London Anglo-Saxon Symposium 2016: Anglo-Scandinavian England
How to Be a Viking (or Not): Identities in Anglo-Scandinavian England
Dr Letty Ten Harkel, U. of Oxford
This presentation explores how we can use archaeological evidence to understand
the identities of the inhabitants of Anglo-Scandinavian England. Traditionally Viking
studies were often focused on the question how we can distinguish the Scandinavian
settlers from the native population. It is becoming increasingly clear that this is often
impossible, and that the identities of the settlers are not always - as we would
understand it - typically 'Scandinavian'. Drawing on a variety of evidence including
burials, metalwork and settlement evidence, this presentation will take a fresh look
at Viking and other identities in England in the later ninth to earlier eleventh centuries
AD.
Select bibliography
Graham-Campbell, James. The Viking World (London: Frances Lincoln, 2013).
Hadley, Dawn M. The Vikings in England (Manchester: Manchester University
Press, 2006).
Hadley, Dawn M., and Letty Ten Harkel. Everyday Life in Viking-Age Towns: Social
Approaches to Towns in England and Ireland, c. 800-1100 (Oxford: Oxbow Books,
2013).
Hadley, Dawn M., and Julian D. Richards (eds.). Cultures in Contact: Scandinavian
Settlement in England in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries (Turnhout: Brepols, 2000).
Kershaw, Jane F. Viking Identities: Scandinavian Jewellery in England (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2000).