A Viking Age cemetery at Cnip, Uig, Isle of Lewis

The colonisation of the North Atlantic from the eighth century AD was the earliest expansion of European populations to the west. Norse and Celtic voyagers are recorded as reaching and settling in Iceland, Greenland and easternmost North America between c. AD 750 and 1000, but the date of these events and the homeland of the colonists are subjects of some debate. In this project, the birthplaces of 90 early burials from Iceland were sought using strontium isotope analysis. At least nine, and probably thirteen, of these individuals can be distinguished as migrants to Iceland from other places. In addition, there are clear differences to be seen in the diets of the local Icelandic peoples, ranging from largely terrestrial to largely marine consumption.

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What Was the Viking Age and When did it Happen? A View from Orkney

Barrett¹,

Beukens²,

Simpson³

et al. 2000

Norwegian Archaeological Review

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A Viking Age cemetery at Cnip, Uig, Isle of Lewis

Abstract: Six burials of ninth--tenth-century date recorded between 1991 and 1994, plus one tenth-century burial recorded in 1979, lead to the suggestion that the headland was a Viking cemetery area. There is an appendix `Surface collection of artefacts' by Tim Neighbour & Andrew Dunwell (747--9).

Cited by 10 publications

References 17 publications

Fur-bearing species and Scottish islands

Fur-bearing species and Scottish islands

The first settlers of Iceland: an isotopic approach to colonisation

What Was the Viking Age and When did it Happen? A View from Orkney

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