With Into the Ocean, Kristján Ahronson makes two dramatic claims: that there were people in Iceland almost a century before Viking settlers first arrived c. AD 870, and that there was a tangible relationship between the early Christian “Irish” communities of the Atlantic zone and the Scandinavians who followed them

Into the Ocean: Vikings, Irish, and Environmental Change in Iceland and the North

by Kristjan Ahronson (Author)
Series: Toronto Old Norse-Icelandic Series (TONIS) (Book 8)
University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division 2015
ISBN-10: 1442646179
ISBN-13: 978-1442646179

ABSTRACT:

That Gaelic monasticism flourished in the early medieval period is well established. The “Irish School” penetrated large areas of Europe and contemporary authors describe North Atlantic travels and settlements. Across Scotland and beyond, Celtic-speaking communities spread into the wild and windswept north, marking hundreds of Atlantic settlements with carved and rock-cut sculpture. They were followed in the Viking Age by Scandinavians who dominated the Atlantic waters and settled the Atlantic rim.

With Into the Ocean, Kristján Ahronson makes two dramatic claims: that there were people in Iceland almost a century before Viking settlers first arrived c. AD 870, and that there was a tangible relationship between the early Christian “Irish” communities of the Atlantic zone and the Scandinavians who followed them.

Ahronson uses archaeological, paleoecological, and literary evidence to support his claims, analysing evidence ranging from pap place names in the Scottish islands to volcanic airfall in Iceland. An interdisciplinary analysis of a subject that has intrigued scholars for generations, Into the Ocean will challenge the assumptions of anyone interested in the Atlantic branch of the Celtic world.

CONTENTS:

• Dedication
• Acknowledgements
• List of Illustrations, Tables and Abbreviations
• Introduction
• Chapter One: Nineteenth-Century Legacies: Literature, Language and the Imagining of the St. Lawrence Irish
• Chapter Two: A Fruitful Conversation Between Disciplines
• Chapter Three: Pabbays and Paibles: Pap-Names and Gaelic and Old Norse Speakers in Scotland’s Hebridean Islands
• Chapter Four: Seljaland, Vestur-Eyjafjallahreppur, Iceland
• Chapter Five: Dating the Cave
• Chapter Six: Three Dimensions of Environmental Change
• Chapter Seven: The Crosses of a Desert Place?
• To Conclude
• References

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Kristján Ahronson is Lecturer in Archaeology at Prifysgol Bangor University in Wales.