Profile

Biography

Research

Overview

Current projects

ENTREPOT: Maritime Network Urbanism in Global Medieval Archaeology

Aarhus - York collaborative project to develop a leading European research alliance in global medieval archaeology,
funded by the Sapere Aude programme of the Danish Research Council

The project is to explore maritime networks and urbanisation in the early Middle Ages. With contributions from York colleauges Steve Ashby, Paul Lane and Stephanie Wynne-Jones, together with partners in Aarhus University, Denmark, the project shall investigate the material flows between early urban centres.

In the early Middle Ages the model of urbanism, which had formed the backbone of empires for almost a millennium, largely ceased in many regions from Europe to South Asia. Yet the early middle ages was also a remarkable episode of cultural diversification in which urban centres - old and new - became nodes in novel social networks. This process is often understood to be a specific North European development. Yet recent archaeological investigations demonstrate that remarkably similar and almost synchronous developments characterise a number of maritime regions across the world.

The project aims to integrate urban trajectories in Northern Europe, the Mediterraenan and around the Indian Ocean through comparative studies into social-material flows. The target of this project is to build a leading European research alliance within the emerging field of global medieval archaeology.The project explores the expansion of maritime communication and network urbanism in the period c. 500-1200 AD. It aims to promote an innovative vision of the early medieval world heritage, and a new agenda for comparative archaeological research into its material flows, urban topographies and social networks.

The project will explore the application of developing methodologies in material science, bioarchaeology and surveying techniques, and integrate these with established archaeological approaches. This will enable a number of polit studies to test critical points in current models, and to refine methodologies for wider application.

Publications

Selected publications

• Sindbæk, S.M. 2010, 'Re-assembling regions. The social occasions of technological exchange in Viking Age Scandinavia.', in Randi Barndon, Ingvild, Øye & Asbjørn Engevik (eds.) The Archaeology of Regional Technologies: Case Studies from the Palaeolithic to the Age of the Vikings. Edwin Mellen Press.
• Sindbæk, S.M. 2010, 'Close ties and long range relations: the emporia network in early Viking-Age exchange', in J. Sheehan & D. Ó Corráin (eds.) The Viking Age: Ireland and the West. Proceedings of the XVth Viking Congress, Cork. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 430-440.
• Sindbæk, S.M. 2009, 'Open access, nodal points, and central places. Maritime communication and locational principles for costal sites in South Scandinavia, 400-1200 AD', Estonian Journal of Archaeology 13:2, 96-109.
• Sindbæk, S.M. 2009. 'The Lands of Denemearc. Cultural difference and Social Networks in Viking Age Scandinavia', Viking and Medieval Scandinavia 4, 169-208.
• Sindbæk, S.M. 2008. 'Local and long distance exchange', in Brink, S. with Price, N. (eds.) The Viking World, New York & London: Routledge, 150-158.
• Sindbæk, S.M. 2008. 'Routes and long-distance traffic - the nodal points of Wulfstan's voyage', in Englert, A. & Trakadas, A. (eds.) Wulfstan's Voyage. The Baltic Sea region in the Early Viking Age as seen from shipboard. Roskilde: the Viking Ship Museum, 72-78.
• Sindbæk, S.M., Mikkelsen, P. & Moltsen, A.S.A. 2008. 'Tæbring, NW Denmark, AD 600-1100. An archaeological and archaeobotanic study ', Acta Archaeologica 79, 79-109.
• Sindbæk, S.M. 2007. 'The Small World of the Vikings. Networks in Early Medieval Communication and Exchange', Norwegian Archaeological Review 40, 59-74.
• Sindbæk, S.M. 2007. 'Networks and nodal points. The emergence of towns in Early Viking Age Scandinavia', Antiquity 81, 119-132.
• Sindbæk, S.M. 2006. 'Viking Age Wolin and Baltic Sea Trade. Proposals, Refusals, and Engagements', in Hansen, K.M. & Pedersen, K.B. (eds.) Across the western Baltic , Sydsjællands Museum, Vordingborg, 267-281.
• Sindbæk, S.M. 2005. ' Ruter og rutinisering. Vikingetidens Fjernhandel i Nordeuropa' , [summary in English: Routes and Routinization. Viking Age Long-Distance Trade in Northern Europe], Multivers Academic, Copenhagen, 356 pp.
• Sindbæk, S.M. 2003. 'An object of exchange. Brass-bars and the routinization of Viking Age long-distance exchange in the Baltic area', Offa , 58, 49-60.

Full publications list

Book

• 2005, Ruter og rutinisering. Vikingetidens Fjernhandel i Nordeuropa, [summary in English: Routes and Routinization. Viking Age Long-Distance Trade in Northern Europe], Multivers Academic, Copenhagen, 356 pp.

