Vikings in Britain - The Archaeological Evidence

One of the inherent weaknesses of archaeological evidence is that any assertions based on it can only be made in the light of the current state of excavation. On the one hand this constantly expanding corpus of evidence provides a refreshing contrast to static documents, but on the other, extrapolations about wider landscapes and settlement patterns from excavated sites must always be provisional and on the assumption that contradictory evidence is not lying unexcavated. This is particularly apparent when we consider that the impetus for many excavations is urban development. Consequently much of our understanding of the Vikings has been from these rescue excavations in settlements such as York. The result of this inequality in the location of sites has been that we have had a far greater understanding of Viking settlement in urban areas of significant settlement, often of the tenth century than we do of the process of Viking rural settlement in the ninth. However, this information in itself is useful, we have a good idea from these urban excavations where the main areas of Anglo Scandinavian urbanisation were and archaeology has provided a good understanding of the process of settlement in the urban sphere.

Fig. 1 Anglo-Scandinavian disc brooch, lead manufactured, with typically flat Anglo Saxon profile (after Hadley 2006)

We can also examine from this urban archaeology, regional variations in urbanising patterns, a classic example being the differences between the re-emergence of an urban settlement, such as that at York, with the foundation of a new one at Dublin. At York, archaeology reveals a picture of an earlier Anglo Saxon wic at Fishergate, relocating to a site nearer to the Roman fortifications of York in the mid ninth century, probably as a response to the threat from the Viking armies to the north. We know from the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, that by the late ninth century, the Vikings had settled in the York area, and the archaeological record shows a steady stage by stage expansion of York as an urban settlement. The well known excavations at Coppergate in the 1970’s have revealed an enormous amount of data about the nature of the Viking settlement there, with striking insights into both the domestic and economic lives of the Vikings being uncovered. The excavations revealed a multitude of industries, metalwork, tanning, woodworking, pottery production et al taking place in the vicinity of domestic tenements. However, the archaeology of Coppergate does not paint a picture of a purely Viking settlement, as Dawn Hadley points out, ‘purely Scandinavian objects seem to be few in number.’ The artefactual evidence from Coppergate points both to extensive trading links with Carolingian Europe and further afield, but also to a merging of design patterns; in brooches, for example, examples have been found betraying both Anglian stylistic convention and with Scandinavian decoration (fig. 1). Despite the significant Viking presence in York, it should be noted that the architectural features observed are not discernibly Scandinavian, lending further credence to the idea that, in York, there was a substantial mixing between the Anglians and Scandinavians, to create this new Anglo Scandinavian identity. The archaeology of York also reveals information about the later Viking conversion to Christianity in the tenth century, with evidence of the reuse of Roman masonary in the construction of early Anglo Scandinavian churches, most notably a cathedral, the cemetery of which was located under the present Minster, alongside the Anglo Scandinavian Cathedral was located the royal palace; settlement archaeology is important for denoting the nature of high status settlement.

At a similar time to the Coppergate project, excavations in Dublin were revealing a different story. Here there were cases of distinctively Scandinavian structures were being revealed, with historic dating enabled by coverage in the Annals of Ulster of the establishment in the ninth century of a Viking longphort, and subsequent reestablishment of the settlement in the early tenth century. Here both the documentary evidence for violent confrontation, and the evidence of Viking military presence in both architectural form and burial evidence (fig. 2) indicates that here there was substantially less commercial and cultural interaction between Norwegians and Irish celts, than between Anglians and Danes in England.

Fig 2. Annotated Viking Military Burial, South Great Georges St. Dublin

By contrast, less is understood of Viking rural settlement archaeology, there are however some architectural conventions which clearly differ from urban settlements sunken feature buildings, which were characteristic of early Anglo Saxon rural settlement in the fifth and sixth centuries, had become largely confined to urbanity, whilst at Jarlshof in the Shetlands, Celtic roundhouses were being replaced by rectangular longhouses. There is architectural evidence for social stratification in rural settlements, with Bow Sided halls being interpreted as residences of the rural aristocracy. These conventions were also, however, regionally specific, the presence of these longhouses is confined only to Orkney and the Shetland and Faroe Islands, excluding mainland Norway (fig. 3). Though often the walls of these longhouses were slightly bowed, they were usually straight, ‘the true boat-shaped house is not found in Scotland’. Rural settlement archaeology is vital for the study of the process of settlement, it is through rural settlement archaeology that the archaeologist can build up a picture of the pattern of settlement over time and examine how the Vikings interacted with their landscape.

Fig 3. Distribution Map of Scandinavian Longhouses of the 9th and 10th centuries (after Hansen, 2000)

There has been a tendency amongst archaeologists to look at sites in isolation, but if one is to understand the changing historic landscape, a landscape based approach must be used to approach the archaeology of rural settlements. It is only though integrating settlement archaeology with landscape archaeology, that a picture of the process of settlement with all its regional variations can be built up. Other examples of this regional variation are found, for example, within areas that were heavily militarised. One such area is in Derbyshire, where the military settlements at Repton, and Ingleby are examples of a distinct Viking presence where not only is there documentary evidence for the presence of a Viking army, in combat against the Mercians, but there are also characteristically Viking burials, including a mass grave.

