The lore of the leið : Tracking Viking Age voyages through traditional seafaring
Jarrett, Greer LU
(2025)
In Acta Archaeologica Lundensia Series Altera in 8°
- Abstract
- The Viking Age (c. 800 – c. 1050 AD) was a period of dramatic change and transformative encounters across Europe and the wider world. Ships, seafarers, and the sea were central to these developments but, paradoxically, the Viking Age is generally studied through evidence and approaches on land. This has consistently hindered scholarly understanding of the maritime dimensions of the Viking Age; surviving terrestrial evidence indicates the origin and destination points of trade goods, animals, and individuals, but leaves unanswered questions about the voyages between these points. Current scholarship struggles to answer these questions because of major knowledge gaps regarding the technical capabilities of Viking Age vessels; the strategies,... (More)
- The Viking Age (c. 800 – c. 1050 AD) was a period of dramatic change and transformative encounters across Europe and the wider world. Ships, seafarers, and the sea were central to these developments but, paradoxically, the Viking Age is generally studied through evidence and approaches on land. This has consistently hindered scholarly understanding of the maritime dimensions of the Viking Age; surviving terrestrial evidence indicates the origin and destination points of trade goods, animals, and individuals, but leaves unanswered questions about the voyages between these points. Current scholarship struggles to answer these questions because of major knowledge gaps regarding the technical capabilities of Viking Age vessels; the strategies, routes, and havens chosen by Viking Age sailors; the processes shaping navigational choices; and the networks of interaction and exchange that emerged during this period.
The overarching aim of this thesis is to close the gap between scholar and seafarer by empirically reconstructing the routes, practices, and perspectives of Viking Age seafaring. Specifically, this research tackles four central research questions:
-What were the technological and logistical affordances of Viking Age seafaring?
-To what extent can experimental voyages using traditional clinker boats serve as a window on the Viking Age?
-What factors influenced the selection of Viking Age havens, and where were they located?
-How did maritime practices and worldviews shape patterns of interaction over time in Scandinavia and the North Atlantic?
To address these questions, a programme of experimental sailing trials and trial voyages was designed and executed, covering over 5,000 km onboard Åfjord boats, technological descendants of the vessels of the Viking Age. The trials involved a detailed study of sailing and rowing performance, the survey of potential anchorages and landing sites, and the identification of quantitative and qualitative factors influencing route choices. Practical and experimental research was integrated with complementary approaches, pioneering a new interdisciplinary methodology which was used to reconstruct seafaring routes, locate important maritime sites, and characterise networks of mobility and interaction. Together, these combined approaches generated a comprehensive, first-hand understanding of the practicalities, risks, and potentials of long-range voyages through key seascapes of the Viking world.
The empirical core of this thesis is made up of four interconnected case-studies, published in four articles. These studies make an integrated set of original contributions to knowledge and understanding in the relevant field:
• Improvement in estimates of the windward and offshore performance of Viking Age ships and boats through extensive sailing trials onboard analogous vessels.
• Characterisation of the distinct nature of Viking Age seafaring networks through the identification of probable routes, anchorages, and landing sites.
• Establishment of Åfjord sailing practices as strong analogies for Viking Age seafaring through the evaluation of change and continuity in the broader Nordic clinker tradition.
• Expansion of Viking Age seafaring ranges through the reconstruction of maritime encounters and interactions in the high arctic, encouraging a revision of areas and degrees of cross-cultural contact across the boundaries of the Viking world.
Together, these findings confirm that many vital aspects of the Viking Age can only be understood from the sea. This demands direct engagements with seafaring practices, vessels, and seascapes to fully understand the enduring effects upon world history of this period’s extraordinary voyages.
(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/754939ab-c409-4d74-9da8-8629c6f11799
- author
- Jarrett, Greer
LU
- supervisor
- organization
- publishing date
- 2025-10-15
- type
- Thesis
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Maritime archaeology, Viking Age, Experimental archaeology, Maritime ethnography, Seafaring, Digital archaeology, Early Medieval Archaeology
- in
- Acta Archaeologica Lundensia Series Altera in 8°
- issue
- 77
- pages
- 308 pages
- publisher
- Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Lund University
- ISSN
- 0065-0994
- ISBN
- 978-91-90055-37-3
- 978-91-90055-36-6
- project
- Mapping Midgård. Reconstructing Mental Geographies of Viking Age Seafarers.
