Given at Queen’s University Belfast for the Ulster Archaeological Society on October 28, 2024
Abstract: The stereotypical ‘Viking’ is usually a hairy, male warrior, intent on destruction, pillaging and looting. But this is not the ‘Viking’ who we should associate with the 10th, 11th and 12th century occupation of Viking-Age Dublin, Cork, and Waterford. While this urban population did include a number of those ‘Viking warriors’, there were far more people who were not warriors. The urban household was a diverse household, consisting of men and women at different ages and stages of their lives. In this lecture, we will look at the houses and streets where these households made their lives and homes. Using the huge amount of archaeological evidence we have excavated over the past 60 years, we can use this to reconstruct life at home in Ireland’s Viking-Age towns.
Life at Home in Ireland’s Viking-Age Towns
Lecture by Rebecca Boyd
Given at Queen’s University Belfast for the Ulster Archaeological Society on October 28, 2024
Abstract: The stereotypical ‘Viking’ is usually a hairy, male warrior, intent on destruction, pillaging and looting. But this is not the ‘Viking’ who we should associate with the 10th, 11th and 12th century occupation of Viking-Age Dublin, Cork, and Waterford. While this urban population did include a number of those ‘Viking warriors’, there were far more people who were not warriors. The urban household was a diverse household, consisting of men and women at different ages and stages of their lives. In this lecture, we will look at the houses and streets where these households made their lives and homes. Using the huge amount of archaeological evidence we have excavated over the past 60 years, we can use this to reconstruct life at home in Ireland’s Viking-Age towns.
Rebecca Boyd is a Senior Research Archaeologist with IAC Archaeology and is the author of Exploring Ireland’s Viking-Age Towns: Houses and Homes.
Top Image: Viking longship at Reginald’s Tower, Waterford, Ireland. Photo by nmwalsh / Wikimedia Commons
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