vall... more Along the West-Scandinavian coast, agrarian settlements, which are found along fjords
and in valleys, are separated from each other and from the lands to the east by high
mountains. Thus, seafaring was the main mode of communication from the Stone Age
onwards. Unlike the coasts of Britain, Ireland and continental Europe, this 1000 km long
coastline is littered with thousands of islands, islets and reefs, which create a protected
coastal sailing route – the Norjvegr – from which the kingdom took its name. The author
discusses this sailing-route’s significance for the creation of the kingdom as well as for
the Viking incursions in Britain, Ireland and the Continent c. 790–1050.

The recent discovery of the ninth-century longphort at Woodstown, on the southern bank of the Riv... more The recent discovery of the ninth-century longphort at Woodstown, on the southern bank of the River Suir, near Waterford, south-eastern Ireland, has had a profound impact in the international community of Viking scholars. It had been eagerly waiting for a site that would shed light on the second stage of the Viking expansion in the West: the period that followed the first half century of summer raiding. This second stage was characterized by the foundation of longphuirt, defended camps where raiders overwintered. The Woodstown site seems to have the potential of filling a lacuna in the source material. The change from summer raiding to a permanent presence, which occurred around AD, marked a watershed in the pattern of Scandinavian activity in Ireland. The Vikings now became active and efficient players in Ireland's internal politics, and some of their winter camps ultimately developed into the country's first urban communities. The aims of this contribution are to discuss aspects of the Scandinavian background to these developments, and to draw attention to evidence that is of relevance in understanding the character and intensity of Scandinavian connections with Ireland. Its point of departure is the results of the excavations of the ninth-and early tenth-century Viking town of Kaupang, in Viken, present-day south-eastern Norway.

Hodges, Rodger and Gelichi, Sauro (eds.) 2012: From one sea to another. Trading Places in the European and Mediterranean Early Middle Ages. Brepols. Pp. 47-63

In Bogucki, Mateusz (eds): "Economies, Monetisation and Society in West Slavic Lands 800-1200 AD", pp. 75-87. Szczecin 2013

Preliminary program for ViS 2018 Conference: "Weaving war: New perspectives on violence and socie... more Preliminary program for ViS 2018 Conference: "Weaving war: New perspectives on violence and society in the Viking-Age"

The Centre of Viking-Age studies (ViS) and the Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo, ar... more The Centre of Viking-Age studies (ViS) and the Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo, are pleased to announce that the international ViS-conference 2018 will take place in Oslo 12-14 December 2018. The goal of the conference is to stimulate debate and reflection, and to present the current state of research on violence, conflict and warfare in the Viking Age. Violence, warfare and warrior ideology are seen as vital components in understanding Viking society, and the many facets of a warrior society appear through landscapes, material culture, religion, poetry, and in traces of ritualised actions and gendered practices. Warfare also present ambiguities: Weapons were instruments for terror and murder, but they also formed the basis for identity and self-esteem. The brutal realities of violence stands in contrast to the idealized images of warriors met with admiration and honour. Violence and warfare are linked to aggression and power, but intrinsically also bound to fear, bereavement and loss. Conflicts and warfare are based on drawing of thresholds for inclusion and exclusion, and even though warfare is fracturing and destructive, it can also create cohesion, social change and new political conditions. As scholars we regularly encounter the public perception of the violent Viking, calling also for reflection on the ways in which Viking violence and wars feed back into public dissemination and the present Viking fascination.

by Marie D Amundsen, Unn Pedersen, Dagfinn Skre, Frode Iversen, Jan Bill, Zanette Glørstad, svein harald gullbekk, Marianne Hem Eriksen, Hanne Lovise Aannestad, Per Ditlef Fredriksen, and Marianne Vedeler

While most Scandinavian scholars study the trading, raiding and emigration of the Viking Age from... more While most Scandinavian scholars study the trading, raiding and emigration of the Viking Age from a 'homeland' perspective, the majority of colleagues elsewhere explore them in the context of the receiving societies. Are these two perspectives compatible? Is it at all possible to develop approaches that embrace both, or even transcend the boundaries between them? We believe it is, and that such an ambition is necessary to grasp the full dynamics of the period and understand the 9th-11thcentury transformations of societies, cultures and polities in Eastern, Western, and Northern Europe.