Performing the Vikings From Edda to Oseberg

Abstract

With a starting point in Jens Peter Schjodt's studies of Ibn Fadlan, this article explores the performative dimensions of late Iron Age ritual practice, as mediated especially through mortuary behaviour and ceremony. The interplay of textual and archaeological perspectives is in focus here, including a critical contribution to the interdisciplinary discussion on what has been termed the 'performance turn' in Viking studies. In several short case studies, notably the new work on the textile fragments from the Oseberg ship burial, the positive potential of this line of research is asserted as a source of considerable insight into Viking-Age world-views.