Evidence of exchange networks: the combs and other worked skeletal material

Significant contribution to the study of skeletal material in the Norse period using large internationally significant assemblage from Norse site in Orkney

First evidence of cryptotephra in palaeoenvironmental records associated with Norse occupation sites in Greenland

The Norse/Viking occupation of Greenland is part of a dispersal of communities across the North Atlantic coincident with the supposed Medieval Warm Period of the late 1st millennium AD. The abandonment of the Greenland settlements has been linked to climatic deterioration in the Little Ice Age as well as other possible explanations. There are significant dating uncertainties over the time of European abandonment of Greenland and the potential influence of climatic deterioration. Dating issues largely revolve around radiocarbon chronologies for Norse settlements and associated mire sequences close to settlement sites. Here we show the potential for moving this situation forward by a combination of palynological, radiocarbon and cryptotephra analyses of environmental records close to three ‘iconic’ Norse sites in the former Eastern Settlement of Greenland – Herjolfsnes, Hvalsey and Garðar (the modern Igaliku). While much work remains to be undertaken, our results show that palynological evidence can provide a useful marker for both the onset and end of Norse occupation in the region, while the radiocarbon chronologies for these sequences remain difficult. Significantly, we here demonstrate the potential for cryptotephra to become a useful tool in resolving the chronology of Norse occupation, when coupled with palynology. For the first time, we show that cryptotephra are present within palaeoenvironmental sequences located within or close to Norse settlement ruin-groups, with tephra horizons detected at all three sites. While shard concentrations were small at Herjolfsnes, concentrations sufficient for geochemical analyses were detected at Igaliku and Hvalsey. WDS-EPMA analyses of these tephra indicate that, unlike the predominantly Icelandic tephra sources reported in the Greenland ice core records, the tephra associated with the Norse sites correlate more closely with volcanic centres in the Aleutians and Cascades. Recent investigations of cryptotephra dispersal from North American centres, along with our new findings, point to the potential for cryptotephra to facilitate hypothesis testing, providing a key chronological tool for refining the timing of Norse activities in Greenland (e.g. abandonment) and of environmental contexts and drivers (e.g. climate forcing)

Heathens to Christians: Exploring Norse Interactions with Anglo-Saxons and Notions of Medieval Identity

The Viking Age lasted from approximately the 8th century CE to the 11th century CE, and throughout this period Norse people raided, traded, settled, farmed, and came to political power in the British Isles. Due to Norse culture being predominantly oral rather than written, there is limited documentation of early Norse activities by the Norse themselves. For most of this period, surviving records about Norse activity in Britain come from the Anglo-Saxons. Because a lot of early Norse interactions in the British Isles were raids on Christian monasteries, these Anglo-Saxon accounts painted the Norse as merciless murderers who wanted to punish Christians. However, this perception of Norse intent was inherently distorted and was clouded by misconceptions. As Norse people began to settle in Britain, these interactions fundamentally changed, and emerged from this continued contact was new conceptions of Anglo-Saxon and Norse identity. This research project explores the changes in Anglo- Saxon perceptions of identity as they confronted Norse identity through continued interactions with them

The metal finds and their implications

Major interdisciplinary study of metal artefacts from major Norse site in Orkney

Loki and Sigyn

Loki and Sigyn discusses love, pain, and dependency in the Norse myth of Loki’s Binding

Local availability and long-range trade: the worked stone assemblage

Inter disciplinary study of major excavation assemblage from Norse settlement site in Orkney. Combines methodological and typological developments with scientific discussion

