Anthropology 480: Selected Topics in Anthropology (6983)
Viking Civilization: Saga
& Archaeology
http://www.fiskecenter.umb.edu/VikingCiv.htm
Spring 2008 Wednesday 5:30PM to 8:00PM McCormack M02-0209
Office: M01-0401
Office Hours: Wed 2:30-4:30 and by appointment
Phone: (617) 287-6824: mailto:john.steinberg@umb.edu
“Viking Civilization” may not be an oxymoron. This course examines the cultural history of the pre, proto and historic peoples of Europe around the Viking Age. Students will gain an understanding of the factors that produced these spectacular, and sometimes warlike, societies. The class will examine the history of grater Scandinavia during the Viking Age--approx. A.D. 750 - A.D. 1100-- through the written and archeological records.
The course will focus on the Vikings in Scandinavia and their expansion out from it. This includes an examination of the origins of Viking society, including beliefs, settlement patterns, and the development of the Viking long-boat. We will also look at the expansion through trading and raiding. We will examine the Viking presence in Russia and Byzantium, France, Germany, Britain, and follow the western expansion that took the Scandinavian Vikings to the North Sea islands, Iceland, Greenland and, eventually, North America.
Requirements: Grading will be based on class participation, weekly summaries, and two short papers.
Class
participation 60 points,
Weekly summaries 140
points (20 points each)
First paper 150
points,
Second paper 150
points.
TOTAL 500
points
Class participation: You must have read the material and be ready to discuss it.
Weekly Summaries: In each of the weeks denoted with “*” you should turn in a short summary of each of the archaeological articles. The summaries should consist of a paragraph on each of the articles assigned (not the textbooks). Make sure to identify the main question, the data used (text or archaeology), and the results or conclusions. These are to be turned in at the end of each * denoted class. They will be graded on a ✓(20) +(17) or – (14) scale. You must turn in at least 7 summaries for full credit. If you turn in an 8th, the 7 highest summaries will be counted.
Papers:
The goal of the papers is to connect textual evidence from the sagas to
material archaeological evidence (or to refute the connection as the case may
be). The papers should be about
4-6 pages (approximately 1,250 words).
Graduate students should write 6-8 pages. Writing these papers will require a close reading of the
saga stories with an eye towards specifics (e.g., specific technologies such as
boat building or iron making) and then reading the archaeological articles with
and eye to those same specifics (e.g., sailing re-enactments or iron making
reconstructions. At the same time,
you should also look to social intuitions (e.g., kinship, chiefs, and kings)
and how they are present or not in the archaeological record. Additional reading is suggested, but
please be cautious, there is a substantial amount of weird and fantastic
writings about Vikings (especially as it relates to the Vinland Sagas). Use only academic sources (see http://www.lib.umb.edu/node/138
for more information). Assignments
will be graded on the basis of their scholarship and their coherence. Writing that detracts from scholarship
and coherence will be marked down.
Plus/minus grading will be used on a standard fixed scale. More information will be passed out
during week 3.
Schedule
Roesdahl 3-24, Haywood 8-15
Rowley-Conwy (2004)
Gilman (1981)
Germania
Hedeager (1993)
Christensen (1991)
Schmidt (1991)
Robinson (1991)
Barrett et al. (2000)
Hansen (1993)
Näsman and Rosedahl (1993)
Roesdahl 162-276 Haywood 86-98
Egil's Saga
Roesdahl 25-77, 147-186
Gräslund (2000)
Jørgensen (2000)
Roesdahl 94-107 Haywood 16-27
Smith (1995)
Adderley and Simpson (2006)
Simpson et al (2003)
Roesdahl 78-93 Haywood 28-45
Christensen (2000)
Eniosovaa and Murashova (1999)
Stenvik (2003)
Roesdahl 108-116, 187-261, 277-294
Barrett, Locker and Roberts
(2004)
Sindbæk (2007)
Perdikaris (1999)
Roesdahl 129-146, Haywood 46-85, 99-128
Þorláksson (2001)
Wallace (2000)
Ólafsson (2001)
King Harald's Saga
McGovern (1980)
McGovern (1994)
Dugmore, Keller and McGovern (2007)
Roesdahl 295-297, Haywood 129-137
Readings: We will use two textbooks (Haywood & Roesdahl) three sagas and one early source and compare them to a series of articles about Viking Age archaeology. The books are available at the UMass Boston Bookstore. You should always bring Haywood’s Atlas to class, since the geography of the Vikings is both difficult and important.
The
Vikings: Revised Edition by Else
Roesdahl ISBN 0140252827
The
Penguin Historical Atlas of the Vikings
by John Haywood ISBN 0140513280
The
Vinland Sagas Translated by Magnus
Magnusson ISBN 0140441549
Egil's
Saga Translated by Bernard Scudder ISBN 0140447709
King
Harald's Saga by Snorri Sturluson ISBN
0140441832
The
Agricola and The Germania by Tacitus
ISBN 0140442413
ACCOMMODATIONS: Section 504
of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 offers guidelines for curriculum
modifications and adaptations for students with documented disabilities. If
applicable, students may obtain adaptation recommendations from the Ross Center
for Disability Services (617-287-7430). The student must present these
recommendations and discuss them with each professor within a reasonable
period, preferably by the end of Drop/Add period.
STUDENT CONDUCT: This
document is a course syllabus, not a legal contract. As such, it is a
good-faith outline of course requirements and expectations. Specific
assignments, dates, deadlines, readings, and lecture topics are subject to
change during the course of the semester. Such changes will be announced in
class and it is each student’s responsibility, to ascertain whether or not such
changes have been made. Students
are required to adhere to the University Policy on Academic Standards and
Cheating, to the University Statement on Plagiarism and the Documentation of
Written Work, and to the Code of Student Conduct as delineated in the catalog
of Undergraduate Programs, pp. 44-45, and 48-52. The Code is available online
at:
http://www.umb.edu/student_services/student_rights/code_conduct.html