Contact, Continuity, and Collapse

Book excerpt: This collection of ten papers investigates the Norse colonization of the North Atlantic region, starting with Viking expansion in Arctic Norway and ending with a discussion of the longterm implications of medieval Scandinavian exploration of the New World. Each chapter provides a short regional synthesis of the archaeological evidence and, where appropriate, addresses three interrelated themes: the relationship between native and newcomer; the creation of local identities in the settlement period; the relationship between archaeology, history and the construction of modern national identities. In sequence, the chapters focus on North Norway, the Faeroes, Scotland, Ireland, Iceland, Greenland, the Inuits of Smith Sound, L'Anse aux Meadows and Vinland, together with introductory and concluding chapters.