Thing -sites and the Political Landscape in the North

• Main Author: Sanmark, Alexandra
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: Edinburgh University Press 2023
• Subjects: Faroe Islands; Greenland; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9781474485821.003.0016

Scandinavian thing-sites, preserved today in place-names such as Dingwall in Ross, were places where religious debates and legal rulings, and possibly markets, were held in Scandinavian Scotland. This chapter discusses their importance and investigates their role beyond the administrative, focussing on their position in the regional landscape as widely accessible arenas where negotiation of power relations between elites and their communities could take place. It explores the regionally specific evolution of these sites in the North Atlantic, particularly Scotland, Ireland, Greenland, and the Faroe Islands. It demonstrates that in Scotland, Scandinavian elites responded to a landscape that included ancient indigenous mound monuments such as barrows or overgrown brochs, like those used in the Scandinavian homelands to legitimise ancient ruling rites that were rooted in the landscape.