The Sir David Wilson Lecture in Medieval Studies: Digging the Orkney Story

The Sir David Wilson Lecture 2022 will be given by Judith Jesch (University of Nottingham) entitled 'Digging the Orkney Story'.

Abstract

The lecture will present what a range of Old Norse-Icelandic sagas and other texts have to say about Orkney and Shetland in the Viking Age. In it I will attempt to sift these various textual perspectives and establish how they tell the story of the arrival of Scandinavians in the Northern Isles. The significance of the chronological gap between events and texts will be explored using a method I like to call the ‘stratigraphy of texts’ that may explain the potential relationships between sagas and their historical settings, and thereby provide some insights into the source-value of sagas. The lecture will also consider some archaeological evidence in an attempt to explore how this can be brought into dialogue with the relevant texts.

The event is a joint meeting with the Institute of Historical Research Earlier Middle Ages seminar, followed by a launch party for the seminar series in the Leventis Gallery at the UCL Institute of Archaeology.

The Medieval Seminar Series is sponsored by the World Archaeology Section at the UCL Institute of Archaeology and the British Museum. All meetings start at 6.15pm at the UCL Institute of Archaeology. 

• The programme for the 2022-23 Institute of Archaeology/British Museum Medieval Seminar Series is available here»

Seminar Series Convenors:

• Sue Brunning (British Museum)
• Andrew Reynolds (Institute of Archaeology)

Meetings Secretary:

• Iain MacDonald (Institute of Archaeology)