The Archaeology of Britain: An introduction from ... - waughfamily.ca

The Scandinavian presence
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TERMINOLOGY AND CHARACTER
The period commencing AD 800 is often described as the Viking Age, although some
explanation of the term is needed. Viking is an evocative word, but it was rarely used by
contemporary chroniclers who preferred to use Norse, Dane, or even heathen, often interchangeably.
The term Viking became widely used only in the nineteenth century, when translations of
medieval Icelandic sagas captured the Victorian romantic imagination with tales of a heroic
and mythical past. Some modern scholars go so far as to see the Vikings as inventions of the
sagas, popularized by the Victorians, and maintained by contemporary nationalism. Whilst
there can be little doubt that Scandinavian warriors did go on sea-borne raids from at least AD
800, it is worth acknowledging that this was, to some extent, part of a continuing process of
migration that had also seen Scandinavian peoples colonize England within the shelter of
earlier Germanic migration.
The Viking Age is normally thought of as ending in the mid-eleventh century. In England, it
is conveniently marked by the death of the last great Viking leader, Harald Hardraada, and the
subsequent victory of William the Conqueror, and is coincidental with the Late Saxon period.
The Western Isles of Scotland and the Isle of Man, however, remained under Scandinavian rule
until 1266, and Orkney and Shetland belonged to Norway until 1469.
For archaeologists, the Scandinavian presence in the British Isles is recognizable by its distinctive
material culture. Burials accompanied by weaponry and jewellery in Scandinavian forms probably
represent a first generation of pagan settlers, although their uneven distribution is also testimony
to the extent of conversion amongst the settlers. In England, for example, where Christianized
Danes formed the majority of the settlers, there are no more than 30 known burial sites, and
most of these are solitary graves. Those from churchyards, such as those at Repton, Derbyshire,
may represent a transitional conversion phase, and whilst their number might be increased by
further churchyard excavation, the total would still remain relatively small. On the northern and
western fringes, by comparison, there are many more pagan burials per head of population. On
the Isle of Man alone, for instance, there are at least 15 burial sites. This may partly reflect the
Norse preponderance in these areas, although the overtly pagan nature of some of the burials
suggests that they may have also emphasized their ‘Vikingness’ to stress their ethnic differences
in this colonial context (Myhre 1993; Richards 1991).
In some areas, such as Yorkshire and the Isle of Man, there is a flowering of stone cross
construction, frequently combining pagan and Christian iconography, but Scandinavian stone
sculpture is rare in southern England and in Scotland. The Viking Kingdom of York is also the
centre of the distribution of the unique hogback stones, which appear to represent another
distinctive colonial monument (Lang 1978).
Hoards of Viking silver are widely distributed throughout the British Isles, although their
interpretation is far from straightforward. The largest, comprising over 40 kg of silver coins,
bullion and arm rings, is that discovered in 1840 at Cuerdale, Lancashire, on the banks of the
River Ribble (Figure 11.1); it has been interpreted as the pay chest of a Viking army, possibly
recently arrived from Dublin in c.AD 905. Other smaller hoards from Scotland and the Isle of
Man may also represent the personal fortunes of Viking leaders who were unable to pass on their
wealth as gifts to their followers in order to buy their allegiance through reciprocity. It has also
been suggested that some hoards as well as river offerings of weapons continued the pagan
Scandinavian tradition of making gifts to gods that were never intended to be recovered. Other
hoards may simply represent personal wealth buried, but never recovered, under the threat of
advance of a Viking raiding party (Graham-Campbell 1992).