Lecture: “Whim rules the child”: Archaeological evidence for childhood in the Viking Age
September 23, 2014 at 7:00pm in the Royal BC Museum.
Before the Vikings sail off, join Dr Erin McGuire from the University of Victoria for your last chance to learn more about the modern interpretation of Viking culture, as based on recent archaeological evidence.
The evidence for childhood in the early Middle Ages is elusive. Where children are mentioned in texts, they tend to be newborns or adults. Their graves are few, and their toys fewer. In this talk, we’ll bring together the diverse evidence from across the Viking World to attempt to piece together the puzzle of childhood in the Viking Age. While we’ll consider saga references and legal codes, the main focus of the talk with be archaeological material from places like Sweden, Ireland, Scotland, the Faeroe Islands, and Iceland.