Thing-sites and the Political Landscape in the North
This chapter examines assembly (thing, ON þing) sites in the Norse settlements in the North Atlantic set within the context of the Viking homelands (for full discussion, see Sanmark 2017a). Particular attention will be paid to the traits and features of Norse assembly-sites in Scotland, Iceland, Gre...
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Edinburgh University Press
2022
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ftuhipublicatio:oai:pure.atira.dk:publications/6e255ce1-01a6-4c47-86e6-a0da7524bb6b 2024-09-15T18:05:42+00:00 Thing-sites and the Political Landscape in the North Sanmark, Alexandra Horne, Tom Pierce, Elizabeth Barrowman, Rachel 2022 https://pure.uhi.ac.uk/en/publications/6e255ce1-01a6-4c47-86e6-a0da7524bb6b https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-the-viking-age-in-scotland.html eng eng Edinburgh University Press https://pure.uhi.ac.uk/en/publications/6e255ce1-01a6-4c47-86e6-a0da7524bb6b urn:ISBN:9781474485821 info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess Sanmark , A 2022 , Thing-sites and the Political Landscape in the North . in T Horne , E Pierce & R Barrowman (eds) , The Viking Age in Scotland : Studies in Scottish Scandinavian Archaeology . Edinburgh University Press . < https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-the-viking-age-in-scotland.html > bookPart 2022 ftuhipublicatio 2024-07-08T23:37:57Z This chapter examines assembly (thing, ON þing) sites in the Norse settlements in the North Atlantic set within the context of the Viking homelands (for full discussion, see Sanmark 2017a). Particular attention will be paid to the traits and features of Norse assembly-sites in Scotland, Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Things functioned as both parliaments and courts and were held at outdoor sites and constituted arenas where the elite and the local community met. Assembly sites existed across Scandinavia, and the people of the Viking Age also brought law and thing to all their new homes in the west. These sites were not randomly chosen, but were the outcome of well-planned and well-executed elite strategies, involving all aspects from site selection to the construction and maintenance of features, which were charged with symbolism and meaning. They are found at thing-sites in different combinations, depending on what message the creators – the elite – wanted to transmit to the population (Sanmark 2017a: 1, 5, 28, 56–7). In general, thing-sites were slotted into tiers of administrative territorial units, which, in simplified form, resulted in top-level sites for whole law provinces and local sites for the smaller units often, but not exclusively, referred to as herað units (Sanmark 2017a: 37–42, 56–81, 162–240). As will be demonstrated here, thing-sites across the North Atlantic share many traits and features with Scandinavian assembly-sites, but there are some striking variations, the reasons for which will be examined in detail. An important difference between the areas under examination and with implications for thing-site design is that Scotland had been settled since the Mesolithic period, while Iceland, Greenland and the Faroes were (almost) unpopulated prior to Norse settlement (Sanmark 2017a: ch. 7 and 8). Book Part Faroe Islands Faroes Greenland Iceland North Atlantic University of the Highlands and Islands: Research Database of UHI |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of the Highlands and Islands: Research Database of UHI |
op_collection_id |
ftuhipublicatio |
language |
English |
description |
This chapter examines assembly (thing, ON þing) sites in the Norse settlements in the North Atlantic set within the context of the Viking homelands (for full discussion, see Sanmark 2017a). Particular attention will be paid to the traits and features of Norse assembly-sites in Scotland, Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Things functioned as both parliaments and courts and were held at outdoor sites and constituted arenas where the elite and the local community met. Assembly sites existed across Scandinavia, and the people of the Viking Age also brought law and thing to all their new homes in the west. These sites were not randomly chosen, but were the outcome of well-planned and well-executed elite strategies, involving all aspects from site selection to the construction and maintenance of features, which were charged with symbolism and meaning. They are found at thing-sites in different combinations, depending on what message the creators – the elite – wanted to transmit to the population (Sanmark 2017a: 1, 5, 28, 56–7). In general, thing-sites were slotted into tiers of administrative territorial units, which, in simplified form, resulted in top-level sites for whole law provinces and local sites for the smaller units often, but not exclusively, referred to as herað units (Sanmark 2017a: 37–42, 56–81, 162–240). As will be demonstrated here, thing-sites across the North Atlantic share many traits and features with Scandinavian assembly-sites, but there are some striking variations, the reasons for which will be examined in detail. An important difference between the areas under examination and with implications for thing-site design is that Scotland had been settled since the Mesolithic period, while Iceland, Greenland and the Faroes were (almost) unpopulated prior to Norse settlement (Sanmark 2017a: ch. 7 and 8). |
author2 |
Horne, Tom Pierce, Elizabeth Barrowman, Rachel |
format |
Book Part |
author |
Sanmark, Alexandra |
spellingShingle |
Sanmark, Alexandra Thing-sites and the Political Landscape in the North |
author_facet |
Sanmark, Alexandra |
author_sort |
Sanmark, Alexandra |
title |
Thing-sites and the Political Landscape in the North |
title_short |
Thing-sites and the Political Landscape in the North |
title_full |
Thing-sites and the Political Landscape in the North |
title_fullStr |
Thing-sites and the Political Landscape in the North |
title_full_unstemmed |
Thing-sites and the Political Landscape in the North |
title_sort |
thing-sites and the political landscape in the north |
publisher |
Edinburgh University Press |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://pure.uhi.ac.uk/en/publications/6e255ce1-01a6-4c47-86e6-a0da7524bb6b https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-the-viking-age-in-scotland.html |
genre |
Faroe Islands Faroes Greenland Iceland North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Faroe Islands Faroes Greenland Iceland North Atlantic |
op_source |
Sanmark , A 2022 , Thing-sites and the Political Landscape in the North . in T Horne , E Pierce & R Barrowman (eds) , The Viking Age in Scotland : Studies in Scottish Scandinavian Archaeology . Edinburgh University Press . < https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-the-viking-age-in-scotland.html > |
op_relation |
https://pure.uhi.ac.uk/en/publications/6e255ce1-01a6-4c47-86e6-a0da7524bb6b urn:ISBN:9781474485821 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess |
_version_ |
1810443226457309184 |