Between AD c.860 and c.970, hundreds of thousands of silver coins (dirhams) from Central Asia reached Scandinavia, where evidence suggests adoption within market environments as commodity-money within a hacksilver currency. Although several hundred dirhams are found in hoards and as single-finds in Britain and Ireland, the extension of this ‘economic’ phenomenon here is rarely discussed due to a focus on social exchange. This bias comes from a failure to incorporate market-based network theory developed in recent Scandinavian Baltic studies on the back of that region’s dirham influx, and the excavation there of market sites like Birka, Hedeby, and Kaupang probably responsible for their further dissemination. Considered for the first time, then, this study allows an Insular dirham dataset assembled in a new database to be interpreted beyond the restrictive corpus of Viking-Age Insular exchange literature. The Baltic perspectives, centred on the nodal network role of hub markets like Hedeby in Jutland, offer the best model of how long-distance exchange operated in the period c.850-950. Accordingly, the nodal Insular Scandinavian import and export sites of Dublin and York are contextualised within the distribution of Insular dirham deposits to characterise the economic and social context of this network. Beyond the dirhams, this ‘Silver Route’ network is considered responsible for the bi-directional trade of high-value commodities between Insular Scandinavia, England, and the Baltic. Thus, a new non-numismatic database includes pieces considered to have arrived in Britain and Ireland in concert with the dirhams. This database – included in a CD alongside the dirham data – includes metrological equipment, jewellery, amber, silk, and silver of Scandinavian Baltic, Eastern European, and Central Asian origin. Like the numismatic material, the non-numismatic data support a model of network kingdoms, defined as polities based on control of nodal/hub markets and influence over the trade routes connecting them, with the latter aspect requiring royal co-operation with independent long-distance and regional traders. From this point of departure, a case is made for Ívarr and the Uí Ímair using control of Dublin and York to introduce an import and currency package to Britain and Ireland from a possible homeland in a ‘Danish Corridor’ focussed on Kaupang and Hedeby. This idea of market-centric polities is alloyed by the use of post-substantivist economic theory, which argues that nodal-market sites encouraged the social and exchange conditions where market economics and production could flourish. While it is accepted that socially-embedded exchange dominated Viking-Age Scandinavia, post-substantivism allows for the increasing import of market exchange, and it is applied to Insular Scandinavia for the first time here.

This thesis investigates the Scandinavian contribution to medieval microtoponymic vocabulary in two areas of northwest England, Wirral, part of the historic county of Cheshire in the north-west Midlands, and an area of the county of Cumbria, the West Ward of Westmorland Barony. It is shown that there was far greater Scandinavian linguistic influence on the medieval microtoponymy of the West Ward than on the medieval microtoponymy of Wirral. This thesis also assesses what conclusions can be drawn from the use of Scandinavian derived place name elements in microtoponyms. Scandinavian influence on microtoponymy has previously been interpreted, at one extreme, as evidence for Scandinavian settlement, and, at the other extreme, only as reflecting widespread Scandinavian influence on the English language and English naming practices. The relationship between Scandinavian settlement and Scandinavian influence on naming micropotonymy is explored by considering the microtoponymic evidence in the light of evidence illuminating the circumstances of Scandinavian settlement in the case-study areas, and by considering the evidence from the case-study areas within the wider context of Scandinavian influence on English naming practices. The substantial Scandinavian substantial influence on major place names in both areas confirms that Scandinavian had been spoken in Wirral and the West Ward. However, the Scandinavian contribution to toponymic vocabulary as recorded in the late medieval period was very different in the two areas, hinting at the indirectness of the link between Scandinavian settlement and influence on later microtoponymy. Indeed, detailed consideration of the use of individual Scandinavian-derived place name elements at a national level indicates that the areas over which some Scandinavian-derived place-name elements were used increased during the Middle English period. The factors underlying the usage of Scandinavian derived toponymic vocabulary in the late-medieval period are therefore more varied than has sometimes been acknowledged.