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- Date: 2025-11-14 Time: 13:15 Place: sal C121, LUX, Helgonavägen 3, Lund External reviewer Name: Sanmark, Alexandra Title: professor Affiliation: University of the Highlands and Islands
- id
- 754939ab-c409-4d74-9da8-8629c6f11799
- date added to LUP
- 2025-10-13 14:03:42
- date last changed
- 2025-10-28 12:49:35
@phdthesis{754939ab-c409-4d74-9da8-8629c6f11799,
abstract = {{The Viking Age (c. 800 – c. 1050 AD) was a period of dramatic change and transformative encounters across Europe and the wider world. Ships, seafarers, and the sea were central to these developments but, paradoxically, the Viking Age is generally studied through evidence and approaches on land. This has consistently hindered scholarly understanding of the maritime dimensions of the Viking Age; surviving terrestrial evidence indicates the origin and destination points of trade goods, animals, and individuals, but leaves unanswered questions about the voyages between these points. Current scholarship struggles to answer these questions because of major knowledge gaps regarding the technical capabilities of Viking Age vessels; the strategies, routes, and havens chosen by Viking Age sailors; the processes shaping navigational choices; and the networks of interaction and exchange that emerged during this period. <br/>The overarching aim of this thesis is to close the gap between scholar and seafarer by empirically reconstructing the routes, practices, and perspectives of Viking Age seafaring. Specifically, this research tackles four central research questions:<br/>-What were the technological and logistical affordances of Viking Age seafaring? <br/>-To what extent can experimental voyages using traditional clinker boats serve as a window on the Viking Age? <br/>-What factors influenced the selection of Viking Age havens, and where were they located? <br/>-How did maritime practices and worldviews shape patterns of interaction over time in Scandinavia and the North Atlantic?<br/>To address these questions, a programme of experimental sailing trials and trial voyages was designed and executed, covering over 5,000 km onboard Åfjord boats, technological descendants of the vessels of the Viking Age. The trials involved a detailed study of sailing and rowing performance, the survey of potential anchorages and landing sites, and the identification of quantitative and qualitative factors influencing route choices. Practical and experimental research was integrated with complementary approaches, pioneering a new interdisciplinary methodology which was used to reconstruct seafaring routes, locate important maritime sites, and characterise networks of mobility and interaction. Together, these combined approaches generated a comprehensive, first-hand understanding of the practicalities, risks, and potentials of long-range voyages through key seascapes of the Viking world.<br/>The empirical core of this thesis is made up of four interconnected case-studies, published in four articles. These studies make an integrated set of original contributions to knowledge and understanding in the relevant field: <br/>• Improvement in estimates of the windward and offshore performance of Viking Age ships and boats through extensive sailing trials onboard analogous vessels.<br/>• Characterisation of the distinct nature of Viking Age seafaring networks through the identification of probable routes, anchorages, and landing sites.<br/>• Establishment of Åfjord sailing practices as strong analogies for Viking Age seafaring through the evaluation of change and continuity in the broader Nordic clinker tradition.<br/>• Expansion of Viking Age seafaring ranges through the reconstruction of maritime encounters and interactions in the high arctic, encouraging a revision of areas and degrees of cross-cultural contact across the boundaries of the Viking world.<br/>Together, these findings confirm that many vital aspects of the Viking Age can only be understood from the sea. This demands direct engagements with seafaring practices, vessels, and seascapes to fully understand the enduring effects upon world history of this period’s extraordinary voyages.<br/>}},
author = {{Jarrett, Greer}},
isbn = {{978-91-90055-37-3}},
issn = {{0065-0994}},
keywords = {{Maritime archaeology; Viking Age; Experimental archaeology; Maritime ethnography; Seafaring; Digital archaeology; Early Medieval Archaeology}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{10}},
number = {{77}},
publisher = {{Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Lund University}},
school = {{Lund University}},
series = {{Acta Archaeologica Lundensia Series Altera in 8°}},
title = {{The lore of the leið : Tracking Viking Age voyages through traditional seafaring}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/231548638/jarrett_thesis_for_LUCRIS_wout_Cunliffe_fig.pdf}},
year = {{2025}},
}