ArcNames · Individuals, social identities and archetypes – the oldest Scandinavian personal names in an archaeological light

Individuals, social identities and archetypes – the oldest Scandinavian personal names in an archaeological light

The Marie Skłodowska Curie Action “ArcNames. Individuals, social identities and archetypes – the oldest Scandinavian personal names in an archaeological light” investigates Scandinavian Iron Age personal names from an archaeological perspective. Through the lens of material culture, the project explores relations between naming behavior, social identities and status in Scandinavia ca. 300 - 800 AD. These issues have relevance to historical questions about landholding and ownership structures, that have influenced structures that exist today. The personal names from the Scandinavian pre-Christian period are fascinating because they are formed of words that allude to a world of animals, religious phenomena, honor and warfare. They have roots in ancient Germanic and Indo-European naming traditions – forming a large onomastic research field. Many of these names are still in use today and form a part of a living cultural heritage. Understanding their meaning and use in creating identities, their themes, ideals and gender issues is important for their continued use and their appropriation in modern identities. The study of ancient names is thereby directly relevant to present day people and their self-awareness and identity perception. The project has therefore given high priority to dissemination to the public via social media, an accessible research blog, public talks and in five upcoming videos. The ArcNames project has two main scientific objectives: 1) first it aims to create a better understanding of naming and the construction of personal and social identities in the Scandinavian Iron Age and Viking Period, mainly by investigating the correspondence between names and the archaeological record. 2) The second objective is to understand the names in relation to status and landholding through their occurrence in place names and runic monuments. The project has established how personal names from the late Scandinavian prehistory functioned as media through which social messages about status, kinship, ethnic affiliations and personal qualities were conveyed. There is close correspondence between motifs used in names and expressions in other media such as iconography and poetry. The importance of names as social communication is stressed by the prominent role they have in both runic inscriptions and toponyms, beginning from the Roman Iron Age. Parallel to the research objectives, the ArcNames project has aimed to develop the research and teaching capacities of the individual researcher and to advance the cooperation and dialogue between onomastics and archaeology at the University of Bergen and in Norway.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union