Viking Age assembly sites
Margaret-Ann Neilson discusses an interdisciplinary study of assembly sites from theViking Age
Alexandra Sanmark Edinburgh University Press, 2017 320 pages
Hardcover £75.00/paperback £24.99
ISBN: 9781474402293
From the outset of this publication, Sanmark makes it clear that she is delivering something innovative on Viking Age assembly sites. Blending information gleaned from archaeological evidence, topographical surveys and historical sources, the author seizes on new ideas and theories, pieces them together and presents her findings in this book.
Focusing on the themes of landscape, time and memory, Sanmark seeks to ‘identify the key assembly features in Scandinavia, their symbolism and function’ as well as to ‘investigate the assembly sites established in the Norse settlements in the west’ (p. 13).
Overall, the author achieves her goal. Her early chapters focus on familiarising the reader not only with relevant written sources, but also with the staggering array of assembly sites that have been identified across Scandinavia and parts of Britain. Also included in these early chapters are useful explanations of the different levels of known assemblies, from local to national gatherings, and the differences observed between them. From this groundwork, she proceeds to focus in later chapters on the material evidence. Drawing on archaeological finds, the physical landscape and contemporary sources, she explores the culture and ‘memory’ of various sites.
This in itself is highly commendable. In broader terms, it is a new approach that she has adopted with undoubted enthusiasm, and that has paid off. Sanmark paves the way for future research, offering a glimpse of what might become available using interdisciplinary methods.
Unfortunately, it is precisely because the author is breaking newer ground that her work can feel repetitive and, at times, overstretched. Some of the evidence and theories presented in earlier chapters seem to appear again in later ones, albeit in a different guise.The vast area she has tried to cover – from Greenland to Sweden – offers a plethora of examples, but is sadly detrimental.
It seems almost as if she got carried away with the wealth of evidence and material and tried, in places, to include as much as possible to illustrate her points. Regrettably, this means that some sections come across as a bit disjointed. Nevertheless, this is a promising publication and makes a valuable contribution to the historiography of a very understudied subject.
Margaret-Ann Neilson is currently a tour guide in Edinburgh and is studying at the University of the Highlands and Islands for her MLitt in History.