Abstract
Recent research on burial ritual and cultic practice among the Scandinavian peoples during the Viking Age (c. AD 750–1100) has generated an increasing interest in the notion of performance as one of their integral components. Building on earlier studies that have addressed the issue in principle, this paper focuses on the practical ways in which evidence for funerary and cultic drama can be recovered from the archaeological record. With an emphasis on the reconstruction of participatory movement and the time frame of ritual, a series of case studies is explored, drawing on both excavated graves and the archaeology of sacred space.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 178-191 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | World Archaeology |
| Volume | 46 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Early online date | 25 Feb 2014 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2014 |
Bibliographical note
Acknowledgements: Versions of this paper have been presented at lectures in Aberdeen, Hardanger, Honolulu, Ithaca, Lerwick, Reykjavík, Uppsala and Zürich. I thank all those who commented at those talks and elsewhere, in particular Anders Andrén, Stefan Brink, Mathias Bäck, Oren Falk, Leszek Gardeła, Terry Gunnell, Eldar Heide, Tom Hill, Frands Herschend, Steve Mitchell, Peter Pentz, Andrew Reynolds, Duncan Sayer, Rudy Simek, Kenneth Svensson, Torun Zachrisson and all the students on my postgraduate course Hugaheimur Víkinga at the University of Iceland, 2010 and 2012.Funding: This work was supported by the Leverhulme Trust [grant number F00152AO]