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Some notes on the arrival of Vikings from Norway and Denmark. Viking loot from the British Isles in Norway
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Alfred and the Viking Threat
Rational bandits: Plunder, public goods, and the Vikings
The economics of banditry• Roving bandit receives large, individual
benefits from plunder at the expense of society as a whole– Unrestricted plundering leads to competition– Plunder used for local infrastructure
Rational bandits: Plunder, public goods, and the Vikings
The economics of banditry• Roving bandit becomes stationary bandit
– Receives local taxation– Accepted because protects area from other bandits
• Provides security and legal institutions– Economic growth
Viking Ship
Viking Conquests – Northern Europe
Orkney• Christian contact reported c. 600; Irish contact
709; Broch settlements used by Picts• Domestic rubbish includes cow, sheep, pig and red
deer• Sagas report Norwegian settlement c. 870• Viking era layers indicate some coexistence?
Genetics
Admixed population
Scandinavian British/Irish
Y-chromosome
mtDNA Y-chromosome
mtDNA
Shetland 0.445 0.43 ,555 .57
Orkney 0.31 0.305 .69 .695
Scottish NW coast
.15 .145 .85 .855
Western Isles and Skye
.225 .11 0.775 0.89
Iceland .75 .34 0.25 0.66
A Bone of Contention
Orkney
Ashby, Steven P “Combs, Contact and Chronology: Reconsidering Hair Combs in Early-Historic and Viking-Age Atlantic Scotland” Medieval Archaeology, 53, 2009
Pictish Combs
Insu
lar A
rt in
Nor
weg
ian
Gra
ves
Gausel hanging bowl
Brooch, Vinjum in AurlandKillarney Brooch
Hopperstad bucket
Codex Amiatinus, Wearmouth-JarrowCuthbert Gospel, Lindisfarne
Balance and Weights, Hopperstad, Norway
Fellow travelers
Norway mice as indicators of where Norwegian Viking ships land
Martyrdom of St. EdmundPickering, Yorkshire
Alfred faces the Great Army