The department participates in the institute’s research focus: ‘Material culture and identity formation: globalisation in the past and the present’. One of the projects linked to this is called ‘Building and dwelling – the space of daily life’, which focuses on the radical changes in the physical frameworks of life in the countryside and towns throughout the period.  Some changes occurred due to general technological influences from more southern parts of Europe, while others undoubtedly reflect new group identities (local, international, social, economic etc.) as well as new family patterns and household sizes. The topic is studied from such overall angles and through collaboration across disciplinary and national boundaries. 

Other projects focus on cultural communication, exchange and social networks in Viking and early Medieval Northern Europe. Studies include the development of long-distance trade and towns; cultural identities; tradition and innovation; regional variation; the social ties between magnates, villages, household and family. Much of the research builds on the substantial new archaeological material produced in later years by excavations of various types of settlement.