Dried Fish Trade and the Social and Political Landscape of Viking Age Iceland

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Governance and Globalization in the North Atlantic", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Evidence of small, non-independent dwelling sites on Hegranes, located in Skagafjörður, north Iceland, dates back to the Viking Age settlement of the region. These sites specialized, among other things, in the production of dried gadid fish products which were an early artisanal precursor to the more standardized stockfish that later became a major export from Iceland. Throughout the Viking Age, dried fish were moved around the island, from the coastal production areas to other places around the country. In Skagafjörður, we have explored both the production sites on Hegranes and nearby inland sites of higher status that were consumers of dried fish products. This trade/exchange network provides evidence for the role of the early economy in the shaping of the social and political landscape in ways that persisted beyond the settlement.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Governance and Globalization in the North Atlantic   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow