Presenter(s): James Andersen
Faculty Mentor(s): Gantt Gurley
Oral Session 2 S
The purpose of this project is to examine feasting’s place in Viking Age Scandinavia as the primary cultural event, around which the entire society revolved. The feast has not been addressed properly in past scholarship, which has overlooked its’ significance as a mutable event used to commemorate a vast array of cultural and political events throughout Viking Age society. There has not yet been a proper study of feasting and its’ importance in the Viking Age; such a work is of vital importance to understanding this period and its cultures. Via reexamination of the historical sources (primarily the Icelandic sagas), and archaeological evidence, the practices and purposes of feasts in this culture will be explored. The feast in this period was integral to the proper functioning of society, and fits into a longer chronology of feasting practices (both before and after) which must be considered to provide a full context and understand how the Viking Age feast was unique. Research thus far has provided substantial support for this hypothesis, and hopefully will encourage further research and cooperation among scholars of the period.