This study is a multivalent investigation of Scandinavian identity formation and cultural structures within the north Atlantic that looks specifically at the construction and maintenance of island identities circa AD800-1250. This not only includes consideration of the Norse settlers but also the effects of contact between the emerging island cultural identities and continental Europe. In order to do this zones of settlement have been defined to better compare the expansion of medieval Scandinavian populations in terms of microscale practices and interactions within family groups and the macroscale vectors of social, economic and political change. It employs a wide variety of material that makes use of aspects of both prehistoric and historic sources. The variety of enabling conditions ultimately provided for a time the circumstances necessary for the long-term success of a number of the settlements established during this period. The evidence is considered in as subjective manner as possible with the sources available also reflecting the conditions of initial region excavation and publication.

This thesis discusses whether berserkir really went berserk. It proposes revised paradigms for berserkir as they existed in the Viking Age and as depicted in Old Norse literature. It clarifies the Viking Age berserkr as an elite warrior whose practices have a function in warfare and ritual life rather than as an example of aberrant behaviour, and considers how usage of PDE ‘berserk’ may affect the framing of research questions about berserkir through analysis of depictions in modern popular culture. The analysis shows how berserksgangr has received greater attention than it warrants with the emphasis being on how berserkir went berserk. A critical review of Old Norse literature shows that berserkir do not go berserk, and suggests that berserksgangr was a calculated form of posturing and a ritual activity designed to bolster the courage of the berserkr. It shows how the medieval concept of berserkir was more nuanced and less negative than is usually believed, as demonstrated by the contemporaneous existence in narratives of berserkir as king’s men, hall challengers, hólmg†ngumenn, Viking raiders and Christian champions, and by the presence of men with the byname berserkr in fourteenth-century documents. Old Norse literature is related to pre-Viking Age evidence to show that warriors wearing wolfskins existed and can be related to berserkir, thus making it possible to produce models for Viking Age and medieval concepts of berserkir. The modern view of berserkir is analysed and shows that frenzy is the dominant attribute, despite going berserk not being a useful attribute in Viking Age warfare which relied upon men holding a line steady rather than charging individually. The thesis concludes that ON berserkr may be best translated as PDE ‘champion’, while PDE ‘berserker’ describes the type of uncontrollable warrior most commonly envisaged when discussing berserkir. Most illustrations have been removed from the digital version of this thesis for copyright reasons. The references in the captions guide the reader to the original source for those illustrations.

This thesis examines the representations of houses as physical structures in the Íslendingasögur with specific emphasis on the material aspect of housing culture in the Viking Age and medieval period, as well as the interactions between material culture and text. The Íslendingasögur were written in Iceland as of the thirteenth century, but look back onto the Viking Age (c. 800-1100 AD). Comparison with the archaeology of domestic space reveals that the house in the Íslendingasögur generally corresponds with medieval housing models, contemporary with the period of saga writing. However, there are also examples of structures which correspond to the models of the Viking Age. Descriptions of antiquated buildings are sometimes framed in statements that make explicit reference to the chronological separation between the Viking Age and the writer’s present time, suggesting a familiarity with the evolution of housing culture. Detailed analysis of buildings in the sagas reveals domestic space in its context of use, and demonstrates how the physical nature of the house and farm framed the productive and social activities that went on within. The materiality of domestic life has particular importance for the dispensing of hospitality. Demonstrations of domestic space in use also allow for a better understanding of the relationship between objects and language, and elucidate some difficulties in translation and academic usage both in archaeology and literary studies. Material culture can itself influence the processes of composition in oral/written narratives such as the sagas, by inspiring the formation of narrative episodes. The built environment can also provide a contextual framing for narratives, acting as a mnemonic device facilitating the preservation and transmission of saga narratives.

