New Research in Viking Studies: Women, Weapons, and Ships

For the eighth year running, the National University of Ireland, Dublin City Council Archaeology Section, and the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Ireland, are pleased to collaborate and contribute a Viking-studies event to the Dublin Festival of History Programme. This year we are honoured to host two distinguished scholars from Norway who will present papers as part of a seminar entitled New Research in Viking Studies: Women, Weapons, and Ships. 10:00 The Gjellestad ship burial – a royal burial site and its surroundings - Christian Løchsen Rødsrud The Gjellestad ship attracted wide international attention when discovered by Ground Penetrating Radar in 2018, followed by a trial excavation in 2019 and a full excavation in 2020-21. This paper will both present results from the excavation of the ship burial as well as contextualizing the find in its surroundings and comparing it to similar sites. Christian Løchsen Rødsrud is an archaeologist based at the Directorate for Cultural Heritage where he currently works with managing Norwegian World Heritage and international affairs related to the EEA grants. 11:00 What’s in a grave? Gender and identity in Viking Age burials - Marianne Moen Burials can be described as the archaeologist’s best friend when it comes to understanding how identities were constructed and communicated in the past. By interpreting the combinations of material objects in the grave, the interior and exterior construction of the grave itself, the presence of animals, and by studying the human remains and their treatment, we draw information on social identities and lived lives. From this information, we craft narratives of social hierarchies and more in a given time period. Marianne Moen is currently Head of Department of Archaeology at the Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo This event will be livestreamed on the via the festival website at https://dublinfestivalofhistory.ie/live For more information see https://dublinfestivalofhistory.ie/