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There were a total of eight postgraduate speakers across three panels. The first panel, ‘Othered Bodies and Body Modification’, had papers on Kæi in Old Norse Arthurian material, and the historical evidence of Viking Age tattoos and tattooing. The second panel, ‘Gendered Mentalities and Emotions’, had papers on gender in Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks, female voice in letter writing, and the role of male inciters during conflicts. The final panel of the day, ‘Thought, Memory, and Neurodivergence’, had papers on ravens and thought, moral injury in Old Norse Eddic poetry, and trauma as memory in Egils saga and Grettis saga. The conference concluded with a keynote paper from Dr. Rebecca Merkelbach (University of Tübingen) titled ‘The Inner Lives of Trolls: Interiority, Trauma, and the Paranormal in the Sagas.’

Attendance was free and hybrid, with about twenty-five in-person attendees and around forty online attendees throughout the day. Over the course of the conference, connections were being made between papers, with many speakers and audience members exchanging contact information to discuss their research in further detail later. Several students spoke to the committee about how much they enjoyed the conference and how much they learned, and there were plenty of thought-provoking and conversation-starting questions about everyone’s research topics.

We would like very much to thank SSNS for helping to fund the conference and to allow us to continue to provide a welcoming space for up-and-coming researchers in the field of Old Norse and Viking Studies. Norse in the North aims to provide a platform for postgraduate students and ensure that Old Norse studies continue to flourish in Northern England (and beyond) for years to come. Thanks to the SSNS, we were able to continue that tradition and pass on the torch for another year, and we are very grateful for the support. The funding from SSNS helped up to cover catering costs for our tea/coffee breaks and our pizza lunch, for which we received many complements!

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The theme of our conference, “New Perspectives,” was intentionally broad, as we sought to include speakers in all stages of their careers to speak on all aspects of hagiography and to highlight the work of early career scholars. Professor Siân Grønlie, author of The Saint and the Saga Hero, delivered an incredible keynote lecture on Jóns saga postula. We were able to open the conference on 30 April with an exhibition of manuscripts at the Royal Irish Academy, and end with a tour of St Audoen’s Church, Christ Church Cathedral, and the National Museum of Ireland collections.

The question sessions for each panel were open discussion as we sought to establish and progress interfield and intergenerational dialogues. In the context of hagiography we felt this was crucial, considering the long history of the study of hagiography in Celtic Studies, and hagiography as a ‘new’ field in Old Norse/Scandinavian Studies. A comment that arose in many forms over the course of the conference was “I didn’t know that” and attendees felt they had learned much from the conference, which emphasises the importance and value of conferences with comparative themes, and the many perspectives presented by our speakers and given by attendees.

The conference was free of charge and streamed online, and we had around seventy total attendees online and in person over both days. The funding received from SSNS, which we are exceedingly grateful for, enabled us in many ways to facilitate this wonderful opportunity to bring the work of early career scholars to the forefront, as well as to commission a local artist (Patrick McHugh) to design a logo for our programmes and posters which embodied ‘Celtic’ and ringerike style knotwork in representation of our two networks coming together. We are glad to have been able to put on such a successful conference and to facilitate greater understanding of our respective hagiographies and saints, as well as new conversations and connections between our fields going forward.

Thank you so much for the support of the society again. The funds from SSNS were mainly used towards a drinks reception, printing costs (posters, programmes, etc), student dinner bursaries, travel costs, and dinner for our keynote speaker, and enabled us to host and organise an incredibly successful event.

• Dr Courtney Selvage (University of College Dublin)

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We began the first day in a lecture room at the University of the Highlands and Islands’ Orkney College. The team from Orkney Museum had transported a selection of inscriptions for us to examine. These included runic inscriptions on a variety of objects, all catalogued with Signum numbers such as Or 1, Or 10, Or 15, for example, with Or indicating their Orkney findspot. One of the highlights for me was Or 15, also known as Orphir II (see image below). It is a rib bone bearing an inscription that declares “this bone was…”. The object was discovered during excavations at Orphir, a site associated with the Orkneyinga Saga and Earl Paul’s Yule feast of 1136. Perhaps it was carved post-meal, where the rib meat was eaten by a rune-carver who then used the now-clean bone as their writing surface of choice. The inscription’s explicit reference to the object itself makes it particularly compelling to me, given my research interest in the relationship between runic inscriptions’ functions and the objects on which they are carved. Indeed, what could the function of Or 15 be, if it was carved after dinner on food waste, and then deposited with the rest of the scraps? Not all runic inscriptions were designed as monuments to great deeds, as Or 15 clearly shows! In the afternoon, we departed Kirkwall for Breckness and also visited the Bay of Skaill. Snacks from Argo’s Bakery (the best in Kirkwall!) and a little whisky were enjoyed while taking in views across the bay. The day concluded with a Rune Relay held at the St Magnus Centre in Kirkwall, where runologists each presented a favourite inscription to an audience of fellow scholars and members of the public. 

