Viking Mobility in the Baltic Sea Region

• Tough mobility and migration could be regarded as diagnostic features of the Viking Age, it is not possible to generalize and treat the Viking World as a homogenous society. Patterns of mobility and migration were linked to social structures and contexts. Studying the composition of the material culture within a site or individual context has been the prevailing method within archaeology to approach issues of mobility. Although this approach has acknowledged restrictions, it has been the method at hand. However, migration and mobility are not necessarily reflected in the material culture, meaning other approaches are called for. The first question to ask is: what variations in mobility patterns between urban and rural contexts are there, and are there indications of significant differences between various geographical regions? Even between sites characterized as trading posts (i.e. not rural), with similar material evidence of long-distance trade and advanced crafts, we might have significant differences, relating to the seasonal or permanent character of the site. In the following paper, we present the results from strontium isotope analyses on archaeological materials from a number of Viking-Age sites within present-day Sweden. The results of the analyses conducted within the ATLAS project will be compared to other isotope studies from Scandinavia, and discussed in relation to local, regional and supra-regional contexts. On a more local level, the possible cultural influence of migrants is investigated.

Subject headings

HUMANIORA  -- Historia och arkeologi -- Arkeologi (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- History and Archaeology -- Archaeology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Viking Age

mobility

isotope analyses

Baltic region

Archaeology

Arkeologi

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kap (subject category)