Recent Progress

So...I've been a bit quiet on here lately. There are a number of reasons for that, but primarily that we have alternately had our heads down in the lab and been running around Europe talking about the project.

Progress in the lab has been rapid, and we now have several hundred samples analysed using GCMS and GC-C-IRMS techniques (see the video posted below to see how the analysis works), and Anita also has also prepared and analysed under the microscope over a hundred samples of food crust. This is looking like an enormous body of data on how people in the Viking Age prepared and served their food. We are particularly excited to have just added the important Posthuset site in Ribe to our inventory: Ribe was very likely Scandinavia's first 'Viking town', and the material we have from the site is exceptionally well-dated, and covered in food crust. It's very exciting.

And there are too many conferences to list! Steve has presented progress on the project at the Viking Congress (this year in Copenhagen and Ribe, where we were treated to great viking fare, as seen in the pics), and both Steve and Anita presented at the European Association of Archaeologists (this year in Maastricht). In addition we have hosted a number of viking-age scholars in York.

So now our task is to scan through this enormous body of data and make some sense of it. As this starts to come together, you will see us on the circuit again: Steve has a number of public lectures to give over the next few months, we will be at York's Viking Festival in February, and we are looking forward to putting on some small exhibitions too. Watch this space!