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

Barrett, James H.; Beukens, R.P.; Simpson, Ian A.; Ashmore, Patrick; Poaps, Sandra Lynn; Huntley, J. P.

doi:10.1080/00293650050202600

Cited by 40 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…It is clear that the intensification of different sectors of the transition economy did not develop at the same time or at the same rate, and when set in a broader North Atlantic context, we suggest that intensive fishing advanced earlier and more quickly because of its large, early market in continental Europe (Barrett et al, 2000a), whereas cereal (barley) was produced in Orkney for a considerably smaller market in other North Atlantic Norse polities, including Iceland and Norway (IslendingaIsleninga Saga, McGrew, 1970;Bandamanna Saga, Porter, 1994). Furthermore, we also suggest that marine exploitation and the subsequent arable intensification developed as part of a long-term trend towards increasing rural productivity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With these new political and social conditions came the acceleration of long-range market trade of utilitarian products, including dried fish and grain, and the associated intensification of marine-resource exploitation and agricultural production. Although precise time scales for these intensification processes and their relative significance in different localities continues to be debated, there is no doubt that new economic relationships between "peripheries" and "cores" emerged during this period (e.g., Urbanczyk, 1992;Helle, 1993;Barrett, 1997;Barrett et al, 2000a;Andersson, 2002). Geoarchaeological investigations of cultural soils and sediments have made significant contributions to the understanding of this important period in the peripheral North Atlantic polities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has been characterized primarily as a period of transition from decentralized, chieftain-based authorities with pagan ideology to centralized state authorities in which Christian ideology was dominant. This process included the onset of Scandinavian state formation and the incorporation of "peripheral" North Atlantic polities, such as northern Norway, Iceland, Orkney, and Shetland into new state structures (Barrett et al, 2000a; Figure 1). With these new political and social conditions came the acceleration of long-range market trade of utilitarian products, including dried fish and grain, and the associated intensification of marine-resource exploitation and agricultural production.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Interpreting the Viking Age to Medieval period transition in Norse Orkney through cultural soil and sediment analyses

2005

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The transition from the Viking Age (ca. A.D. 800-1050) to the Medieval period (ca. A.D. 1050-1500) saw the development of widening trade activities that incorporated peripheral North Atlantic polities into mainstream Europe and contributed to the intensification of marineresource exploitation and agricultural production in these localities. As yet, there is only limited understanding of these intensification processes and their interrelationships, particularly at a local, site-based level. Through the micromorphological analysis of cultural soils and sediments at Quoygrew, Westray, Orkney, we explore the characteristics of farming and fishing activity during the Viking Age-Medieval transition period and establish their chronological relationships. The study demonstrates: (1) that intensification took place from ca. A.D. 966-1162 on an already existing Viking Age settlement, (2) that intensification of fishing activity occurred prior to the intensification of arable agriculture, and (3) that the Quoygrew site continued throughout this period as an economically diverse permanent settlement. When viewed in a wider North Atlantic context, these findings indicate that intensification of different economic activities proceeded at different rates and that intensification of specialized economic activities during the transition from the Viking Age to the Medieval period was dependent on existing knowledge of local environments.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Interpreting the Viking Age to Medieval period transition in Norse Orkney through cultural soil and sediment analyses

2005

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“…2). The burial on the cairn at Brough Road has been radiocarbon dated to 880-1140, while the two in the midden were dated by a combination of radiocarbon dating and artifact typology to the late 9 th /early 10 th century; however, a mixed atmospheric/marine callibration date of 650-863 in the 2 sigma range for the male suggests an earlier date for that burial, although it was disturbed and other human bones were found in the vicinity (Barrett et al 2000:table 1, Morris 1989.…”

Section: Journal Of the North Atlantic 2015mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, the chronology of Scandinavian activity in Orkney has been studied at length by Barrett et al (2000), and settlement mounds in Orkney have been well contextualized by Jane Harrison (2013a, b), allowing the relationship between burials and settlement mounds to be explored herein. This paper also benefits from Alison Leonard's (2011) consideration of the cultural colonization of Orkney by Scandinavians.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Legitimation Through Association? Scandinavian Accompanied Burials and Pre-Historic Monuments in Orkney

McLeod

2015

Journal of the North Atlantic

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An archaeology and environmental history journal focusing on the peoples of the North Atlantic, their expansion into the region over time, and their interactions with their changing environments. Legitimation through Association? Scandinavian Accompanied Burials and Prehistoric Monuments in Orkney Shane McLeodJournal of the North Atlantic No. 28 2015The Journal of the North Atlantic (Online ISSN #1935-1933, Print ISSN #1935-1984, with an international editorial board, is a collaborative publishing effort of the Eagle Hill Institute, PO Box 9, 59 Eagle Hill Road, Steuben, ME 04680-0009 USA. Phone 207-546-2821, FAX 207-546-3042. E-mail: office@eaglehill.us The Journal of the North Atlantic (JONA) is a multi-disciplinary, peer-reviewed and edited archaeology and environmental history journal focusing on the peoples of the North Atlantic, their expansion into the region over time, and their interactions with their changing environments. The journal-published online in the BioOne.org database and on the JONA website, and indexed in a full range of journal databases-serves as a forum for researchers, and as an information resource for instructors, students, and the intellectually curious who would like to learn about the latest research and study opportunities within the region.The journal publishes a wide diversity of research papers, as well as research summaries and general interest articles in closely related disciplines, which, when considered together, help contribute to a comprehensive multi-disciplinary understanding of the historical interplay between cultural and environmental changes in the North Atlantic world. Specifically, the journal's focus includes paleo-environmental reconstruction and modelling, historical ecology, archaeology, ecology of organisms important to humans, anthropology, human/environment/climate interactions, climate history, ethnography, ethnohistory, historical analyses, discussions of cultural heritage, and place-name studies.The journal publishes individual papers on an article-by-article basis. Whenever a manuscript has completed its peer review process and the article galley has been approved by the author, it will be immediately published online in the BioOne database and on the JONA website. This publishing model is also available for special volumes such as conference and symposium proceedings or other collections of papers. In effect, this means that articles are grouped online over time, i.e., the table of contents of volumes will grow as articles are posted online, which has the advantage of rewarding prompt authors, while enabling tardier authors to retain the option of being included in a special volume without delaying its publication.The Journal of the North Atlantic's publishing format is versatile enough that authors can include supplementary files with their articles. These supplements may include dataset, figure, and table files (e.g., files requiring a larger than normal journal page size, such as large maps), as well as text and protocol files, audio and video fi...

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Human Impact on North Atlantic Biota

Mainland

Harland

2021

Biogeography in the Sub‐Arctic

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

Cited by 40 publications

References 69 publications

Interpreting the Viking Age to Medieval period transition in Norse Orkney through cultural soil and sediment analyses

Interpreting the Viking Age to Medieval period transition in Norse Orkney through cultural soil and sediment analyses

Legitimation Through Association? Scandinavian Accompanied Burials and Pre-Historic Monuments in Orkney

Human Impact on North Atlantic Biota

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