Frog, Joonas Ahola and Kendra Willson
Abstract: The core of this special issue engages with the constructedness of ideas and understandings rooted in the discourses of scholarship. This introductory article explores perspectives on discourses and practices of interdisciplinarity. The discussion of topics related to these issues develops in dialogue with individual contributions to the collection in ways that make their interconnections and complementarity apparent.
Alexandra Sanmark
Abstract: This article presents a new interdisciplinary methodology successfully developed for the identification and detailed analysis of Viking-Age outdoor assembly sites. This methodology draws on archaeological evidence, topographic information and a wide range of written sources, from laws to eddic poetry. It is hoped this approach will inspire a new way of thinking, leading to the identification of outdoor assembly-sites in areas of the world where they are not yet known.
Denis Sukhino-Khomenko
Abstract: The article addresses the possibilities for a methodological reassessment of the phenomenon of the thegns in England and Scandinavia in the late Viking Age (ca. 900–1066). The historiographical overview reveals that the thegns have never been examined for their own sake, and that the recent developments in source studies open new methodological prospects in anthropological research. The case study of the thegns hopes to outline some of them.
Joonas Ahola and Karina Lukin
Abstract: M.A. Castrén’s Föreläsningar i finsk mytologi [‘Lectures on Finnish mythology’] represents an important phase in the study of mythology and religion. It is the first comparative study on Finnish and related mythologies that draws on contemporary international scholarship. The Lectures are here reviewed critically both as an emblem in the history of the discipline and as a case study on challenges in combining methodologies from different disciplines and approaches.
Joseph S. Hopkins
Abstract: The present article discusses a historical tendency among scholars to focus on male-gendered deities in the Germanic corpus, a boom period of goddess studies in the 1990s under the influence of Marija Gimbutas, and the place of Great Goddess theory in the field of ancient Germanic studies today. Great Goddess theory is proposed to remain an influence in ancient Germanic studies, particularly in the field’s tendency to identify goddesses as extensions of a single entity.
Kendra Willson
Abstract: The Finnish and Karelian word runo [‘poem’] has been viewed as reflecting a loan from Proto-Germanic *rūnō, the ancestor of Old Norse rún [‘rune’]. However, given its limited distribution in Finnic and the meanings attested in Germanic and Finnic languages, the word was more likely borrowed at a later stage, from Early Norse near the start of the Viking Age, probably in the meaning of ‘incantation, verbal charm’ and in connection with incantational magic.
Eila Stepanova and Frog
Abstract: This paper confronts the research tendency to treat a performance tradition as a semiotic phenomenon in isolation from its performance environment. Karelian funeral lament offers an example of a tradition with a customary soundscape that contextualizes and reinforces the performance arena, while performance participates in the soundscapes of additional ritual activities. The case’s analogical value is illustrated through comparison with Old Norse examples.
Johan Schalin
Abstract: This paper explores the periodisation of pre-documentary Scandinavian language and its synchronisation with that of Finnic, the era in focus being the first millennium CE. Stratification of loanwords is discussed both as a means to refine periodisation and as an aim in itself. The problems as concerns the latter half of the first millennium are highlighted. The account is built on dissertation research defended in September 2018.
Minerva Piha
Abstract: This paper complements my model for combining archaeological and lexical material with relevant indicators, a discipline-neutral tool that provides information on cultural processes enabling comparison of research results of different disciplines. It shows how the model is applied to South Sámi material, and how relevant indicators should be used in the data. I suggest that a degree of probability be added to the concept, distinguishing strong and weak relevant indicators.
Sami Raninen
Abstract: Since 2012, an archaeological excavation has continued on a Late Iron Age (AD 800–1050) settlement site and a medieval and early modern village plot of Tursiannotko in Pirkkala (near Tampere). The very well-preserved materials found at the site give a lot of information regarding the modes of subsistence, building techniques, material culture, ritual practices and trade contacts of a relatively wealthy farmer and hunter community.
Sirpa Aalto
Abstract: This report offers an overview of recent research being conducted on Jómsvíkinga saga.
Elena Jugai
Abstract: This article introduces Russian laments of the Vologda region in relation to other lament traditions of the Baltic Sea region. The tradition of this region and lament collection there are briefly introduced as well as the Russian Lament database developed and used in connection with the current research. The language and poetics of the laments are outlined followed by a rhythmical analysis and comments on parallelism, alliteration and practices.
Marko Jouste
Abstract: This report briefly presents on evidence of a lament tradition among the Skolt Saami. The lament tradition was recognized when documented by earlier scholars but has never entered discussion of lament traditions and has remained generally unrecognized in discussions of lament traditions in the Baltic Sea region.
Kendra Willson
Joseph Ryder
Vykintas Vaitkevičius
Jesse Barber
Luke John Murphy
Eldar Heide
Maths Bertell, Frog and Kendra Willson (eds.)
Matthias Egeler
Alexandra Sanmark
Tuukka Karlsson
Amy Jefford Franks