The 28 papers in this volume explore the practical life, domestic settings, landscapes and seascapes of the Viking world. Their geographical horizons stretch from Iceland to Russia, with particular emphasis on new discoveries in the Scandinavian homelands and in Britain and Ireland. With a rich combination of disciplinary perspectives, new interpretations are presented of evidence for buildings and technology, navigation, trade and military organisation, the ideology of place, and cultural interactions and comparisons between Viking and native groups. Together, these reveal the multivalent importance of settlement archaeology and history for an understanding of the pivotal phase within the Middle Ages that was the Viking period.

Land, Sea and Home: Proceedings of a Conference on Viking-Period Settlement

The crannog on Llangorse Lake near Brecon in mid Wales was discovered in 1867 and first excavated in 1869 by two local antiquaries, Edgar and Henry Dumbleton, who published their findings over the next four years. In 1988 dendrochronological dates from submerged palisade planks established its construction in the ninth century, and a combined off- and on-shore investigation of the site was started as a joint project between Cardiff University and Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales. The subsequent surveys and excavation (1989-1994, 2004) resulted in the recovery of a remarkable time capsule of life in the late ninth and tenth century, on the only crannog yet identified in Wales. This publication re-examines the early investigations, describes in detail the anatomy of the crannog mound and its construction, and the material culture found. The crannog's treasures include early medieval secular and religious metalwork, evidence for manufacture, the largest depository of early medieval carpentry in Wales and a remarkable richly embroidered silk and linen textile which is fully analysed and placed in context. The crannog's place in Welsh history is explored, as a royal llys ('court') within the kingdom of Brycheiniog, as well as its subsequent significance of the crannog in local traditions and its post-medieval occupation during a riotous dispute in the reign Elizabeth I. The cultural affinities of the crannog and its material culture is assessed, as are their relationship to origin myths for the kingdom, and to probable links with early medieval Ireland. The folk tales associated with the lake are explored, in a book that brings together archaeology, history, myths and legends, underwater and terrestrial archaeology.

'There are children in Holbeck without crayons. Living in a city with an opera company. An opera company paid for with money from all of us. Until everyone has crayons no one gets opera. That’s what I believe.' A deeply moving memoir of how a group of artists fed their local community during the Covid pandemic. When crisis hits, and audiences stay home, what’s the most useful thing a theatre company can do? The answer was to become a food bank and one-stop-help-shop for those in need. In fifteen months, Slung Low would go on to deliver over 15,000 food parcels.

After an unsettling discovery, Sesily Dearborn was forever changed, her life embarking on a journey that would change the lives of everyone she knew. Isolated from her parents, she was left alone only with a maid from the family estate, as well as a soldier from her village.
Now facing a world she never knew anything about, Sesily struggles to learn more about herself, her world, and the forbidden item she has discovered. As destiny has preordained, however, her fate is strung loosely on the thin strands of life and death.
Finding unlikely allies, such as an obnoxious and arrogant reporter, a world-famous sharpshooter, and a promiscuous priestess, Sesily overcomes the challenges of a country built on conflict and survival of the brave.
With her friends, Sesily faces a multitude of enemies. Terrifying heathens, known as Reapers, serve as a constant pestilence. The dark Coven of Witches seeks to destroy the country and rule it as their own, and an evil greater than the two combined yearns for the very power Sesily possesses.

After an unsettling discovery, Sesily Dearborn was forever changed, her life embarking on a journey that would change the lives of everyone she knew. Isolated from her parents, she was left alone only with a maid from the family estate, as well as a soldier from her village.
Now facing a world she never knew anything about, Sesily struggles to learn more about herself, her world, and the forbidden item she has discovered. As destiny has preordained, however, her fate is strung loosely on the thin strands of life and death.
Finding unlikely allies, such as an obnoxious and arrogant reporter, a world-famous sharpshooter, and a promiscuous priestess, Sesily overcomes the challenges of a country built on conflict and survival of the brave.
With her friends, Sesily faces a multitude of enemies. Terrifying heathens, known as Reapers, serve as a constant pestilence. The dark Coven of Witches seeks to destroy the country and rule it as their own, and an evil greater than the two combined yearns for the very power Sesily possesses.

The twenty-five papers, taken from a Cardiff conference in 1998, are concerned with Insular art in its broadest sense, encompassing studies of metalwork, manuscripts, sculpture and textiles, both recent discoveries and new investigations of well-known objects. They include material associated with Anglo-Saxon England as well as early Medieval Scotland, Wales and Ireland, and discoveries of Insular metalwork in Scandinavia. They are divided into five themes which reflect the many recent advances in the study of Insular art: politics and patrons; national and regional identities; art and archaeology; the implications of scientific analysis and style; analysis, methodology and meaning.