Neil Price

Twilight of the gods? : The 'dust veil event' of AD 536 in critical perspective

The popular notion of social collapse consequent on natural catastrophe is here elegantly disentangled in a study of the dark summer of AD 536. Leaving aside the question of its cause, the authors show there is good scientific evidence for a climatic downturn, contemporary with good archaeological evidence for widespread disruption of settlement and population displacement in the northern latitudes. They then navigate through the shifting shadows of myth, and emerge with a welcome prize: strong circumstantial reasons for recognising that this widespread horror, like so many others, did leave its imprint on Scandinavian poetry and sculpture.

Passing into Poetry: Viking-Age Mortuary Drama and the Origins of Norse Mythology

Abstract The Burials of pre-Christian Scandinavia in the Viking Age can be broadly divided into a number of basic categories, yet within these the range of individual expression in mortuary behaviour is immense. This paper proposes a model to explain such variation, focusing on the evident deliberation shown in the precise selection and placement of objects, and in the treatment of animals (and sometimes humans) killed as part of the funeral process. It is suggested that Viking-Age burials may have involved complex elements of mortuary theatre, ritual narratives literally enacted at the graveside, providing a poetic passage for the individual dead into a world of ancestral stories. A number of archaeological and literary case studies are discussed, including ship burials, emphasising the central importance of tales in the Norse world-view. The question is posed as to whether the material narratives of funerary rites could form one of the creative strands behind what we know today as Norse mythology.

A female Viking warrior confirmed by genomics

Abstract Objectives The objective of this study has been to confirm the sex and the affinity of an individual buried in a well‐furnished warrior grave (Bj 581) in the Viking Age town of Birka, Sweden. Previously, based on the material and historical records, the male sex has been associated with the gender of the warrior and such was the case with Bj 581. An earlier osteological classification of the individual as female was considered controversial in a historical and archaeological context. A genomic confirmation of the biological sex of the individual was considered necessary to solve the issue. Materials and methods Genome‐wide sequence data was generated in order to confirm the biological sex, to support skeletal integrity, and to investigate the genetic relationship of the individual to ancient individuals as well as modern‐day groups. Additionally, a strontium isotope analysis was conducted to highlight the mobility of the individual. Results The genomic results revealed the lack of a Y‐chromosome and thus a female biological sex, and the mtDNA analyses support a single‐individual origin of sampled elements. The genetic affinity is close to present‐day North Europeans, and within Sweden to the southern and south‐central region. Nevertheless, the Sr values are not conclusive as to whether she was of local or nonlocal origin. Discussion The identification of a female Viking warrior provides a unique insight into the Viking society, social constructions, and exceptions to the norm in the Viking time‐period. The results call for caution against generalizations regarding social orders in past societies.

Does environmental archaeology need an ethical promise

ABSTRACT Environmental catastrophes represent profound challenges faced by societies today. Numerous scholars in the climate sciences and the humanities have argued for a greater ethical engagement with these pressing issues. At the same time, several disciplines concerned with hazards are moving towards formalized ethical codes or promises that not only guide the dissemination of data but oblige scientists to relate to fundamentally political issues. This article couples a survey of the recent environmental ethics literature with two case studies of how past natural hazards have affected vulnerable societies in Europe’s prehistory. We ask whether cases of past calamities and their societal effects should play a greater role in public debates and whether archaeologists working with past environmental hazards should be more outspoken in their ethical considerations. We offer no firm answers, but suggest that archaeologists engage with debates in human–environment relations at this interface between politics, public affairs and science.

Nine paces from Hel: time and motion in Old Norse ritual performance

Abstract Recent research on burial ritual and cultic practice among the Scandinavian peoples during the Viking Age (c. ad 750–1100) has generated an increasing interest in the notion of performance as one of their integral components. Building on earlier studies that have addressed the issue in principle, this paper focuses on the practical ways in which evidence for funerary and cultic drama can be recovered from the archaeological record. With an emphasis on the reconstruction of participatory movement and the time frame of ritual, a series of case studies is explored, drawing on both excavated graves and the archaeology of sacred space.

Ingroup identification, identity fusion and the formation of Viking war bands

Abstract The lið, a retinue of warriors sworn to a leader, has long been considered one of the basic armed groups of the Viking Age. However, in recent years the study of lið has been eclipsed by the discussion of larger Viking armies. In this paper, we focus on the key question of how loyalty to the lið was achieved. We argue that two processes that have been intensively studied by psychologists and anthropologists – ingroup identification and identity fusion – would have been important in the formation and operation of lið. In support of this hypothesis, we outline archaeological, historical and literary evidence pertaining to material and psychological identities. The construction of such identities, we contend, would have facilitated the formation of cohesive fighting groups and contributed to their success while operating in the field.

An Eye for Odin? Divine Role-Playing in the Age of Sutton Hoo

AbstractThis paper presents some new observations concerning the construction of the Sutton Hoo helmet, as a point of entry to a wider discussion of pre-Christian religious and ideological links across Scandinavia. It will be argued that in certain circumstances and locations, such as the firelit interior of the hall, the wearer of the helmet was seen as both war leader and war god, a literal personification of Odin. This interpretation is supported and extended with a variety of Scandinavian finds from the sixth to tenth centuries, and arguably represents an unusually physical manifestation of the ritual border-crossing between human and divine elites. In the socio-political context of early medieval kingdoms, the dramatic imagery of the helmets and related military equipment had a critical role to play in the communication of power, the origin of military prowess, and the religious allegiance of a warlord.

Peleliu 1944: The Archaeology of a South Pacific D-Day

Abstract In September 1944, US Marines invaded the tiny Micronesian island of Peleliu in the Palau group, held by the Japanese. It would become one of the worst battles of the Pacific War, but the struggle for Peleliu was afterwards largely overlooked in the public consciousness in favour of the better- known conflicts on Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima. Tourist impact on the island, with its community of only six hundred native Palauans, poses acute issues of heritage management relating not only to the integrity of the sites but also to the hazards of unexploded ordnance that is present in massive quantities. This paper presents the preliminary results of an archaeological investigation of the best-preserved battlefield of the Pacific theatre.

Ship-Men and Slaughter-Wolves

The Vikings enjoy a public name recognition shared with few other ancient cultures today.1 This hold on the imagination has a long pedigree, extending back to the late Middle Ages when they formed the stuff of saga-writing and legend, through their rediscovery during the Enlightenment and their gradual incorporation into the political fan- tasies of National Romanticism. When these were in turn usurped by the darker fictions of the Third Reich and its spurious myths of racial origins, the academic study of the Viking Age would take decades to recover from the contamination. Perennially drawing new audiences through exhibitions, documentaries and books, today they also saturate our popular culture in the form of everything from comics and movies to football teams, brand names, shipping lines and even spacecraft.

The new MOMU : meeting the family at Denmark's flagship Museum of Prehistory and Ethnography

I visited the new Moesgaard Museum in January 2015 on a grey and rainy day, and five hours later I left empowered with an unexpected feeling of optimism at human potential, reacquainted with what Larkin (1974: 19) called “the million-petalled flower of being here”, and not least, conscious again of the privilege of being an archaeologist, lucky enough to spend my professional life doing something so marvellous. Is the museum really that good? Yes.