The Migration Period Pre Viking Age And Viking Age In Estonia

This book analyses the society, economy, settlement, and culture of the territory of present-day Estonia in the period of ca AD 450-1050. This period is known in the Estonian archaeological chronology as the Migration Period, the Pre-Viking Age, and the Viking Age. This was an era of rapid change, by the end of which traditional Estonian peasant culture as it is known until the 19th century had developed. Whereas in Western Europe written sources from the second half of the first millennium AD herald the arrival of the Middle Ages, there is an almost complete absence of written information about the prevailing conditions and events that took place in the area of present-day Estonia. There are only remains of the farms and fortresses of that time beneath the earth, as well as cemeteries, overgrown field baulks and clearance cairns, and the large amount of excavated ancient objects or fragments thereof. Many aspects of prehistoric life cannot be researched because the source material is not extant and there is no hope of finding it. Moreover, many phenomena of human life do not generate archaeological source material. Thus our overall understanding of the Estonian Middle Iron Age and the Viking Age is inevitably fragmentary and superficial.

This volume explores the changes that occurred during the Viking Age, as Scandinavian societies fell in line with the larger forces that dominated the Insular world and Continental Europe, absorbing the powerful symbiosis of Christianity and monarchy, adapting to the idea of royal lineage and supremacy, and developing a buzzing urbanism coupled with large-scale trade networks. Presenting research on the grand context of the Viking Age alongside localised studies, it contributes to the furthering of collaborations between local and ‘outsider’ research on the Viking Age. Through a diversity of approaches on the Viking homelands and the wider world of the Vikings, it offers studies of a range of phenomena, including urban and rural settlements; continuity in the use of places as well as new types of places specific to the Viking Age; the social significance of change; the construction and maintenance of social identity both within the ‘homelands’ and across large territories; ethnicity; and ideas of identity and the creation and recreation of identity both at home and abroad. As such, it will appeal to historians and archaeologists with interests in Viking-Age studies, as well as scholars of Scandinavian studies.

Winner of the Early Slavic Studies Association 2018 Book Prize This volume offers a novel, trans-regional vision of Viking Age (9th-11th century) cultural and political contacts between Scandinavia and the eastern coasts of the Baltic Sea, using predominantly archaeological evidence, combined with historical sources, topography and logistical considerations.

This volume explores the changes that occurred during the Viking Age, as Scandinavian societies fell in line with the larger forces that dominated the Insular world and Continental Europe, absorbing the powerful symbiosis of Christianity and monarchy, adapting to the idea of royal lineage and supremacy, and developing a buzzing urbanism coupled with large-scale trade networks. Presenting research on the grand context of the Viking Age alongside localised studies, it contributes to the furthering of collaborations between local and ‘outsider’ research on the Viking Age. Through a diversity of approaches on the Viking homelands and the wider world of the Vikings, it offers studies of a range of phenomena, including urban and rural settlements; continuity in the use of places as well as new types of places specific to the Viking Age; the social significance of change; the construction and maintenance of social identity both within the ‘homelands’ and across large territories; ethnicity; and ideas of identity and the creation and recreation of identity both at home and abroad. As such, it will appeal to historians and archaeologists with interests in Viking-Age studies, as well as scholars of Scandinavian studies.

Thi study presents a systematic analysis of the huge, and in most cases, completely new archaeological evidence for amber from Lithuania and the surrounding regions. A comprehensive synthesis of archaeological evidence and written sources provides an opportunity to develop new viewpoints about the sources of amber, extraction methods and amber-wearing.

This collection of studies is the result of a six-year interdisciplinary research project undertaken by an international team, and constitutes a completely new approach to environmental, cultural and settlement changes around the mid-first millennium AD in Central Europe.

Winner of the 2020 Verbruggen prize This book offers an an overview of the current state of research and a basic route map for navigating an abundant historiography available in 10 different languages. The book is also an invitation to comparison between various parts of the region over the same period.