Kirkwall, Orkney, Scotland: 31 May – 4 June, 2008

A conference jointly organized by the Orkney Heritage Society, the Orkney Archaeological Trust and the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge

This conference seeks to place Viking Age and medieval Orkney in its European setting by bringing together scholars studying island and coastal societies of the Baltic Sea, the North Sea, the Irish Sea and the North Atlantic. Its emphasis is on how small-scale societies dominated by the sea developed both strong ‘international’ connections and distinctive local identities. It focuses on a pivotal time in the creation of the social, economic and political landscape of Europe – when small-scale maritime polities had a disproportionate impact on the course of world history.