Gender and space in the Viking Age – an archaeological and anthropological approach

Keywords: Gender, space, settlement, Carolingian period

For a large majority of the population in early medieval Europe, daily life was set in a rural context. Activities on the farms were based on agriculture and other production tasks, and distributed among men and women with various roles and ranks. The aim of this PhD project is to investigate male and female roles in the Viking Age and their respective and shared use of space on settlement sites in Scandinavia. Anthropological concepts such as gender and space are used as theoretical background to connect social relations and building organization.

Contemporary Frankish archaeological and written sources are used in order to shed light on various aspects of labor organization in the Carolingian heartlands and as comparative material for South Scandinavia in the Viking Age.

Financed period: 03/08 – 03/12

Source: The Faculty of Arts, Aarhus University