Finding Vikings in the Danelaw

Buckberry, Jo; Montgomery, Janet; Towers, Jacqueline; Müldner, Gundula; Holst, Malin; Evans, Jane; Gledhill, Andrew; Neale, Naomi; Lee-Thorp, Julia. 2014 Finding Vikings in the Danelaw. Oxford Journal of Archaeology, 33 (4). 413-434. https://doi.org/10.1111/ojoa.12045

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ojoa.12045

Abstract/Summary

Historical, artefactual and place-name evidence indicates that Scandinavian migrants moved to eastern England in the ninth century AD, settling in the Danelaw. However, only a handful of characteristically Scandinavian burials have been found in the region. One, widely held, explanation is that most of these Scandinavian settlers quickly adopted local Christian burial customs, thus leaving Scandinavians indistinguishable from the Anglo-Saxon population. We undertook osteological and isotopic analysis to investigate the presence of first-generation Scandinavian migrants. Burials from Masham were typical of the later Anglo-Saxon period and included men, women and children. The location and positioning of the four adult burials from Coppergate, however, are unusual for Anglo-Scandinavian York. None of the skeletons revealed interpersonal violence. Isotopic evidence did not suggest a marine component in the diet of either group, but revealed migration on a regional, and possibly an international, scale. Combined strontium and oxygen isotope analysis should be used to investigate further both regional and Scandinavian migration in the later Anglo-Saxon period.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1111/ojoa.12045
ISSN:	02625253
Date made live:	21 Sep 2015 09:00 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/511809

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1111/ojoa.12045

ISSN:

02625253

Date made live:

21 Sep 2015 09:00 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/511809