A new approach to understanding Anglo-Scandinavian settlement and agrarian practice utilising analysis of terroir.
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Leicester
Department Name: Sch of Historical Studies
Abstract
The Scandinavian settlement of England is recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, but other sources are tangential and the archaeological signature of Scandinavian settlement remains elusive. Indeed, if it was not for the profound impact on the language and place-names of northern and eastern England it would be difficult to evidence at all.
Until recently accounts of the Scandinavian settlement relied on place-name studies and speculative narratives linked to differences in the quality of settlement sites. My master's dissertation introduced a new type of evidence based on the differing preferences of English and Scandinavian agriculturalists for particular terroirs or farming niches.
Critical research questions remain. Does the association of by place-names with Scandinavian-style cattle farming and villages called thorps with arable expansion hold true for areas beyond Leicestershire? Can the proposed causal association between the development of thorps and cerealisation be linked temporally? More generally, do other place-names have specific associations with farming practice, terroir and ethnic identity? Finally, how does this research contribute to and change the conventional narrative of Scandinavian settlement, and its effect on and interaction with the existing inhabitants.
Terroir is an emerging and innovative analytical concept which provides a step change in the understanding of early farming and landscape history, an area shackled by a deficiency of documentary sources and archaeological studies of appropriate scale. This new approach uses the landscape analysis of terroir in parallel with traditional archaeological, historical and onomastic datasets to document Scandinavian contact and settlement between 850 and 1250 CE within two study areas in the east midlands. Such 'source plurality' is essential to drive further understanding of landscape development and allow historical research to go beyond broad generalisations and provide tailored narratives of Viking age settlement for specific places and communities.
Until recently accounts of the Scandinavian settlement relied on place-name studies and speculative narratives linked to differences in the quality of settlement sites. My master's dissertation introduced a new type of evidence based on the differing preferences of English and Scandinavian agriculturalists for particular terroirs or farming niches.
Critical research questions remain. Does the association of by place-names with Scandinavian-style cattle farming and villages called thorps with arable expansion hold true for areas beyond Leicestershire? Can the proposed causal association between the development of thorps and cerealisation be linked temporally? More generally, do other place-names have specific associations with farming practice, terroir and ethnic identity? Finally, how does this research contribute to and change the conventional narrative of Scandinavian settlement, and its effect on and interaction with the existing inhabitants.
Terroir is an emerging and innovative analytical concept which provides a step change in the understanding of early farming and landscape history, an area shackled by a deficiency of documentary sources and archaeological studies of appropriate scale. This new approach uses the landscape analysis of terroir in parallel with traditional archaeological, historical and onomastic datasets to document Scandinavian contact and settlement between 850 and 1250 CE within two study areas in the east midlands. Such 'source plurality' is essential to drive further understanding of landscape development and allow historical research to go beyond broad generalisations and provide tailored narratives of Viking age settlement for specific places and communities.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Paul Shaw (Student) |