Sign in or register
for additional privileges

The Viking World

A History in 100 Objects

Austin Mason, Hannah Curtiss, Liza Davis, Jane Kelly, Kerim Omer Kadir Celik, Adante Ratzlaff, Leah Sacks, Kai Matsubara-Rall, Quinn Radich, Madeline Cosgriff, John Kennelly, Claire Jensen, Alperen Turkol, Jordan Cahn, Peter Hanes, Sarah Wang, Nick Carlsen, Ari Bakke, Phineas Callahan, Lauren Azuma, Justin Berchiolli, Rowan Matney, Ben Pletta, John Scott, Nick Cohen, Sophie Bokor, Authors

You appear to be using an older verion of Internet Explorer. For the best experience please upgrade your IE version or switch to a another web browser.

Introduction


Anything made or used by human hands can be historical evidence, not just written texts.  Objects bear witness to the past in a uniquely tangible way, evoking an immediate sense of the lived experience of those who made, used, modified and discarded them.  Physical things are especially illuminating when discussing largely non-literate societies like the Norse-speaking peoples who lived during the so-called Viking Age of the eighth to eleventh centuries, and whose bloodthirsty reputation derives largely from the one-sided accounts written by their more literate European victims.

Inspired by the BBC and British Museum's History of the World in 100 Objects podcast series, this collaborative student research project aims to shed light on the real history that lies behind the rumors and legends, through audio essays exploring and contextualizing 100 carefully curated objects from across the Viking World.

Explore the collection visually on the Gallery page or via the tag cloud, take a guided tour through specific thematic categories, or investigate connections between objects at the Visualizations link on the left.


Comment on this page
 

Discussion of "Introduction"

Add your voice to this discussion.

Checking your signed in status ...