Beginning in the late eighth century A.D., the Vikings of Scandinavia expanded westward, first to raid and later to settle and trade. By the 11th century, they inhabited territory extending into the North Atlantic, including the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Greenland. These settlements were by no means monocultural and were located hundreds of miles away from the population centres of medieval Europe. In time, this distance and the relative isolation of the region contributed to the development of new cultural identities of the inhabitants. Unfortunately, the Middle Ages have not received as much attention as the Viking Age in the North Atlantic, and little has been written about identity in the North Atlantic aside from the underlying assumption that the people were Norwegian prior to forming their own local identities. This thesis aims to examine these identities over the entire North Atlantic region by studying the relationships between the island groups and questioning how the inhabitants used material culture to interact within a larger European, Christian milieu. Focussing on the period c. 1150-1450, this thesis approaches the cultural identity of these societies by evaluating the material culture and practices of the inhabitants using theoretical frameworks in identity, material culture, and island archaeology that have rarely, if ever, been applied in the medieval North Atlantic. Because of the wide geographical scope of this study, three case studies of artefact assemblages will be used: one each in the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Greenland. These assemblages will be analysed both for the style and form of the objects and for the domestic and overseas contacts they represent, using the British Isles and Norway as starting points because of their known contacts with the North Atlantic. Material culture can be manipulated in order to create identities that give the user certain social, political or economic advantages. Understanding the material choices made in the North Atlantic, such as church architecture, clothing, table wares and dress accessories, can help us to understand the identities these people sought to portray. Further, using the abovementioned theoretical approaches, this thesis attempts to understand why certain material choices were made and what advantages those people hoped to gain by using that material culture. It is hoped that this thesis will help to illustrate the role that material culture played in cultural identity of the North Atlantic settlements in the Middle Ages, and to promote further discussion of identity in the North Atlantic on a regional level in this period.

Building offerings, artefacts or bones that had been placed under or within house features, are considered evidence of rites associated with house construction, remodelling or abandonment, and are an archaeological phenomenon that was common throughout European prehistory. This dissertation focuses on interpreting building offerings dating to the Viking Age in Iceland and Scotland. Each find of this type is unique, which poses a challenge for archaeological investigations that often lack the interpretive framework needed to make comparisons between sites. This dissertation critically refines the frameworks of previous studies of similar types of deposits in AngloSaxon Britain and Scandinavia in order to fill this gap in research and discuss the purpose of houserites. The frameworks of behavioural and cognitive archaeology indicate that the performance of house-rites played a role in the construction of the house as the centre of the world-view of Vikingage people. House-rites are situated as prescriptive behaviours that negotiated perspectives of space throughout the residential life-cycle by adding to house materiality. This refined interpretive paradigm is then applied to a comparative survey of Viking-age houses and farmsteads from Iceland and Scotland. In the North Atlantic region, house-rites appear to have been performed in order for Norse people to reimagine their place in the world. The practical elements of the tradition were altered based on the relevant cultural frameworks and specific geo-political contexts to which Norse people were migrating in the Viking Age. In Iceland, people utilised displays of generosity and skills as providers during house-rites to construct an association between social relationships and residential space. The house itself had agency in situating people both within the landscape and the community. In Norse settlements in Scotland, Scandinavian people were relating themselves directly to the symbols used by native peoples through the use of personal objects in the performance of houserites, integrating their new environment into their mentalities. In Scandinavia, house-rites were a long-standing tradition, leading to a well-established, carefully negotiated sense of identity within the landscape. The Norse people who migrated into the North Atlantic region during the Viking Age were leaving this well-established sense of place. This intensified the climate of uncertainty regarding their place in the world, leading to the negotiation of mentalities through the discursive dynamics of house-rites in altered contexts.

Neste trabalho apresentamos um cálculo teórico para o espalhamento Raman eletrônico via flutuações de densidade de spin de uma super-rede &#948-dopada de GaAs. A estrutura eletrônica da super-rede é determinada utilizando-se a teoria do funcional densidade dentro da aproximação de densidade local. O cálculo da seção de choque revela que sob condições de extrema ressonância existe uma forte dependência das formas de linha com a freqüência de excitação indicando a coexistência de um gás bi e tri-dimensional de elétrons nesta estrutura. Os resultados obtidos mostram excelente acordo entre teoria e experimento. / In this work we theoretically investigate the electronic Raman scattering by spin density fluctuations in periodically &#948-doped GaAs. The electronic structure of the superlattice is determined using density functional theory within the local-density-functional approximation. The calculation of the cross section reveals a strong dependence of the line shape on the exciting frequency under conditions of extreme resonance, which indicates the coexistence of a two and three-dimensional electron gas. The results show an excellent agreement between theory and experiment.