Viking burial archaeology again reflects this picture of the deeply regional effect that the Vikings had. In the Danelaw, for example, according to David Wilson, the number of archetypal Scandinavian burials numbers about 25 (fig. 4). For other parts of the British Isles, the picture is different, in the north for example, you have the presence of characteristically Viking ship burials, such as that at Scar, Sanday, in Orkney, which are simply not found further south. In burial archaeology we encounter most significantly the problem of the ‘cultural history’ approach to archaeology. This essentially relates to the practicality of relating ethnicity with material culture, and whether or not it is possible to assign an archaeologically meaningful identity to burials on the basis of their grave goods. Clearly when you have as substantial a settlement as the Vikings had in York, for example, it seems absurd to consider that there have only been a handful of Scandinavians buried in the town. What we see therefore, is a continuation of the process of acculturation that is visible in the settlement and artefactual archaeology of York. Julian Richards has argued convincingly, that ‘burial forms are actively manipulated and used as strategies of legitimation and negotiation’, when these diplomatic processes break down, as is the case in Derbyshire in the later ninth century, then you see evidence of a militarily dominant culture, fully retaining its own burial customs, as is the case at Repton and Ingleby. This process of assimilation and acculturation has manifested itself in the creation of certain new forms of burial rites, which again are regional in nature. These new rites manifested themselves most prominently in Hogback grave markers, found predominantly in Cumbria, Southern Scotland and North Yorkshire, and are a product of cross cultural influences. Given the usually static, and dateable nature of stone sculpture, it can often be a good indication to the archaeologist as to what cultural influences are present in certain places at certain times.  

Fig 4. Distribution map of Viking age Burials in England (after Richards 1991)

Of course a major part of Archaeological method is the scientific analysis of sampled data from excavations, from which a huge information can be gleaned about settlement characteristics, climactic information can be obtained to contextualise migrations, and information can be gleaned about the health and sanitation levels of the Viking settlement, what kind of animals they kept and traded, their diet and other issues. This information is particularly useful when applied to Scandinavia itself, analysing climactic conditions may shed light on possibly reasons for the Viking settlement elsewhere. Scientific data has been particularly forthcoming from Urban excavations such as York and Dublin, at Coppergate, for example, ‘analysis of a range of biological remains has enabled a detailed reconstruction of the home environment, and suggest it was far from hygienic’. Climactic information can be deduced from, for example, insect remains. The bug Heterogaster urticae, was detected in samples, since its current distribution does not extend as far north as York, it can be argued that the temperature was higher in the tenth century , if temperatures were higher, it is a reasonable corroborating reason for the settlement of Scandinavians in the British Isles.  

Archaeology, therefore, provides a wealth of information about the process and nature of the Viking settlement of the British Isles. It is only through archaeology that one can begin to comprehend the regionally idiosyncrasies that characterise the Viking settlement, or indeed any early medieval diaspora. Of course archaeology is a piece amongst many, early medieval history can no longer be written by simply a historian. Archaeology has provided the basis for radical historiographical positions, Peter Sawyers conclusion that the Viking settlers numbered in the hundreds, not thousands, was based largely on the idea that the scale of Viking settlement was far smaller than previously thought. Of course, as is the nature of archaeology, when one question is answered, many more spring up. Ultimately archaeological evidence has often served to add to the complexity of this already enigmatic period, by exposing the profound regional variations in Viking settlement, not just between separate geographical entities such as England and Ireland, but also within the Danelaw itself.

Bibliography

 - Site report of Viking Age excavation in Ireland from Margaret Gowan archaeological unit.

J. Campbell (ed.), The Anglo Saxons (London, 1982)

P. Dark, The Environment of Britain in the First Millennium A. D. (London, 2000)

W. Davies (ed) From the Vikings to the Normans (Oxford, 2003)

D.M Hadley, ‘The Scandinavian Settlement’ in W. Frazer and A. Tyrrell (eds.), Social Identity in Early Medieval Britain (Leicester, 2000

D. M Hadley, The Vikings in England: Settlement, Society and Culture (Manchester, 2006)

S. Hansen, ‘Viking Settlement in Shetland: Chronological and Regional Contexts’ in Acta Archaeologica vol. 71, (Copenhagen, 2000)  pp. 87–103

L. Laing, The Archaeology of Celtic Britain and Ireland (Cambridge, 2006)

J. Moreland, ‘Ethnicity, Power and the English’ in W. Frazer and A. Tyrrell (eds.), Social Identity in Early Medieval Britain (Leicester, 2000)  

P. Ottaway, Archaeology in British Towns: From the Emperor Claudius to the Black Death (London, 1992)

J.D Richards, Viking Age England (London, 1991)

J.D Richards ‘The Case of the Missing Vikings: Scandinavian Burial in the Danelaw’ in S. Lucy and A Reynolds (eds.), Burial in Early Medieval England and Wales (London, 2002)

D. M Wilson, ‘The Scandinavians in England’ in D.M Wilson (ed.), The Archaeology of Anglo Saxon England (Cambridge, 1976)

 

---