Vikings : the North Atlantic saga / edited by William W. Fitzhugh and Elisabeth I. Ward.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Fitzhugh, William W., 1943-

Ward, Elisabeth I.

National Museum of Natural History (U.S.)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Vikings.

Northmen.

Vikings--Material culture.

Discoveries in geography.

North America--Discovery and exploration--Norse.

North America.

Canada--Discovery and exploration--Norse.

Canada.

Greenland--Discovery and exploration--Norse.

Greenland.

Vikings--Material culture--Catalogs.

Genre:

Catalogs.

Physical Description:

432 pages : color illustrations, maps ; 29 cm

Place of Publication:

Washington : Smithsonian Institution Press in association with the National Museum of Natural History, [2000]

Summary:

The Vikings' Territorial Expansion from their Scandinavian homelands across the Atlantic to North America a thousand years ago stands as one of the most remarkable achievements in the history of exploration. Between A.D.750 and 1050, seaborne Viking warriors established trade networks reaching from Baghdad to Greenland, introduced Christianity to Scandinavia, and settled the uninhabited North Atlantic islands. In about A.D. 1000, Leif Eriksson brought his ship to shore in what is today northeastern Canada, becoming the first European to set foot in the New World.

Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga celebrates and explores the Viking saga from the combined perspectives of history, archaeology, oral tradition, literature, and natural science. The book's contributors chart the spread of marauders and traders in Europe as well as the movement of farmers and explorers throughout the North Atlantic and into the New World. Incorporating a wealth of recent information, this generously illustrated book describes a first-millennium culture far more complex and entrepreneurial than the horned-helmeted raiders of popular imagination.

Contents:

Puffins, Ringed Pins, and Runestones: The Viking Passage to America / William W. Fitzhugh 11

I Viking Homelands

Scandinavia in the Viking Age / Peter H. Sawyer 27

1. The Scandinavian Landscape: People and Environment / Neil S. Price 31

2. Farming and Daily Life / Sigrid H. H. Kaland, Irmelin Martens 42

3. Religion, Art, and Runes / Anne-Sofie Graslund 55

Shamanism and the Vikings? / Neil S. Price 70

4. Political Organization and Social Life / Lars Jorgensen 72

From Warrior to Trade Economy / Lotte Hedeager 84

5. Ships and Navigation / Arne Emil Christensen 86

II Viking Raiders

The Viking Age in Europe / Christopher D. Morris 99

6. The Eastern Route: Finland in the Viking Age / Torsten Edgren 103

7. "Laid Waste, Plundered, and Burned": Vikings in Frankia / Neil S. Price 116

8. Viking Expansion and Cultural Blending in Britain and Ireland / Colleen E. Batey, John Sheehan 127

III Vikings in the North Atlantic

Sagas of Western Expansion / Haraldur Olafsson 142

9. The North Atlantic Environment / Paul C. Buckland 146

10. Vikings in the Faeroe Islands / Simun V. Arge 154

11. The Archaeology of Landnam: Early Settlement in Iceland / Orri Vesteinsson 164

12. The Icelandic Commonwealth Period: Building a New Society / Helgi Thorlaksson 175

Eddas and Sagas in Medieval Iceland / Gisli Sigurdsson 186

IV Viking America

1000 A.D.: East Meets West / Peter Schledermann 189

13. Skraeling: First Peoples of Helluland, Markland, and Vinland / D. Odess, S. Loring, W. W. Fitzhugh 193

A Norse Penny from Maine / Steven L. Cox 207

14. The Viking Settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows / Birgitta Linderoth Wallace 208

Jasper Cores from L'Anse aux Meadows / Kevin P. Smith 217

An Introduction to the Vinland Sagas / Gisli Sigurdsson 219

Greenlanders' Saga 220

Erik the Red's Saga 223

15. An Archaeologist's Interpretation of the Vinland Sagas / Birgitta Linderoth Wallace 228

16. The Quest for Vinland in Saga Scholarship / Gisli Sigurdsson 232

17. The Norse and Native North Americans / Patricia D. Sutherland 238

18. Ellesmere: Vikings in the Far North / Peter Schledermann 248

19. A World in Transition: Early Cartography of the North Atlantic / Douglas McNaughton 257

20. Unanswered Questions / Kirsten A. Seaver 268

V Norse Greenland

From Vikings to Norseman / Jette Arneborg, Kirsten A. Seaver 281

21. Life and Death in Norse Greenland / Niels Lynnerup 285

22. The Farm Beneath the Sand / Joel Berglund 295

23. Greenland and Europe / Jette Arneborg 304

24. Natives and Norse in Greenland / Hans Christian Gullov 318

25. The Demise of Norse Greenland / Thomas H. McGovern 327

26. The Norse Legacy in Greenland / Hans Christian Petersen 340

VI Viring Legacy

Celebrating the Viking Millennium in America / William W. Fitzhugh, Elisabeth I. Ward 351

27. The Old Norse Dream / Carin Orrling 354

28. Reflections on an Icon: Vikings in American Culture / Elisabeth I. Ward 365

29. Stumbles and Pitfalls in the Search for Viking America / Birgitta L. Wallace, William W. Fitzhugh 374

The Newport Tower / Johannes Hertz 376

30. Sagas and Science: Climate and Human Impacts in the North Atlantic / Astrid E. J. Ogilvie, Thomas H. McGovern 385

31. Travel the Viking Trail: Eco-Tourism and Viking Heritage / Ian A. Morrison 394.

Notes:

"An exhibition at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., April 29, 2000-September 5, 2000"--CIP t.p.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 402-413) and index.

ISBN:

156098970X

1560989955

OCLC:

42921299