If any of you are interested in historical, archaeological, or forensic anthropology (yes, that’s right: sort of like CSI but much, much older and cooler), this short sixteen-minute film on a Viking landscape is interesting. It is free to play at The Archaeology Channel website. It documents the process of a multi-disciplinary archaeological dig. Other films are also available, including ones about recently revealed and preserved Fremont Culture sites, a neolithic site in Turkey, and the career of being an archaeologist.
You can also find more information on the project at their website. Otherwise, we’ve got the rest of their press release (sent out by Dr. Richard M. Pettigrew, President and Executive Director of the Archaeological Legacy Institute), printed below for your edification:
Friends and colleagues: The Viking Age in Iceland, heretofore known to us primarily through the oral tradition as expressed in the Icelandic Sagas, now is yielding up its secrets through the methods of archaeology. The cultural and environmental dynamics of the Conversion Period, when Christianity became established, is the subject of A Viking Landscape: The Mosfell Archaeological Project, the latest video feature on our nonprofit streaming-media Web site, The Archaeology Channel.
This video describes the Mosfell Archaeological Project, an interdisciplinary research project employing saga studies, archaeology, physical anthropology, and environmental sciences. The project’s goal is to construct a picture of human habitation and environmental change in the Mosfell region of southwestern Iceland. Work at Kirkjuhll in 2002 revealed a conversion period wooden stave church and a Christian cemetery with skeletons. The Mosfell Project contributes to the larger study of Viking Age and later medieval Iceland.
This and other programs are available on TAC for your use and enjoyment. We urge you to support this public service by participating in our Membership and Underwriting programs. Only with your help can we continue and enhance our nonprofit public-education and visitor-supported programming. We also welcome new content partners as we reach out to the world community.
