IoA-BM Wilson Lecture 23 October 2019

From September 2017 discussion has continued around the reinterpretation of a Viking-Age chamber grave from the island settlement of Birka in Sweden. In this talk, Professor Price will not primarily focus on the 'female warrior’ in burial Bj.581, but instead reflect on the wider state of gender studies relating to the Viking Age, as illuminated by the research team’s experiences during the ensuing controversies. Archaeologists and other scholars often claim to seek a pluralistic view of the early medieval past, one that recognises diversity and rejects prejudice; this applies especially to the arena of gender, in its widest sense. But are they, are we, succeeding, in this project for which all must work together? Balancing his innate optimism with something perhaps a little bleaker, this lecture will work through some of Professor Price’s current thinking on engendering the Viking Age.  A joint meeting with the Institute of Historical Research Earlier Middle Ages Seminar, followed by a launch party for the seminar series in the IoA Staff Common Room.