ANTH 232: The Viking World

The Viking Age (c. 793-1050 AD) is best known as Scandinavian raids throughout coastal Europe. This course examines the archaeology of the societies behind the Viking raids from their origins in Late Iron Age Scandinavia, to their expansion into Europe and the British Isles, and on to the discovery of North America and the colonization of Greenland. In addition to covering the archaeology and history of Viking Age societies, the course presents and critically evaluates several anthropological themes which have been exemplified by Norse society: the Germanic mode of production, gift exchange and reciprocity, proto-world systems, gender and class identity, pagan religious systems and mythology, the archaeology of religious conversion, and cultural contact in the preindustrial world.