Theme:
1. Archaeologists and Archaeology Here and Now
Session format:
Regular session
Title:
Across the Maelstrom: Searching for New Departures in the Archaeology of the Viking Age
Content:
Whether thinking in terms of exchange and mobility, gender, violence, migration, political evolution, social identities or ontology, the North European Viking Age (c. 750/800-1050 CE) is a pivot of recent debates in archaeology. It is equally highlighted by a range of new conceptual explorations as well as scientific approaches. Yet, the steeply increasing demands for specialization are pulling research communities in different directions, between which gaps are growing. For instance, while research on social identities is creating an increasingly nuanced understanding of the diverse roles in Viking Age society, these perspectives appear to have little impact in the study of social organization or power relations. Similarly, a rise of interest in the exploitation of outland resources provide new understandings of the dynamics of economy and ecology of the Viking Age; but hitherto the social and cultural consequences of these contexts have not been brought to the fore.
This session aims at identifying the predicaments and future directions for a synthetic archaeology of the Viking Age. We call for contributions that explore how different strands of archaeological research may meet and merge to define a more holistic research. How can we develop frameworks with the potential to strengthen the ethical groundings of a contested field of research, and overcome the gap between societal/economic and individual/cultural research cultures? In particular, we are searching for new ways to call in focus the integration and interplay between research and discourses arising from fields as different as genomics, diaspora theory, intersectionality, ecology, environment and climate studies, or studies of landscape, ontology, mobility and political power.
Keywords:
Viking Age, Synthesis, Interdisciplinarity, Research cultures, Identity, Ecology
Session associated with MERC:
yes
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no
Session associated with CAA:
no
Session associated with DGUF:
no
Session associated with other:
Main organiser:
Søren Sindbaek (Denmark) 1
Co-organisers:
Julie Lund (Norway) 2
Affiliations:
1. Aarhus University
2. University of Oslo
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