Concerns over current climate change have placed the study of environment as a key priority, in particular in the ecologically vulnerable North Atlantic settlements. Field archaeology has seen an emphasis on elite manors, feasting halls, and monuments, as well as military sites and thing assembly places, using new data from remote sensing, geophysical surveys, geoarchaeology, and metal detectors. The study of identity has seen a shift from a focus on collective beliefs and ritual to issues of personal identity and presentation, with a corresponding shift in attention to individual burials and the “animated objects.” Network ontologies have brought new perspectives on the emergence of sea trade and urban nodes and to the significance of outfield production and resources. We identify the reemergence of comparative and cross-cultural perspectives along with a turn toward studying mobility and maritime expansion, fueled by the introduction of biomolecular and isotopic data. This paper reviews the achievements and challenges of archaeological research on Viking Age northern Europe and explores potential avenues for future research. The analysis points towards diversity following a north-south gradient in terms of dietary preferences (δ¹☼/δ¹⁵N), which demonstrates a higher degree of marine consumption in northern Norway, as opposed to the southern regions similar patterns are also observed through the mobility study (δ¹⁸O), which uncovers high levels of migration in the study population. Results of multi-isotope analyses (δ¹⁸O/δ¹☼/δ¹⁵N) in tandem with a cultural historical approach question the hegemonic masculinity associated with the ‘violent Vikings’ and the apparent preconception of stationary women and mobile males in Viking Age Norway, thus challenging conjectural behavioural distinctions between women, men and children. Based on a framework of radiocarbon dates (¹⁴C), the studied inhumation graves are distributed across a broad chronological and geographical scope, covering the Late Iron and Viking Age (c. Multi-isotope studies from human remains from Viking Age graves throughout Norway allow for a deeper understanding of mobility, livelihood and social organization during the Viking Age (750–1050 CE). This discovery constitutes the first solid scientific evidence that Scandinavians crossed the North Sea with horses, dogs and other animals as early as the ninth century AD. In conjunction with the archaeological context, the strontium isotope ratios indicate that these individuals most likely originated from the area of the Baltic Shield-and that they died soon after arrival in Britain. The results demonstrate that strontium isotope ratios of one of the adults and the non-adult are compatible with a local origin, while the other adult and all three animals are not. Using strontium content and isotope ratios of these three people and three animals-a horse, a dog and a possible pig-this paper investigates the individuals' residential origins. ![]() Only the cremated remains of three humans and of a few animals are still available for research. It dates to the late ninth century and is associated with the over-wintering of the Viking Great Army at nearby Repton in AD 873-4. The barrow cemetery at Heath Wood, Derbyshire, is the only known Viking cremation cemetery in the British Isles. The Torksey evidence allows for a radical reappraisal of the character of Viking winter camps, and the legacy of the Viking Great Army for Anglo-Saxon England. In the wake of the overwintering, Torksey developed as an important Anglo-Saxon borough with a major wheel-thrown pottery industry and multiple churches and cemeteries. ![]() There is no evidence for a pre-existing Anglo-Saxon trading site here the site appears to have been chosen for its strategic location and its access to resources. An exceptionally large and rich metalwork assemblage was deposited during the Great Army’s overwintering, and metal processing and trading was undertaken. Several thousand individuals overwintered in the camp, including warriors, craftworkers and merchants. It is considerably larger than the Viking camp of 873–4 previously excavated at Repton, Derbyshire, and lacks the earthwork defences identified there. The camp lay within a naturally defended area of higher ground, partially surrounded by marshes and bordered by the River Trent on its western side. This paper presents the results of a multidisciplinary project that has revealed the location, extent and character of the winter camp of the Viking Great Army at Torksey, Lincolnshire, of ad 872–3.
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