Sindbæk, S. M. (ed.) (2023). Northern Emporium Vol. 2: The networks of Viking-age Ribe (Højbjerg: Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab).

With contributions by:

Gry H. Barfod, Irene Baug, Thomas Birch, Luise Ørsted Brandt, Sarah Croix, Pieterjan Deckers, Claus Feveile, Lene Lund Feveile, Tom Heldal, Lene M. Imer, Christoph Keller, Maria Knudsen, Jacob Kveiborg, Line Korsholm Lauridsen, Ulla Mannering, Peter Hambro Mikkelsen, Sarah Skytte Qvistgaard, Rubina Raja, Søren M. Sindbæk, Dagfinn Skre, Torkil Sørlie-Røhr, Anna K. E. Tjelldén and Maryam Alizadeh Zolbin.

The story of Denmark's first city dwellers

In 2017–18, archaeologists from the Northern Emporium project at Aarhus University and the Museum of Southwest Jutland conducted a large research excavation in the heart of Ribe. More than 100,000 finds emerged during these excavations, and the new high-definition methods that were adopted to explore the site gave groundbreaking results. Ultra-precise 3D laser scanning and geological methods were used to gain a deeper understanding of the activities performed in the city's houses and workshops, and new knowledge about solar storms and isotopes in the atmosphere provided a new way to date soil layers with precision. The history of early Ribe can now be viewed in a brand new light!

Last year the critically acclaimed first volume was published. Based on the excavations in Ribe and the research of the Northern Emporium project, the history of the emporium and its social fabric was pieced together. Now the second volume has appeared, and it completes the pioneering research excavation in Ribe. The many finds and their contexts are analysed. Through these analyses of, among other finds, glass beads, combs, furniture and musical instruments, the flows of goods from and to Ribe are explored. The book's 22 chapters follow the tracks of Denmark's first city dwellers and the craft and trading activities that made Ribe a maritime hub in the North Sea region, and we get unique insights into the life of the city in the Viking Age and its extensive connections to the rest of the world.

The two volumes are edited by Professor Søren M. Sindbæk and published by Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab.

Funding

The excavations in Ribe and the Northern Emporium project were supported by the Carlsberg Foundation, and the Northern Emporium Vol. 2: The networks of Viking-age Ribe has been published with support from the Carlsberg Foundation, Dronning Margrethe II's Arkæologiske Fond and The Danish National Research Foundation's Centre for Urban Network Evolutions (UrbNet).