Scandinavian history in the Viking age - Department of Anglo-Saxon ...

Scandinavian History in the Viking Age
And for wide-ranging comparative studies with full recent bibliographies:
[M112] S. McGrail, Studies in maritime archaeology, BAR British series 256 (1997) [UL
L474.b.85.230], and Ancient boats in north-west Europe: the archaeology of water transport to AD
1500, 2nd edn (1998) [UL 423.b.99.53]
Shipbuilding and ship design
The design of the various kinds of Viking ships naturally reflects their various functions; hence warships
had a lower draught than merchant ships, enabling them to beach easily on undefended territory or sail
quite a way up river routes.
[M115] A.E. Christensen, ‘Viking age ships and shipbuilding’, NAR 15 (1982), 19-28
[M116] O. Crumlin-Pedersen, ‘The ships of the Vikings’, (O30):32-41
[M117] O. Crumlin-Pedersen, ‘Viking shipbuilding and seamanship’, (A47):271-86
[M118] A. Binns, ‘The ships of the vikings, were they “Viking ships”?’, (A47):287-94
[M119] A.E. Christensen, ‘Boats and boatbuilding in western Norway and the islands’, (I121):85-95
[M120] S. McGrail, ‘Ships, shipwrights and seamen’, (A13):36-63
Navigation
The question of the navigational techniques employed by the Vikings is a tricky and hotly disputed one,
but probably reflects a combination of factors, including: a knowledge of tides and currents; observing
cloud formations and bird-flight; a recognition of key landscape features; a vague estimation of the sun’s
passage enabling an approximation of a latitudinal (but not longitudinal) position; and good oldfashioned
guesswork and luck.
[M125] A. Binns, ‘The navigation of Viking ships round the British isles in Old English and Old Norse
sources’, (A44):103-17
[M126] M. Blindheim, ‘Viking ship vanes: their use and techniques’, (O34):116-27
Art
A good survey for the beginner can be found in (A13):131-53.
[M130] H. Shetelig, (ed.), Kunst, Nordisk kultur 27 (1931) [UL 592:01.b.1.22]
[M131] D. Wilson and O. Klindt-Jensen, Viking art (1966) [UL 9400.b.678]
[M132] J. Callmer, ‘Some points of view on the study of Viking age ornamentation’, MLUHM 1969-70,
266-79
[M133] P. Anker, The art of Scandinavia, I (1970) [UL 400:4.c.95.78]
[M134] S. Horn Fuglesang, ‘Early Viking art’, Acta ad archaeologiam et artium historiam pertinentia
n.s. 2 (1982), 125-73
[M135] L. Karlsson, Nordisk form: om djurornamentik, The Museum of National Antiquities,
Stockholm, studies 3 (1983) [UL OP.31140.971.01(3)]
Art-styles
Scandinavian art is traditionally defined with reference to a series of distinctive ‘styles’, most of which
developed gradually out of the common Germanic animal art. The criteria are both stylistic and
iconographical. Although naturally interesting for its own sake, the trends in art-styles are of crucial
importance for purposes of dating all kinds of archaeological remains; this also includes decorated
runestones, for which see (M170 ff.).
[M140] K. Eldjárn, ‘Ringerike style in Iceland’, (A41):84-91
[M141] S. Marstrander, ‘On the “gripping-beast” style and its origins’, (A44):141-49
[M142] S. Horn Fuglesang, Some aspects of the Ringerike style: a phase of 11th century Scandinavian
art, Mediaeval Scandinavia suppl. 1 (1980) [UL P592.b.7.1]
[M143] S. Horn Fuglesang, ‘Stylistic groups in late Viking and early Romanesque art’, Acta ad
archaeologiam et artium historiam pertinentia n.s. 1 (1981), 79-125
[M144] S. Horn Fuglesang, ‘The axehead from Mammen and the Mammen style’, (M311):83-107
[M145] L. Thunmark-Nylén, ‘Gammalt och nytt i Broa’, FV 87 (1992), 225-40 (E.s.)
[M146] L. Gjedssø Bertelsen, ‘Yngri víkingaaldarstílar á Íslandi’, ÁÍF 1993, 51-73
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