Vikings in the Prehistoric Landscape
Studies on Mainland Orkney
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23237740 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Alison Leonard (0000-0001-5098-7139, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2011 |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 42-68 |
| Publication date | 2011-05-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Landscapes (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1466-2035 • E-ISSN: 2040-8153 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1179/lan.2011.12.1.42 |
| OpenAlex | W2063855508 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 15 |
Norse colonists in Orkney contended not only with the islands' existing occupants, but also with a foreign landscape filled with visible ancient monuments. This paper provides a brief synthesis of the results of research on the landscapes of Viking-Age and Late-Norse Orkney which explored the strategies undertaken by the Norse settlers to re-model their social identities in their adopted environment. The study focuses on Mainland Orkney between the late eighth and fourteenth centuries. In two distinct case study regions, the archaeological record for Norse settlement and activity was mapped against the 'backdrop' of prehistoric monuments and integrated with toponymic evidence. The studies suggest that integration and continuity at landscape level were important ways of promoting a Norse ancestry on Orkney, based on responses to the new landscape as well as to traditional Scandinavian practice. Late Iron Age sites often informed Norse settlement location, and dwellings were rebuilt over centuries, creating deep sequences of occupation. Physical interaction with Neolithic monuments was more occasional, although they were often integrated into the contemporary landscape through naming and reference. Eventually most of Orkney's landscape features, including its more ancient monuments, were familiarised, becoming part of the Norse Orcadian landscape.
Ancient history · Archaeology · Geography · Human settlement · Landscape archaeology · Landscape design · Mainland · Prehistory · Settlement (finance) · Toponymy · Viking Age · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Historical and Archaeological Studies · History · Medieval Architecture and Archaeology
Death and Memory in Early Medieval Britain
Trial excavations on Pictish and Viking settlements at Saevar Howe, Birsay, Orkney
Time Regained
Defining the OE hearg
Marine resource intensification in Viking Age Europe
Relict Properties of Anthropogenic Deep Top Soils as Indicators of Infield Management in Marwick, West Mainland, Orkney
Excavations of a medieval cemetery at Skaill House, and a cist in the Bay of Skaill, Sandwick, Orkney
Excavation of Pictish and Viking-age farmsteads at Buckquoy, Orkney
Two Viking-age silver brooch fragments believed to be from the 1858 Skaill (Orkney) hoard
Combs, Contact and Chronology
Later Stone Age Burial Variability in the Cape
Identity, Gender, Religion and Economy
A fear of the past
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,33 |
| Citation span | 2014 - 2021 (8) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |