Book Series Studies in the Early Middle Ages, vol. 5

Contact, Continuity, and Collapse

The Norse Colonization of the North Atlantic

James H. Barrett (ed)

  • Pages: xvi + 254 p.
  • Size:156 x 234 mm
  • Illustrations:47 b/w
  • Language(s):English
  • Publication Year:2003

  • € 75,00 EXCL. VAT RETAIL PRICE
  • ISBN: 978-2-503-51291-4
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  • ISBN: 978-2-503-52641-6
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This collection of ten papers investigates the Norse colonization of the North Atlantic region, starting with Viking expansion in Arctic Norway and ending with a discussion of the longterm implications of medieval Scandinavian exploration of the New World.

Review(s)

"This is a very well produced volume with many illustrations, charts, and photographs that are pertinent to the discussion. (...) Contact, Continuity, and Collapse makes a useful contribution to Atlantic history and Viking studies." (B. Hudson in Scandinavian Studies, Vol.77, Issue 4, Winter 2005, p.512-514)

"(...) students of Scandinavian colonisation should find this a most useful collection of material." (L. Abrams in Saga-Book, p.160-164)

Summary

This collection of ten papers investigates the Norse colonization of the North Atlantic region, starting with Viking expansion in Arctic Norway and ending with a discussion of the longterm implications of medieval Scandinavian exploration of the New World. Each chapter provides a short regional synthesis of the archaeological evidence and, where appropriate, addresses three interrelated themes: the relationship between native and newcomer; the creation of local identities in the settlement period; the relationship between archaeology, history and the construction of modern national identities. In sequence, the chapters focus on North Norway, the Faeroes, Scotland, Ireland, Iceland, Greenland, the Inuits of Smith Sound, L'Anse aux Meadows and Vinland, together with introductory and concluding chapters.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction - James H. Barrett

Belligerent Chieftains and Oppressed Hunters? Changing Conceptions of Interethnic Relationships in Northern Norway during the Iron Age and Early Medieval Period - Bjørnar Olsen
The Early Settlement of the Faroe Islands: The Creation of Cultural Identity - Steffen Stummann Hansen
Culture Contact in Viking Age Scotland - James H. Barrett
The Vikings and Ireland: Ethnicity, Identity, and Culture Change - Harold Mytum
Creating a Past: A Historiography of the Settlement of Iceland - Adolf Friđriksson and Orri Vésteinsson
Norse Greenland: Reflections on Settlement and Depopulation - Jette Arneborg
Inuit-Norse Contact in the Smith Sound Region - P. Schledermann and K.M. McCullough
L’Anse aux Meadows and Vinland: An Abandoned Experiment - Birgitta Linderoth Wallace

Epilogue: Was There Continuity from Norse to Post-Medieval Explorations of the New World? - Robert McGhee