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Feasting in Viking Age Iceland: sustaining a chiefly political economy in a marginal environment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Davide Zori ,
Jesse Byock ,
Egill Erlendsson ,
Steve Martin ,
Thomas Wake  and
Kevin J. Edwards
Davide Zori
Affiliation:
1Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, University of California, Los Angeles, 302 Royce Hall, Box 951485, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA (Email: dzori@ucla.edu)
Jesse Byock
Affiliation:
2Scandinavian Section and Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles, 212 Royce Hall, Box 951539, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
Egill Erlendsson
Affiliation:
3Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Iceland, Sturlugata 7, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland
Steve Martin
Affiliation:
4Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles, A210 Fowler Building, Box 951510, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
Thomas Wake
Affiliation:
4Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles, A210 Fowler Building, Box 951510, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
Kevin J. Edwards
Affiliation:
5Departments of Geography & Environment and Archaeology, School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen, Elphinstone Road, Aberdeen AB24 3UF, UK; St Catherine's College, University of Oxford, Manor Road, Oxford OX1 3UJ, UK
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Abstract

The authors show that the principal correlates of feasting in Viking Age Iceland were beef and barley, while feasting itself is here the primary instrument of social action. Documentary references, ethnographic analogies, archaeological excavation and biological analyses are woven together to present an exemplary procedure for the recognition of feasting more widely.

Keywords

IcelandViking periodfirst millennium ADninth century ADfeastinghallsocial controlchiefly politicscattlebarleybeer
Type
Research Article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 87 , Issue 335 , March 2013 , pp. 150 - 165
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2013

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