Low carbon agriculture: Objectives and policy pathways

The threat of long-term climate change has driven a number of international and national bodies to call for a re-direction of development pathways so that they are more resource efficient and use less carbon (C) in the form of fossil fuel per unit of economic growth and cause lower greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). Agriculture is one of the largest anthropogenic sources of GHG emissions yet few authorities take account of this fact in their proposals and programmes for low C development. Hence this policy review examines the case for promoting strategies and policies for low C agricultural growth. Most of the policy and technological options that it considers have already been put forward by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and others in the context of climate change mitigation, but constraints to their implementation have often been underestimated. This review reassesses their potential contribution in the light of known bio-physical, socio-economic and institutional limitations. It concludes that there is a very strong case for greatly increasing the priority given to policies for low C growth which can be true win–win–win responses. Many of them are more cost-effective than the responses available to other sectors. They can be pro-poor and have other socio-economic benefits. They not only limit GHG emissions but also provide a range of other environmental and ecosystem benefits. However there can be significant barriers to implementation that must be overcome by national policies shaped to meet the needs of different farmer groups and agricultural systems

A Viking burial at Balnakeil, Sutherland

A full discussion of a young Viking male pagan grave with full consideration of its context and broader significance in the context of the Norse in the British Isles

Reservoirs and radiocarbon: ¹⁴C dating problems in Myvatnssveit, Northern Iceland

This paper examines 2 potential sources of the radiocarbon offset between human and terrestrial mammal (horse) bones recovered from Norse (~AD 870–1000) pagan graves in Mývatnssveit, north Iceland. These are the marine and freshwater 14C reservoir effects that may be incorporated into human bones from dietary sources. The size of the marine 14C reservoir effect (MRE) during the Norse period was investigated by measurement of multiple paired samples (terrestrial mammal and marine mollusk shell) at 2 archaeological sites in Mývatnssveit and 1 site on the north Icelandic coast. These produced 3 new ΔR values for the north coast of Iceland, indicating a ΔR of 106 ± 10 14C yr at AD 868–985, and of 144 ± 28 14C yr at AD 1280–1400. These values are statistically comparable and give an overall weighted mean ΔR of 111 ± 10 14C yr. The freshwater reservoir effect was similarly quantified using freshwater fish bones from a site in Mývatnssveit. These show an offset of between 1285 and 1830 14C yr, where the fish are depleted in 14C relative to the terrestrial mammals. This is attributed to the input of geothermally derived CO2 into the groundwater and subsequently into Lake Mývatn. We conclude the following: i) some of the Norse inhabitants of Mývatnssveit incorporated non-terrestrial resources into their diet that may be identified from the stable isotope composition of their bone collagen; ii) the MRE off the north Icelandic coast during the Norse period fits a spatial gradient of wider North Atlantic MRE values with increasing values to the northwest; and iii) it is important to consider the effect that geothermal activity could have on the 14C activity of samples influenced by groundwater at Icelandic archaeological sites

Temporal and spatial variations in freshwater 14C reservoir effects: Lake Myvatn, Northern Iceland

Lake Mývatn is an interior highland lake in northern Iceland that forms a unique ecosystem of international scientific importance and is surrounded by a landscape rich in archaeological and palaeoenvironmental sites. A significant Freshwater 14C Reservoir Effect (FRE) has been identified in carbon from the lake at some Norse (c.870-1000 AD) archaeological sites in the wider region (Mývatnssveit). Previous AMS measurements indicated this FRE was ~1500-1900 14C years. Here we present the results of a study using stable isotope and 14C measurements to quantify the Mývatn FRE for both the Norse and modern periods. This work has identified a temporally variable FRE that is greatly in excess of previous assessments. New, paired samples of contemporaneous bone from terrestrial herbivores and omnivores (including humans) from Norse sites demonstrate at least some omnivore diets incorporated sufficient freshwater resources to result in a herbivore-omnivore age offset of up to 400 14C yrs. Modern samples of benthic detritus, aquatic plants, zooplankton, invertebrates and freshwater fish indicate an FRE in excess of 5000 14C yrs in some species. Likely geothermal mechanisms for this large FRE are discussed, along with implications for both chronological reconstruction and integrated investigation of stable and radioactive isotop