FFÍ býður sænska fornleifafræðingnum dr. Anders Andrén til landsins

Sunnudaginn 28. janúar nk., kl. 15.00, flytur dr. Anders Andrén, prófessor í fornleifafræði við Háskólann í Stokkhólmi, fyrirlestur á vegum FFÍ í fyrirlestrarsal Þjóðminjasafns Íslands.

Fyrirlestur hans nefnist: "Mission impossible? The Archaeology of Old Norse religion"

Abstract: Old Norse religion is supposed to be one of the best known pre- Christian religions in Europe, due to the rich and varied Icelandic literature. However, all Icelandic Eddas and Sagas are medieval Christian literature, showing how the authors interpreted the pre-Christian history of Iceland and Scandinavia. Do they merely present a "fantasy religion" or do the Icelandic narratives contain elements based on social practice in a non-Christian past? As archaeologists we may ignore the problematic Icelandic texts totally, but in that case we will loose many fundamental interpretative references. On the other hand, it is difficult to use the Icelandic sources in archaeological studies of Scandinavian prehistory. In this paper I will present how these problems have been handled in the Midgård project in Sweden.