Mapping the Viking Age World: A GIS Analysis of the Contemporary Evidence

Abstract

This thesis aimed to produce a critical reanalysis of Norse activity during the early Viking Age, c. 793-920, using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). By mapping and analyzing selected contemporary written and material evidence across Atlantic Europe, this project sought to quantify and qualify Norse activity, and to confirm and identify patterns of behavior, some of which may heretofore be unknown. The historical sources included the contemporary Irish Annals, the Frankish Annals, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and the Spanish Chronicle of Alfonso III. Norse events were recorded as a dataset, typified, and georeferenced before they were mapped on the final deep map. The archaeological material pertaining to Norse activity included burials, female jewelry stray finds, and metal hoard evidence. These were similarly geolocated and mapped against the historical sources. By layering these disparate sources and analyzing the patterns that appear, two main conclusions were drawn regarding the geopolitical landscape of the Viking Age: firstly, that the Danish state was a strong geopolitcal presence within Atlantic Europe during the first half of the eighth century; secondly, that two separate Norse groups with different socio-economic systems raided and settled across Atlantic Europe, with one group firmly entrenched in Ireland, the Irish Sea and northern Britain, and the second group focusing their efforts between England and Frankia.