The Viking Phenomenon
Who were the Vikings? Why did they do what they did? What kind of societies produced them? Why did they start to expand into the world at precisely this time?
Seminar 25 May
Viking Phenomenon seminars - Historiska museet
Boat Grave Culture
The first component of the Viking Phenomenon project is called Boat Grave Culture. At the heart of this strand is one of Sweden's greatest archaeological treasures, the largest cemetery of ship burials ever found, the classic site of Valsgärde in Uppland. A crucial counterpart to the work on Valsgärde is the exploration of the extraordinary remains of a Scandinavian raiding party from Salme, Estonia.
Viking economics
The second main component of the Viking Phenomenon project explores Viking Economics. In contrast to the widespread exploration of the silver trade, a genuine study of raiding economics has never been undertaken - and yet they must, almost inevitably, have provided a prime motor for the developing social processes that embody our definition of the entire time period.