‘Or 15’ (Photo by Jasmin Higgs)

The second day began early with a site visit to Orphir, guided by the knowledgeable Colleen Batey, after which we divided into two groups to explore different locations. One group visited Maeshowe, where special permission allowed us extended time inside the chamber to photograph and study its runic inscriptions, while the other group went to the Ring of Brodgar before the groups swapped. At Maeshowe, I was particularly intrigued by Or Barnes 20 (see below). This inscription begins with twig runes, a cryptographic form of runic writing, before turning to more standard younger futhark runes, and states: “That man who is most rune-skilled west of the sea carved these runes with that axe which Gaukr Trandill’s son owned in the south of the country.” I enjoyed musing over the fact that, though we would never know whether this anonymous person was the best rune-carver, we are still deciphering their twig-runes and reading their inscription. After returning to Kirkwall, the day ended with a community dinner at the Town Hall.

‘Or Barnes 20’ (photo by Jasmin Higgs)

On our final half-day, we reconvened at UHI to review the inscriptions we had studied and to discuss new readings. This was followed by presentations on recent finds from Norway and Sweden, a reintroduction to Runor, an online database of Old Norse runic inscriptions, and the launch of a new collaborative initiative, The Runic Post, which aims to share new runic discoveries with a wider audience. 

During this trip, I was able to view many of the Orkney runic inscriptions and make my own readings, which will contribute to my upcoming research with Judith Jesch. I would like to thank the Scottish Society for Northern Studies for providing me with this fantastic opportunity.

– Barnes, Michael P. (1994), The Runic Inscriptions of Maeshowe, Orkney. Uppsala.
– Barnes, Michael P. and R. I. Page (2006), The Scandinavian Runic Inscriptions of Britain. Uppsala.

• Dr Jasmin Higgs (University of Nottingham)

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Amanda will graduate with an MA in Medieval Literatures and Languages from the University of York in January 2026 and is hoping to pursue a PhD starting fall 2026. Her research interests include Old English and Old Norse literature, Viking Age England, animal studies, and environmental studies.

She is the fifteenth winner of the prize, which is named in memory of Magnus Magnusson KBE, scholar and journalist of the northern world. A call for submissions for the 2026 edition of the prize will open soon.

Many congratulations, Amanda!

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Common Ground in Scottish Archaeology, edited by Kelly Kilpatrick, celebrates the work of Dr Ritchie, esteemed archaeologist, author, and lifelong advocate of Scotland’s premodern history and heritage. As well as reflecting on Anna’s enduring contributions, the book contains a range of novel and interdisciplinary research on elements of premodern Scottish (art) history, archaeology, and onomastics.

The volume is the result of an eponymous conference, which was co-organised by the Scottish Society for Northern Studies (SSNS) and the Pictish Arts Society (PAS) in March  2022. The event sought to re-examine some of the richest veins of research discourse contributed to by Anna Ritchie, whilst exploring new research, themes, and ideas. Several of the essays presented in this volume stem from this event.

Common Ground in Scottish Archaeology is published on 14 November, and is available to order now from bookshops worldwide, or from our own website (at a 10% discounted rate with free shipping, when using code ‘ritchie10‘)

The Society extends its congratulation to the honouree, as well as the editors and contributors for bringing this important work to publication.

Details

Purchase

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Anna’s extensive and enduring contributions to the field of archaeology, particularly on the topic of prehistoric and early medieval Scotland, were celebrated at the Common Ground conference, jointly hosted by the Scottish Society for Northern Studies and the Pictish Arts Society in 2022. Several of the essays presented in this volume stem from this event.

Edited by Kelly Kilpatrick

• Preface
  Kelly Kilpatrick and Sheila Hainey
• Introduction: Anna Ritchie and Scottish Archaeology
  Ian Ralston
• Bibliography of Anna Ritchie
  Ian Ralston

  I. The Kirtomy Hat: A Unique Bronze Age Horse-Hair Hat from Sutherland
    Alison Sheridan, Susanna Harris, and Lilja Husmo

  II. Hidden in Plain Sight: Pictish Settlement in Shetland
    Val E. Turner

  III. Preliminary Results of the Comparative Kingship Project at Aberlemno:
    An Elite Centre of the Fifth to Twelfth Centuries AD
    Gordon Noble and James O’Driscoll

  IV. The Oxford Librarian and the Inscribed Stones from Burghead, Greenloaning, and Kilmadock
    Kelly Kilpatrick

  V. The Abercorn Assemblage: New Insights into the Sculptural Repertoire of a Central British Monastery
    Christina Cowart-Smith

  VI. Commensality in Context: An Onomastic Review of the Socially-Embedded Economies of Scotia Scandinavica
    Alan Macniven

• Notes on Contributors

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