The Research Seminar Series in Archaeology and Environmental archaeology invites you to a seminar with Dr. Ing-Marie Back Danielsson, "Evocative Imagery at Whose Expense? Critical Perspectives on Viking Age Mortuary Reconstructions".
Abstract: In this presentation I will discuss Viking Age mortuary reconstructions, a genre of archaeological imagery that has gained significant prominence in the last few decades, in both scholarly and popular domains. Drawing upon a number or mortuary reconstructions from the Scandinavian Viking Age, produced since 2000, the study interrogates the emotive, affective, and ethical dimensions of these visualisations. Employing a visual social semiotic framework, it analyses vantage points, colour schemes, bodily representations, and gender codings to demonstrate how artistic decisions intersect with archaeological interpretation. The findings reveal a tendency towards dramatization, sexualisation, and/or sensationalism, particularly in depictions of women, alongside anthropocentric distinctions in portrayals of humans and animals. While claiming naturalistic realism, these images frequently obscure evidential uncertainties, thereby consolidating extreme and exceptional cases as normative representations of Viking Age mortuary practices. Arguments are presented for increased transparency, ethical reflexivity, and peer review in the production of mortuary reconstructions, contending that such images constitute ethically consequential acts that shape post-mortem dignity and contemporary engagements with the Viking past.
The Research Seminar Series in Archaeology and Environmental Archaeology presents and discusses current research in archaeology and environmental archaeology.
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