Slavery and the subaltern: bioarchaeological analyses of Viking Age Swedish populations

Summary

The definition of slavery during the long Scandinavian Viking Age (AD c.750–1100) is far from simple. In recent years scholars have pointed out that the terminology for slaves, and the attitudes towards unfree labourers, found in Icelandic Sagas, on rune stones or in law codes, actually reflect a significant variation in social rank. Even though slaves and the slave trade constituted an important and determining element in the Scandinavian economy during this time, a material culture clearly associated with slavery is scarce or difficult to identify. In the Mälar Valley of east-central Sweden, human skeletal remains from several hundred graves have been analysed in a holistic study. A range of biological data has been gathered in the form of morphological traits of the skeletons, stable isotope values and aDNA, and is here combined with sociocultural interpretations to distinguish slaves in the Viking Age milieu. Intersecting identity constructions at the margins of slavery are discussed, and an attempt made to trace subaltern groups in a reconstruction of Viking Age social inequality.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Captivity and Slavery in Viking Age Scandinavia

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