Ancient Scandinavia: An Archaeological History from the First Humans to the Vikings

by T. Douglas Price

Scandinavia, a land mass comprising the modern countries of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, was the last part of Europe to be inhabited by humans. Not until the end of the last Ice Age when the melting of huge ice sheets left behind a fresh, barren land surface, about 13,000 BC, did the first humans arrive and settle in the region. The archaeological record of these prehistoric cultures, much of it remarkably preserved in Scandinavia's bogs, lakes, and fjords, has given us a detailed portrait of the evolution of human society at the edge of the inhabitable world.

In this book, distinguished archaeologist T. Douglas Price provides a history of Scandinavia from the arrival of the first humans to the end of the Viking period, ca. AD 1050. The first book of its kind in English in many years, Ancient Scandinavia features overviews of each prehistoric epoch followed by illustrative examples from the region's rich archaeology. An engrossing and comprehensive picture of change across the millennia emerges, showing how human society evolved from small bands of hunter-gatherers to large farming communities to the complex warrior cultures of the Bronze and Iron Ages, cultures which culminated in the spectacular rise of the Vikings at the end of the prehistoric period. The material evidence of these past societies--arrowheads from reindeer hunts, megalithic tombs, rock art, beautifully wrought weaponry, Viking warships--give vivid testimony to the ancient peoples of Scandinavia and to their extensive contacts with the remote cultures of the Arctic Circle,
Western Europe, and the Mediterranean

Genres: History, Archaeology, Nonfiction, European History

520 pages, Hardcover

First published April 16, 2015

Reviews

[The Valkyrie’s Vigil Laia San José Beltrán · Rating 5 out of 5]

Without a doubt, this is one of the bests books I've ever read. An exhaustive analysis of prehistoric Scandinavia from the first inhabitants to the end of the Viking Age. Throughout the pages of the book we can read about migrations, geology, climate changes, evolution of societies and emerging nations, types of dwelling, archaeological treasures of each period... This is a super complete book if you want to know almost everything about Prehistoric Scandinavia, because if you like Vikings you need to know everything that happened before them at their homeland.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has a lot of details. It reads like a textbook, which it probably was written as one. This isn’t the book to read really for pleasure unless you already know a lot about this topic. It’s a beautiful book with lots of great illustrations in it, and a lot of information, so as a resource book, I highly recommend it. But for a survey on historical Scandinavia, I would probably choose a different book for the average person.

[Fredrik Häll · Rating 5 out of 5]

Den primära boken du borde vända dig till för information om Skandinavisk sten, brons och järnålder med lite vikingatid inblandat som bonus.