Molibdatos têm atraído grande atenção devido à existência de compostos com caráter elétrico unidimensional como conseqüência da presença de cadeias contendo ligações de Mo-O ou Mo-Mo em suas estruturas cristalinas. Com o objetivo de estudar molibdatos com esta característica, amostras policristalinas do sistema K-Mo-O foram preparadas pelo método de reação de difusão no estado sólido e caracterizadas por difratometria de raios x, propriedades elétricas e magnéticas. Estes resultados demonstram a existência de uma nova fase neste sistema com estequiometria KxMoO2-&#948;. Medidas da resistência elétrica em função da temperatura deste material mostram comportamento metálico anômalo que está relacionado a um ordenamento antiferromagnético. Foi observado ainda que a anomalia na resistência elétrica em baixas temperaturas (T < TM) comporta-se segundo uma lei de potência com expoente próximo de 0,5, o que sugere que o comportamento elétrico do KxMoO2-&#948; pode ser descrito por um mecanismo de condutividade unidimensional. / Molybdates have attracted great attention due to the existence of compounds which show one-dimensional electrical behavior as consequence of the channel containing Mo-O or Mo-Mo bonds in their crystalline structure. In order to study molybdates exhibiting onedimensional conductivity, polycrystalline samples of the K-Mo-O system were prepared using the solid state diffusion reaction method and characterized by X-ray powder diffractometry, electrical and magnetic properties. These results demonstrate the existence of a new phase in this system with KxMoO2-&#948; stoichiometry. Electrical resistance as a function of temperature measurements for this compound have shown anomalous metallic behavior which is related to an antiferromagnetic ordering. It has been also observed that the anomaly in the electrical resistance at low temperatures (T < TM) is fitted by power law temperature dependence with an exponent near 0.5 which suggests that the electrical behavior of the KxMoO2-&#948; can be well described by the one-dimensional conducting mechanism.

Molibdatos têm atraído grande atenção devido à existência de compostos com caráter elétrico unidimensional como conseqüência da presença de cadeias contendo ligações de Mo-O ou Mo-Mo em suas estruturas cristalinas. Com o objetivo de estudar molibdatos com esta característica, amostras policristalinas do sistema K-Mo-O foram preparadas pelo método de reação de difusão no estado sólido e caracterizadas por difratometria de raios x, propriedades elétricas e magnéticas. Estes resultados demonstram a existência de uma nova fase neste sistema com estequiometria KxMoO2-&#948;. Medidas da resistência elétrica em função da temperatura deste material mostram comportamento metálico anômalo que está relacionado a um ordenamento antiferromagnético. Foi observado ainda que a anomalia na resistência elétrica em baixas temperaturas (T < TM) comporta-se segundo uma lei de potência com expoente próximo de 0,5, o que sugere que o comportamento elétrico do KxMoO2-&#948; pode ser descrito por um mecanismo de condutividade unidimensional. / Molybdates have attracted great attention due to the existence of compounds which show one-dimensional electrical behavior as consequence of the channel containing Mo-O or Mo-Mo bonds in their crystalline structure. In order to study molybdates exhibiting onedimensional conductivity, polycrystalline samples of the K-Mo-O system were prepared using the solid state diffusion reaction method and characterized by X-ray powder diffractometry, electrical and magnetic properties. These results demonstrate the existence of a new phase in this system with KxMoO2-&#948; stoichiometry. Electrical resistance as a function of temperature measurements for this compound have shown anomalous metallic behavior which is related to an antiferromagnetic ordering. It has been also observed that the anomaly in the electrical resistance at low temperatures (T < TM) is fitted by power law temperature dependence with an exponent near 0.5 which suggests that the electrical behavior of the KxMoO2-&#948; can be well described by the one-dimensional conducting mechanism.