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Vikings in the Prehistoric Landscape: Studies on Mainland Orkney

Vikings in the Prehistoric Landscape: Studies on Mainland Orkney AbstractNorse colonists in Orkney contended not only with the islands' existing occupants, but also with a foreign landscape filled with visible ancient monuments. This paper provides a brief synthesis of the results of research on the landscapes of Viking-Age and Late-Norse Orkney which explored the strategies undertaken by the Norse settlers to re-model their social identities in their adopted environment. The study focuses on Mainland Orkney between the late eighth and fourteenth centuries. In two distinct case study regions, the archaeological record for Norse settlement and activity was mapped against the 'backdrop' of prehistoric monuments and integrated with toponymic evidence. The studies suggest that integration and continuity at landscape level were important ways of promoting a Norse ancestry on Orkney, based on responses to the new landscape as well as to traditional Scandinavian practice. Late Iron Age sites often informed Norse settlement location, and dwellings were rebuilt over centuries, creating deep sequences of occupation. Physical interaction with Neolithic monuments was more occasional, although they were often integrated into the contemporary landscape through naming and reference. Eventually most of Orkney's landscape features, including its more ancient monuments, were familiarised, becoming part of the Norse Orcadian landscape. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Landscapes Taylor & Francis

Vikings in the Prehistoric Landscape: Studies on Mainland Orkney

Leonard, Alison
Landscapes , Volume 12 (1): 27 – May 1, 2011
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Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Copyright
© 2011 Maney Publishing
ISSN
2040-8153
eISSN
1466-2035
DOI
10.1179/lan.2011.12.1.42
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

AbstractNorse colonists in Orkney contended not only with the islands' existing occupants, but also with a foreign landscape filled with visible ancient monuments. This paper provides a brief synthesis of the results of research on the landscapes of Viking-Age and Late-Norse Orkney which explored the strategies undertaken by the Norse settlers to re-model their social identities in their adopted environment. The study focuses on Mainland Orkney between the late eighth and fourteenth centuries. In two distinct case study regions, the archaeological record for Norse settlement and activity was mapped against the 'backdrop' of prehistoric monuments and integrated with toponymic evidence. The studies suggest that integration and continuity at landscape level were important ways of promoting a Norse ancestry on Orkney, based on responses to the new landscape as well as to traditional Scandinavian practice. Late Iron Age sites often informed Norse settlement location, and dwellings were rebuilt over centuries, creating deep sequences of occupation. Physical interaction with Neolithic monuments was more occasional, although they were often integrated into the contemporary landscape through naming and reference. Eventually most of Orkney's landscape features, including its more ancient monuments, were familiarised, becoming part of the Norse Orcadian landscape.

Journal

Landscapes – Taylor & Francis

Published: May 1, 2011

References

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