Edited books

• In press, B. Poulsen & S. M. Sindbæk (eds.) Settlement and Lordship in Viking and Early Medieval Scandinavia. The Medieval Countryside 9 (Turnhout: Brepols)
  Including 2 papers:
  - B. Poulsen & S. M. Sindbæk: “Settlement and Lordship in Viking and Early Medieval Scandinavia”;
  - S.M. Sindbæk: “Social power and outland use in Viking Age settlement”
• Gammeltoft, P., Sindbæk, S.M., Vellev, J. (red.) 2008, Regionalitet i Danmark i vikingetid og middelalder. Hikuin 35. Højbjerg: Forlaget Hikuin.
• Jensen, P., Sindbæk, S.M., Vandkilde, H. (eds.) 2008, IX Nordic TAG. Århus: Institute of Anthropology, Archaeology and Linguistics.

Research Articles

• 2010, “Re-assembling regions. The social occasions of technological exchange in Viking Age Scandinavia.”, in Randi Barndon, Ingvild, Øye & Asbjørn Engevik (eds.) The Archaeology of Regional Technologies: Case Studies from the Palaeolithic to the Age of the Vikings. Edwin Mellen Press.
• 2010, "Close ties and long range relations: the emporia network in early Viking-Age exchange", in J. Sheehan & D. Ó Corráin (eds.) The Viking Age: Ireland and the West. Proceedings of the XVth Viking Congress, Cork. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 430-440.
  2009, “Open access, nodal points, and central places. Maritime communication and locational principles for costal sites in South Scandinavia, 400-1200 AD”, Estonian Journal of Archaeology 13:2, 96-109.
• 2009, “The lands of Denemearce: Cultural differences and social networks of the Viking age in South Scandinavia”. Viking and Medieval Scandinavia 4, 169-208.
• 2009 ”Tætte bånd og fjerne forbindelser - kommunikation og sociale netværk i vikingetidens Skandinavien”, in E. Roesdahl & J.P. Schjødt (eds.) Beretning fra syvogtyvende tværfaglige vikingesymposium, 43-66.
• 2008 (with P.Gammeltoft), ”Historisk regionalitet på tværs af faggrænser”, in Gammeltoft, P., Sindbæk, S., Vellev, J. (eds.) Regionalitet i Danmark i vikingetid og middelalder. Hikuin 35. Højbjerg: Forlaget Hikuin, 7-14.
• 2008, “Kulturelle forskelle, sociale netværk og regionalitet i vikingetidens arkæologi”, in Gammeltoft, P., Sindbæk, S., Vellev, J. (eds.) Regionalitet i Danmark i vikingetid og middelalder. Hikuin 35. Højbjerg: Forlaget Hikuin, 63-84.
• 2008 (with P. Mikkelsen, & A.S.A. Moltsen), “Tæbring, NW Denmark, AD 600-1100. An archaeological and archaeobotanic study”, Acta Archaeologica 79, 79-109.
• 2008, “Routes and long-distance traffic – the nodal points of Wulfstan’s voyage”. In: A. Englert & A. Trakadas (eds.) Wulfstan’s Voyage. The Baltic Sea region in the Early Viking Age as seen from shipboard. Roskilde: the Viking Ship Museum. 72-78.
• 2008, “Local and long distance exchange”,in Brink, S. with Price, N. (eds.) The Viking World, New York & London: Routledge, 150-158.
• 2007 (with P. Arthur). “Trade and Exchange”, in Graham-Campbell, J., Valor, M. (eds.), The Archaeology of Medieval Europe Vol. I, Århus: Aarhus University Press, 289-315.
• 2007, "The Small World of the Vikings. Networks in Early Medieval Communication and Exchange", Norwegian Archaeological review 40:1, 59-74.
• 2007, "Networks and nodal points. The emergence of towns in Early Viking Age Scandinavia", Antiquity 81, 119-132.
• 2006, "Viking Age Wolin and Baltic Sea Trade. Proposals, Refusals, and Engagements", in Hansen, K.M. & Pedersen, K.B. (eds.) Across the western Baltic, Sydsjællands Museum, Vordingborg, 267-281.
• 2003, "An object of exchange. Brass-bars and the routinization of Viking Age long-distance exchange in the Baltic area.", Offa, 58, 49-60.
• 2003, "Varægiske vinterruter. Slædetransport i Rusland og spørgsmålet om den tidlige vikingetids orientalske import i Nordeuropa " [summary in English: Varangian winter routes and the question of early Viking Age Oriental imports in Northern Europe], Fornvännen, 98:3, 179-193.
• 2000, "A Magyar Occurrence. Process, Practice and Ethnicity between Europe and the Steppes", Acta Archaeologica 70, 149-164.

