Bintley, Mike (2012) Material culture: archaeology and text. In, Allard, Joe and North, Richard (eds.) Beowulf and Other Stories: A New Introduction to Old English, Old Icelandic and Anglo-Norman Literatures. 2 ed. Routledge, pp. 246-73. (doi:10.4324/9781315832951).
Abstract
This chapter provides an overview of material objects, large and small, that were of greatest significance in the lives of the Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings, or as iconic as the sleek attack ships that began to terrorise the British Isles from the late eighth century onwards. The consumption of food and drink in Old English and Old Icelandic literature is most commonly imagined with reference to the sort of feasting depicted at Heorot, whereas descriptions of everyday meals are comparatively rare. Religion is a difficult question as far as the relationship between early medieval archaeology and literature are concerned. Although forge-welded swords remained in use throughout the period, the finest and most reliable weapons were the sort of wave patterned blades encountered frequently in literature. Seafaring of various kinds is an ever-present theme in the literature of the Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings.
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