The Waterford Archaeological and Historical Society is holding the next lecture in our 2021 – 2022 programme at 8 pm on Friday, April 29th in St Patrick’s Gateway Centre, Waterford (Eircode X91 YX61) when archaeologist Dr Rebecca Boyd will deliver a talk titled ‘The Best Seat in the House? Being At Home in the Viking Age’.
Waterford is home to the Vikings, with dozens of Viking-Age houses excavated here. These are very like houses from Cork and Dublin, but one particular detail stands out. Some houses in Waterford had a special bench built in beside the hearth in the middle of the home. This hints at the presence of a ‘high seat’, the most important place to sit in a Viking house, a symbol of power and status. Using the idea of a Viking ‘high seat’, we will tour around the Viking world to see just how such displays of power and status were manifested in the Viking home.
Interior of reconstructed Viking house (Dr. Rebecca Boyd).
Rebecca’s lecture will begin in Iceland with Njal’s Saga, one of the most famous sagas of all, where the house itself is a central character. This house is a Viking longhouse, and there are many examples of these across Scandinavia and the North Atlantic. The power of the family is manifested in the house, in its size, its architecture, and its obvious displays of power, connection and wealth. We will look at longhouses with ritual feasting, of weapon displays, of imported precious glass, to see what story these houses tell. Then, we will return to Waterford, to reflect on the story and power of our ‘Viking’ houses.
Dr Rebecca Boyd has worked in Irish archaeology for more than 20 years, in commercial, research and academic settings. Rebecca’s own research focuses on the Viking world and she has written and spoken nationally and
internationally on the archaeology of Ireland’s Viking Age. Her new book Exploring Ireland’s Viking Age Towns: Houses and Homes will be published later this year. It is the first detailed look at urbanism in Ireland’s Viking Age and is the result of an Irish Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship based in the Dept of Archaeology in
University College Cork. Rebecca currently works as Research Archaeologist for IAC on the Drumclay Crannog project, one of Ireland’s most exciting medieval settlements.
*********************FORTHCOMING LECTURE**********************
Here are details of the final talk in May:
27/05/2022 Dr Ann Marie O’Brien ‘A century of change – women and Irish diplomacy’
*********************SUMMER OUTINGS**********************
The Society is working on a programme of Summer outings which will include: 16/06/2022 The People’s Park and environs with Joe Falvey
14/07/2022 Historic Stradbally with Cian Flaherty
07/08/2022 The Siege of Waterford 1922 with James Doherty