Comments, reviews, and debate

• 2009, ”Review of L. Grandin, E. Hjärthner-Holdar, P. Kresten, J. P. Lamm, K. Lamm, B. Magnus, O. Stilborg, A. Strinnholm, A. Söderberg & L. Kitzler-Åhfeldt: Excavations at Helgö XVII – Workshop Part III.”, Antiquity 83, 875-76.
• 2009, “Review of J. Henning (ed.) Post-Roman Towns, Trade end Settlement in Europe and Byzantium”, Tidskriftet Historie 2009.
• 2008, “Review of B. Ballin Smith, S. Taylor & G. Williams (ed.): West over Sea – Studies in Scandinavian Sea-Borne Expansion and Settlement Before 1300”, Tidskriftet Historie 2008.
• 2008, "Review of G. Lock & B. L. Molyneaux (eds.) Confronting Scale in Archaeology: Issues of Theory and Practice ", European Journal of Archaeology, vol. 9 nr. 2/3, s. 315-317.
• 2007, "Review of Dagfinn Skre (ed.): Kaupang in Skiringssal", Kuml 2007, 329-331.
• 2007, " Review of Gitte Hansen: Bergen c 800-c 1170. The emergence of a town", Kuml 2007, 304-306.
• 2006, "Review of J. Herrmann: Ralswiek auf Rügen. Die slawisch-wikingischen Siedlungen und deren Hinterland. Teil III - Die Funde aus der Hauptsiedlung.", Kuml 2006, 301-303.
• 2006, "Review of V. Lang (red.): Culture and material culture.", Kuml 2006, 327-329.
• 2005, "Popular myths and scholarly debate" [comment], Norwegian Archaeological Review, 38:2, 113-114.
• 2005, "Review of B. Söderberg: Aristokratiskt rum och gränsöverskridande. Järrestad och sydöstra Skåne mellan region och rike 600-1100.", Kuml 2005, 341-342.
• 2005, "Review of J. Jensen: Danmarks Oldtid. Yngre Jernalder 400 e.Kr.-1050 e.Kr.", Kuml 2005, 326-327.
• 2004, "Centrale pladser og knudepunkter. Transport, geografi og ruter omkring vikingetidens handelspladser" Kontaktstencil 44, 159-164.
• 2004, "Vikingerne erobrede Rusland i slæde", Illustreret videnskab 2004/12, 5.
• 2004, "Review of G. Malcolm & D. Bowsher: Middle Saxon London. Excavations at the Royal Opera House 1989-99", Kuml 2004, 348-350.
• 2004, "Review of Ingrid Gustin: Mellan Gåva och marknad", Kuml 2004, 319-322.
• 2003, "Grav muren væk", Humanist, 22:1, 26-27.
• 2003, "Review of S. Brather: Archäologie der westlichen Slawen", Kuml 2003, 296-298.
• 2003, " Review of S. Kobylinski (ed.):  Quo vadis archaeologia", Kuml 2003, 304-306.

Miscellanea

• 2010 “Vejen fra skandinavien til byzans - ad de russiske floder” [The road from Scandinavia to Byzantium – along the Russian rivers]. In Arven fra Byzans [The Byzantine heritage]. Aarhus: Sfinx.
• 2008 (with H. Vandkilde), ”Globalization, Identity, Material Culture ... and Archaeology”, in P. Jensen, S.M. Sindbæk, & H. Vandkilde (eds.) IX Nordic TAG. Århus: Institute of Anthropology, Archaeology and Linguistics, 3-4.
• 2006, "Dalhus. En Kongemoseplads ved Storåen og spørgsmålet om den mesolitiske indlandsbebyggelse i Jylland." [Dalhus. A Settlement of the Kongemose Period in the region of the Storå-river and the question of Mesolithic Inland Settlement in Jutland], in Eriksen, B.V. (ed.) Stenalderstudier, Aarhus University Press / Jysk Arkæologisk Selskab, Aarhus, 213-239.
• 2003, "Slædefart", Skalk 2003:4, 20-31.
• 2002, "Økonomisering", Skalk 2002:5, 10-12.
• 2002, "Vandreblok." Holstebro Museums Årsskrift 2002, 5-12.
• 2001, "Hvad blev der af Gudenåkulturen?", in:  Jensen, O.L.,  Hansen, K.M. og Sørensen, S.A. (eds.) Danmarks jægerstenalder. Status og perspektiver. Hørsholm Egns Museum, Hørsholm, 109-114.
• 1999, "Den kortlagte oldtid. Therkel Mathiassens Holstebroundersøgelse 1948 – og nu. " Holstebro Museums Årsskrift 1999, 24-32.
• 1998, "Mammendyret, Gräslifuglen og den madjariske hest. Østeuropa i Vikingetidens kunst og symboler" Spor 25, Trondheim, Norway, s. 8-11.
• 1997, "Ældre stenalder ved Storåen." Holstebro Museums Årsskrift 1997, 23-33.
  

Teaching

External activities

Memberships

• Chairman of the University of Aarhus' Centre for Viking and Medieval Studies 2006-2008

Awards

• Awarded The Ben Cullen Prize 2008 by the Antiquity Journal for best paper published by a young author
• Awarded the University of Copenhagen's gold medal 2002 for prize thesis (presented by HM Queen Margrethe II)