Lecture | Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga

Speaker Name: William Fitzhugh
University or Organization: Arctic Studies Center and the Department of Anthropology at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga, the Archaeological Institute of America’s 2023 Joukowsky Lecture, traces the history and archaeology of the Vikings from their origins in the 7th century, their rise to power and raids in Europe, and their expansion across the North Atlantic to Iceland, Greenland, and eventually to mainland North America at the L’Anse aux Meadows site in northern Newfoundland. A special feature of the lecture is Viking contacts with Native American Indians and Inuit as seen in archaeological finds in recent years. The story includes illustrations from the Smithsonian’s ‘block-buster’ exhibition honoring the 1000th anniversary of Leif Erikson’s discovery of North America and its catalog publication with the same title as this lecture.

See more information here: https://www.archaeological.org/event/vikings-the-north-atlantic-saga/

Lecturer Bio

William Fitzhugh is Director of the Arctic Studies Center and Curator of the Department of Anthropology at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, and holds his degrees from Harvard (Ph.D. and M.A.) and Dartmouth (B.A.). Dr. Fitzhugh’s areas of specialization are arctic archaeology, circumpolar cultures, Mongolia, and Vikings (especially in the Western Atlantic). He has done fieldwork in the North Atlantic regions and arctic Russia, and in Mongolia, and has been recognized for his work in exhibits, documentaries, and research. Dr. Fitzhugh is one of the Archaeological Institute of America’s 2023 Joukowsky Lecturers.

This lecture traces the history and archaeology of the Vikings from their origins in the 7th century, their rise to power and raids in Europe, and their expansion across the North Atlantic to Iceland, Greenland, and eventually to mainland North America at the L’Anse aux Meadows site in northern Newfoundland. A special feature of the lecture is Viking contacts with Native American Indians and Inuit as seen in archaeological finds in recent years. The story includes illustrations from the Smithsonian’s ‘block-buster’ exhibition honoring the 1000th anniversary of Leif Erikson’s discovery of North America and its catalog publication with the same title as this lecture.